Improving the quality of education with a better timetable
A case study in automated timetabling
A good timetable is a key to quality education for pupils and to an ergonomic working environment for teachers. The task of creating a balanced schedule for everyone is difficult. Skolaris is a cloud-based application that produces timetables that bring a high level of satisfaction to both students and staff.Back to basics
In the age of in-class apps and gadgets aimed at improving the quality of education it is easy to overlook the foundations. It is puzzling to see schools embracing the digital age with a branched tree of tablets, e-learning apps and other modern tools, but only put marginal interest in solidifying its roots: Making the best of the layout of classes throughout the week, the timetable.Real-world timetables contain flaws which disregard some of the aspects of a good timetable — sufficient spread of courses, preferential room assignment, teacher idle time limitation [1] and diverse subject sequence among many. This is inevitable and some lenience is in order — their construction is usually so difficult that once feasibility is reached, there remains little room for optimisation. Yet minimising the number of these flaws is crucial and, as shown here, has direct positive impact on the quality of class work.
Timetable improvement with Skolaris
For the purpose of timetable evaluation a large secondary school [2] with 853 courses and 2809 fortnightly lessons provided their requirements and an actual timetable. This was compared with a timetable created autonomously by Skolaris. The following chart presents comparison of the three student-aimed aspects mentioned above.
The timetable improvement looks impressive, but it's only the interpretation of the results that shows how deep an impact on education quality is actually achieved:
Over 10 % (292) more classes are placed in preferred rooms. This can represent better access to special equipment which directly influences what the teacher can or cannot do in the class. Happening once in every 10 classes, it could improve the daily learning experience for all students!
Almost 25 % (210) more courses are properly spread throughout the two weeks. There are 63 % (467) fewer cases of unwanted subject sequences (such as having two different language classes in a row). This makes for a much more diverse and balanced schedule for the students, having invaluable positive impact on their day-to-day engagement, attention and alertness.
Conclusion
There are many aspects influencing the timetable quality. Skolaris currently supports more than sixty, such as weighted teacher time preferences, busy time clustering and idle time limitation, subject placement within a day, transport times between campuses and teacher lunch breaks.Observing all of them while constructing the timetable is beyond human abilities. Skolaris makes it possible for teachers to relish balanced and customized schedules and for pupils to spend a more enjoyable time at school.
References
- England StPaul (UK-SP-06) dataset, High School Timetabling Project, CTIT Institute, University of Twente, Netherlands
- Integrovaná střední škola, Brno, Czech republic