Class Scheduling
Current Grid
Currently the Monday - Wednesday and Tuesday – Thursday courses are on a 75 min class time with 15 minute breaks in between to pass. Here is the number of
classrooms available this semester at any given class time. An asterisk indicates a time when there are only classroom under 20 available. There are 218 general
assignment classrooms available.
Class Time
Mon/Wed
Tues/Thurs
7:00am - 8:15am
169
181
8:30am - 9:45am
19
28
10:00am - 11:15am
0
0
11:30am - 12:45pm
5*
6*
1:00pm - 2:15pm
0
0
2:30pm - 3:45pm
1*
4*
4:00pm - 5:15pm
7
14
5:30pm - 6:45pm
5
1*
7:00pm - 8:15pm
61
63
8:30pm - 9:45pm
159
160
In a grid, the data for Mon-Wed /Tues-Thu. looks like this. The first class period and the last two have significantly lower use. If they are discarded, there are 7
class periods during an 8:30a to 6:45p day. 7 class periods during the day yields a potential of 3052 classes in General Assignment classrooms (218 x 7 x 2)
For the purposes of this study, all class periods beginning within 5 minutes of 7:00pm or later will be treated as non-peak times
7:00 8:15a
8:30 9:45a
10:00 11:15a
11:30 12:45p
1:00 2:15p
2:30 3:45p
4:00 5:15p
5:30 6:45p
7:00 8:15p
8:30 9:45p
Fridays on the current system have no fixed grid like the other days of the week. However using the same number of contact hours(2.5 hours per wk) a Friday
grid could be represented like this.
8:00 - 10:30a
10:45 - 1:15p
1:30 - 4:00p
4:15 - 6:45p
7:00 - 8:30p
8:45 - 10:15p
Depending upon the initial start time Fridays could accommodate 4 class periods during a similar day time. This yields an additional 872 potential class periods.
(218 x 4) Total potential in the current system is 3924 (218 x 7 x 2 + 218 x 4)classes in General Assignment classrooms.
Alternative Schedule Variation#1:
Moving the start time of current schedule
The simplest variation would be to eliminate the 7:00am starting time and to begin at 8am. The 7:00 – 8:15a time slot is underused compared to the rest of the
daytime hours. By shifting the first class to 8:00am, the later classes could become more desirable as well. It would look like this:
8:00 - 9:15a
9:30 - 10:45
11:00 12:15p
12:30 - 1:45p
2:00 - 3:15p
3:30 - 4:45p
5:00 - 6:15p
6:30 - 7:45p
8:00 - 9:15p
If the distribution of classes could make use of the 6:30 – 7:45p class period, 8 class periods-per-day would result in 4360 (218 x 8 x 2 + 872)potential daytime
classes per week in General Assignment classrooms. This is by far the least disruptive change to the current schedule.
Alternative Schedule Variation #2:
M-W/T-R/F-S
Another alternative would be to schedule classes on a Monday + Wednesday, Tuesday + Thursday, Friday + Saturday.
If the start time is positioned at 8am, we would have 3 pairs of 8 class periods per day for a total of 5232 (218 x 8 x 3) potential class periods per week in General
assignment classrooms. The difficulty would be in the single day between meeting periods for a Friday-Saturday class.
Alternative Schedule Variation #3:
Passing Time Reduction of existing meeting pattern
By reducing passing time to 10 minutes there is an increase in the efficiency of the current grid. If we can also flatten the distribution of classes to include the
6:20 – 7:35 time period, this would increase the overall number of potential class periods by to 4360 (218 x 8 x 2 + 872)
7:00 8:15a
8:25 9:40a
9:50 11:05a
11:15
12:30p
12:40
1:55p
2:05 3:20p
3:30 4:45p
4:55 6:10p
6:20 7:35p
7:45 9:00p
9:10 10:25p
Additionally, it may encourage the flattening of class distribution into the evening by shifting the grid to start the first class at 8:00am.
8:00 9:15a
9:25 10:40a
10:50 12:05p
12:15 1:30p
1:40 2:55p
3:05 4:20p
4:30 5:45p
5:55 7:10p
7:20 8:35p
7:45 9:00p
9:10 10:25p
Alternative Schedule Variation #4:
M-W-F / T-R Schedule
The following graph assumes a 15 min passing time. There would be 10 classes on MWF in each class room. This would create 2180(218 x 10) potential class
periods on M-W-F. Add this to a Tuesday-Thursday beginning in at 8:00am, and the total number of classes is 3924 (218 x8 + 218 x 10)
7:00 7:50a
8:05 8:55a
9:10 10:00
10:15 11:05a
11:20 12:10p
Alternative Schedule Variation #5:
12:25 1:15p
1:30 2:20p
2:35 3:25p
3:40 4:30p
4:45 5:35p
5:50 6:40p
6:55 7:45p
8:00 8:50p
9:05 9:55
M-W-F/T-R-S
By extending variation number three to a pair of three day weeks, the total number of potential class periods is 4360. (218 x 10 x 2)
Alternative Schedule Variation: The importance of Pairing Classes
The best way to accommodate longer-than-normal classes is by matching them to each other. For example, three different classes can use the same room
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during three concurrent class periods. For our purpose, it does not matter if the classes are matched by day or time period. See
below:
Class Period
8:00 - 8:50a
9:00 - 9:50a
10:00 10:50a
Monday
SOC 1100
ENG 2500
Room KC 201
Wednesday
SOC 1100
ENG 2500
Friday
SOC 1100
ENG 2500
ART 4540
ART 4540
ART 4540
Class Period
8:00 - 8:50a
9:00 - 9:50a
10:00 10:50a
Monday
SOC 1100
SOC 1100
Room KC 201
Wednesday
ENG 2500
ENG 2500
Friday
ART 4540
ART 4540
SOC 1100
ENG 2500
ART 4540
This pattern of “Pairing” classes applies across the board to all scenarios. It is vital to the efficient use of space. It is being done my some departments however
it is not widespread. Whether on two-day or three-day class meeting grids this is a simple and effective way to use space more efficiently. If each single day
class was obliged to find a class (or two) to pair with, we would see less un-roomed classes at the earliest stages of scheduling.
Conclusions:
Any of the changes shown above could increase the number of classes housed. In our example of approximately 12 hour days in the general assignment
classrooms we saw the following improvements:
Current:
Variation #1:
Variation #2:
Variation #3:
Variation #4:
Variation #5:
3924 classes
4360 classes
5232 classes
4360 classes
3924 classes
4360 classes
In all cases, the maximum increases would be enhanced by these additional improvements.
 “Pairing” single day courses with one another
 Flattening the “bell curve” of class distribution by encouraging the use of earlier and later class periods
 Fitting off-grid courses together in ways that make use of fewer rooms
 Opening up or improving the utilization of proprietary spaces that could be used to house a variety of classes
 Coaching for schedulers at the primary level where needed to improve the use of space
 Changing the culture to encourage cooperation among departments and expand the “deck of cards” for primary level schedulers
 Shifting the start time of the current schedule to begin at 8:00am, eliminating the underused 7:00am class starting time