48 th annual ascue conference july 16, 2015 1:00 pm – 1:45 pm charles smith comquip, inc
TRANSCRIPT
Student-Centered Scheduling
48th Annual ASCUE ConferenceJuly 16, 2015
1:00 pm – 1:45 pm
Charles SmithComQuip, Inc
IntroductionFounder of ComQuip, Inc.Engineer by education
Operations ResearchSolve large scale problems
Attended conference in 2000Asked “why not put all the variables in and
solve the scheduling problem top down?”
A Traditional Approach to SchedulingRooms assigned to DepartmentsDepartments build partial schedule
Historical Poll Faculty Changes TBA Instructors
Rooms opened after cutoff dateSchedule unscheduled sections into open time
slotsAfter registration
Sections under min enroll dropped Sections filled are closed
Characteristics of Traditional ApproachPoor room utilization
Classes tend to be concentrated at certain times
Organizationally inefficient processTime consuming to try to resolve conflicts
High level of student complaintsDo not consider student needs in process
Student-Centered Scheduling (SCS)Modern systems enable new way of
thinking about schedulingCan collect and process data more efficientlyCan employ modern management problem
solving techniques Shadow prices Sensitivity testing
Can drive solution that uses demand information not considered in traditional methods
Characteristics of SCS MethodTop-down instead of Bottom-UpUses more information, which is generally
available nowAlgorithm used to time-slot sections so:
Students get courses they need or wantFaculty preferences and availability consideredRoom availability and utilization considered
Retention ImprovesInability to get courses want is no. 1 reason for
transfers
Trend to SCSNeed solution to improve retention and
graduation ratesNumber of articles published since 1998 on
SCS has increased dramaticallyOur clients increasingly stress the need for
an SCS approachOur company has been on the forefront of
SCS since 2002
How SCS WorksRetain helpful techniques
Set-up standard time blocksCreate blocks for common curriculum coursesConflict free scheduling algorithm
And add new techniquesWhen time slotting each section, consider impact
of each option on students who want courseAfter initial solution, test if can improve
swap student section assignments to increase percent of students getting courses want
Step towards optimal solution
Example 1Technology oriented institution10 associate programs and 4 certificate programs800 students, 150 facultyHow they used SCS
Set-up courses by program and year Common courses across programs
Put one dummy student in each program each yearSections of common courses scheduled to
accommodate all studentsSections unique to program scheduled when
students available
Results
Example 24-year undergraduate military academy900 cadets, 130 faculty16 different degree programsHow they used SCS
Fixed number of sectionsBalanced section loadsSet time block standardsBlocked sections using student data from course
registrationsConsidered impact on students when time
slotted sections
ResultsNumber of courses students unable to take
because of scheduling:1,221 when traditional scheduling method used1,039 when just block scheduling used562 when SCS method used
Example 3Multi-campus University20,000 students, 600 FT faculty500 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree
programsHow they used SCS for exam scheduling
Set parameters for scheduling exams Different room, same room Exam seating All sections at same time
Used optimization instead of mapping Scheduled exams to minimize number of students with
multiple exams per day
ResultsReduced number of students with multiple
exams on same day from 1,384 to 792.Reduced number of conflicts from 352 to 3
CostsAssume use third party software
In-house IT resources (1/3 person) Licenses ($20,000) Implementation Support ($10,000) Vendor Maintenance ($4,000 per year)
Hosted Subscription ($7,000) Hosting fee ($3,600) Implementation Support ($10,000)
BenefitsImproved retention
More students graduating in four yearsFewer complaints from students
No room conflictsNo faculty conflicts
References“Reframing Retention Strategy for Institutional
Improvement: New Directions for Higher Education, no. 161”, edited by David H. Kalsbeck, John Wiley & Sons, 2013
“Student Centered Scheduling”, ISM Monthly Update for Division Heads, Vol 9 No 10, 2012
“More Notes on Retention in Relation to Course Scheduling”, Cathy Anderson, March 2013, http://www.cathyandersonblog.com/?p=853
