"Split class" redirects here. For classes with more than one grade level, see Multi-age classroom.
A school timetable is a calendar that coordinates students and teachers within the classrooms and time periods of the school day. Other factors include the class subjects and the type of classrooms available (for example, science laboratories).
Empty timetable sheet showing time slot allocations.
Since the 1970s, researchers in operations research and management science have developed computerized solutions for the school timetable problem (STP).
A school timetable consists of a list of the complete set of offered courses, as well as the time and place of each course offered. The purposes of the school timetable are to inform teachers when and where they teach each course, and to enable students to enroll in a subset of courses without schedule conflicts.[1]
Historyedit
Prior to the introduction of operations research and management science methodologies, school timetables had to be generated by hand. Hoshino and Fabris wrote, "As many school administrators know, creating a timetable is incredibly difficult, requiring the careful balance of numerous requirements (hard constraints) and preferences (soft constraints). When timetables are constructed by hand, the process is often 10% mathematics and 90% politics,[2] leading to errors, inefficiencies, and resentment among teachers and students."[1]
For the simplest school timetable, such as an elementary school, these conditions must be satisfied:[3]
a teacher cannot teach two courses in the same time slot
no classroom can be used by two courses simultaneously
each teacher has a set of unavailable teaching timeslots.
Hoshino and Fabris describe other conditions of real-life timetabling problems, that
...involve additional constraints that must be satisfied, further increasing the complexity of the STP (school timetable problem).[3] These variations include event constraints (e.g. Course X must be scheduled before Course Y), and resource constraints (e.g. scheduling only one lab-based course in any timeslot). At large universities, there are additional constraints that must be considered, such as taking into account the time students need to walk from one end of the campus to the other.[1]
Since the 1970s, researchers have developed computerized solutions to manage the complex constraints involved in building school timetables.[1] In 1976, for example, Gunther Schmidt and Thomas Ströhlein formalized the STP with an iterative algorithm using logical matrices and hypergraphs.[4]
Nelishia Pillay published a comprehensive survey paper of these algorithms in 2014,[5] including a table of methods for solving the school timetabling problem.[6]
High schooledit
High school timetables are quite different from university timetables. The main difference is that in high schools, students have to be occupied and supervised every hour of the school day, or nearly every hour. Also, high school teachers generally have much higher teaching loads than is the case in universities. As a result, it is generally considered that university timetables involve more human judgement whereas high school timetabling is a more computationally intensive task (see the constraint satisfaction problem).[7]
Selected other optionsedit
The task of constructing a high school timetable[8] may involve the following options (not an exhaustive list):
Part-time teachers[9] need to have certain entire days off. They will either specify to the school which weekdays they are or simply how many days per cycle they need off. Such teachers can greatly add to the difficulty of timetabling when they are assigned to large blocks.
Sometimes there are 2 or 3 subjects which rotate between student bodies throughout the year. For example, the 8A students[10] might take Art in the first half of the year and Music in the second half.
Off-timetable lessons:[11] sometimes an occasional lesson is scheduled "off the timetable" meaning before school, after school, or during lunch. This usually happens with older students. It can be a desperate response to intractable timetabling problems or a compromise reached in order for the school to be able to offer less popular subjects.
Abbreviations: In the United States «TTh» (or sometimes «TTH» or «T-TH») and «MWF» or «M-W-F» are used as unofficial short-hands for «Tuesdays and Thursdays» and «Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays».[12][13] They are used when columns need to be very narrow on tables where the extra characters would create an unintended new row or other unwanted formatting issues.
See alsoedit
Block scheduling: When students have fewer, longer classes each day.
^ abcdHoshino, Richard; Fabris, Irene (2020). "Optimizing Student Course Preferences in School Timetabling". In Hebrard, Emmanuel; Musliu, Nysret (eds.). Integration of Constraint Programming, Artificial Intelligence, and Operations Research. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 12296. Springer International Publishing. pp. 283–299. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-58942-4_19. ISBN978-3-030-58942-4. S2CID 221839945. Also available as .pdf: Hoshino & Fabris
^Burke, Edmund; Erben, Wilhelm, eds. (2001). Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling III. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 2079. doi:10.1007/3-540-44629-x. ISBN978-3-540-42421-5. ISSN 0302-9743. S2CID 1258394.
^ abPost, Gerhard; Ahmadi, Samad; Daskalaki, Sophia; Kingston, Jeffrey H.; Kyngas, Jari; Nurmi, Cimmo; Ranson, David (2012-04-01). "An XML format for benchmarks in High School Timetabling". Annals of Operations Research. 194 (1): 385–397. doi:10.1007/s10479-010-0699-9. ISSN 1572-9338. S2CID 254227100.
^Pillay, Nelishia (2014). "A survey of school timetabling research". Annals of Operations Research. 218 (1): 261–293. doi:10.1007/s10479-013-1321-8. S2CID 254236964.
^Pillay, Nelishia (2014-07-01). "Overview of methods used to solve the school timetabling problem". Annals of Operations Research. 218 (1). doi:10.1007/s10479-013-1321-8. ISSN 1572-9338. S2CID 254236964.
^Brailsford, Sally C.; Potts, Chris N.; Smith, Barbara M. (1999-12-16). "Constraint satisfaction problems: Algorithms and applications" (PDF). European Journal of Operational Research. 119 (3): 557–581. doi:10.1016/S0377-2217(98)00364-6. ISSN 0377-2217.
^"Importance of the School Time Table You Must Know". Notes Read. 2016-11-30. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
^. www.asti.ie. November 22, 2019. Archived from the original on November 22, 2019. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
^. UMass Amherst. 2010. Archived from the original on January 2, 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
^Ivers, Karen S. (2003). A teacher's guide to using technology in the classroom. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. p. 121. ISBN9781591580744. tth mw.
External linksedit
International Timetabling Competition 2007
Robertus J. Willemen, School timetable construction, Algorithms and complexity
January 01, 1970
school, timetable, split, class, redirects, here, classes, with, more, than, grade, level, multi, classroom, school, timetable, calendar, that, coordinates, students, teachers, within, classrooms, time, periods, school, other, factors, include, class, subjects. Split class redirects here For classes with more than one grade level see Multi age classroom A school timetable is a calendar that coordinates students and teachers within the classrooms and time periods of the school day Other factors include the class subjects and the type of classrooms available for example science laboratories Empty timetable sheet showing time slot allocations Since the 1970s researchers in operations research and management science have developed computerized solutions for the school timetable problem STP Contents 1 Description and purpose of a school timetable 2 History 3 High school 3 1 Selected other options 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksDescription and purpose of a school timetable editA school timetable consists of a list of the complete set of offered courses as well as the time and place of each course offered The purposes of the school timetable are to inform teachers when and where they teach each course and to enable students to enroll in a subset of courses without schedule conflicts 1 History editPrior to the introduction of operations research and management science methodologies school timetables had to be generated by hand Hoshino and Fabris wrote As many school administrators know creating a timetable is incredibly difficult requiring the careful balance of numerous requirements hard constraints and preferences soft constraints When timetables are constructed by hand the process is often 10 mathematics and 90 politics 2 leading to errors inefficiencies and resentment among teachers and students 1 For the simplest school timetable such as an elementary school these conditions must be satisfied 3 a teacher cannot teach two courses in the same time slot no classroom can be used by two courses simultaneously each teacher has a set of unavailable teaching timeslots Hoshino and Fabris describe other conditions of real life timetabling problems that involve additional constraints that must be satisfied further increasing the complexity of the STP school timetable problem 3 These variations include event constraints e g Course X must be scheduled before Course Y and resource constraints e g scheduling only one lab based course in any timeslot At large universities there are additional constraints that must be considered such as taking into account the time students need to walk from one end of the campus to the other 1 Since the 1970s researchers have developed computerized solutions to manage the complex constraints involved in building school timetables 1 In 1976 for example Gunther Schmidt and Thomas Strohlein formalized the STP with an iterative algorithm using logical matrices and hypergraphs 4 Nelishia Pillay published a comprehensive survey paper of these algorithms in 2014 5 including a table of methods for solving the school timetabling problem 6 High school editHigh school timetables are quite different from university timetables The main difference is that in high schools students have to be occupied and supervised every hour of the school day or nearly every hour Also high school teachers generally have much higher teaching loads than is the case in universities As a result it is generally considered that university timetables involve more human judgement whereas high school timetabling is a more computationally intensive task see the constraint satisfaction problem 7 Selected other options edit The task of constructing a high school timetable 8 may involve the following options not an exhaustive list Part time teachers 9 need to have certain entire days off They will either specify to the school which weekdays they are or simply how many days per cycle they need off Such teachers can greatly add to the difficulty of timetabling when they are assigned to large blocks Sometimes there are 2 or 3 subjects which rotate between student bodies throughout the year For example the 8A students 10 might take Art in the first half of the year and Music in the second half Off timetable lessons 11 sometimes an occasional lesson is scheduled off the timetable meaning before school after school or during lunch This usually happens with older students It can be a desperate response to intractable timetabling problems or a compromise reached in order for the school to be able to offer less popular subjects Abbreviations In the United States TTh or sometimes TTH or T TH and MWF or M W F are used as unofficial short hands for Tuesdays and Thursdays and Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays 12 13 They are used when columns need to be very narrow on tables where the extra characters would create an unintended new row or other unwanted formatting issues See also editBlock scheduling When students have fewer longer classes each day Modular scheduling ScheduleReferences edit a b c d Hoshino Richard Fabris Irene 2020 Optimizing Student Course Preferences in School Timetabling In Hebrard Emmanuel Musliu Nysret eds Integration of Constraint Programming Artificial Intelligence and Operations Research Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol 12296 Springer International Publishing pp 283 299 doi 10 1007 978 3 030 58942 4 19 ISBN 978 3 030 58942 4 S2CID 221839945 Also available as pdf Hoshino amp Fabris Burke Edmund Erben Wilhelm eds 2001 Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling III Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol 2079 doi 10 1007 3 540 44629 x ISBN 978 3 540 42421 5 ISSN 0302 9743 S2CID 1258394 a b Post Gerhard Ahmadi Samad Daskalaki Sophia Kingston Jeffrey H Kyngas Jari Nurmi Cimmo Ranson David 2012 04 01 An XML format for benchmarks in High School Timetabling Annals of Operations Research 194 1 385 397 doi 10 1007 s10479 010 0699 9 ISSN 1572 9338 S2CID 254227100 Gunther Schmidt and Thomas Strohlein 1976 A Boolean matrix iteration in timetable construction Linear Algebra and Its Applications 15 1 27 51 Pillay Nelishia 2014 A survey of school timetabling research Annals of Operations Research 218 1 261 293 doi 10 1007 s10479 013 1321 8 S2CID 254236964 Pillay Nelishia 2014 07 01 Overview of methods used to solve the school timetabling problem Annals of Operations Research 218 1 doi 10 1007 s10479 013 1321 8 ISSN 1572 9338 S2CID 254236964 Brailsford Sally C Potts Chris N Smith Barbara M 1999 12 16 Constraint satisfaction problems Algorithms and applications PDF European Journal of Operational Research 119 3 557 581 doi 10 1016 S0377 2217 98 00364 6 ISSN 0377 2217 Importance of the School Time Table You Must Know Notes Read 2016 11 30 Retrieved 2018 07 23 ASTI Regular part time teacher www asti ie November 22 2019 Archived from the original on November 22 2019 Retrieved 2018 07 23 Chegg com www chegg com Retrieved 2018 07 23 STEM Science and D amp T resources Schools Practical Action practicalaction org Retrieved 2018 07 23 College Writing Course Policies UMass Amherst 2010 Archived from the original on January 2 2017 Retrieved 17 January 2016 Ivers Karen S 2003 A teacher s guide to using technology in the classroom Westport CT Libraries Unlimited p 121 ISBN 9781591580744 tth mw External links editInternational Timetabling Competition 2007 Robertus J Willemen School timetable construction Algorithms and complexity Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title School timetable amp oldid 1181032012, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
