Semester Scheduling Tool

This automated Excel tool was created to assist in the scheduling of class sections. It uses as its database an export of the current courses scheduled from the institution’s ERP system. The exported file is brought into Excel as a separate worksheet from which the various views can be constructed. The graphical depiction of a college’s academic weekly schedule is developed simply using the native row and column structure of Excel itself – no other images are needed.

Once a master spreadsheet has been imported with all relevant course section information, there are multiple ways to present subsets of these data for specific purposes. The video below shows two options for viewing the scheduling information. When this tool is executed, an initial pop-up box is displayed, asking the user how the data are to be represented. As seen, the options are to view the information by room, by instructor, by specific course, or even by printed comments. Once the user clicks the desired option button, a dropdown list appears in the textbox from which the user can then choose their specific parameters. When done, the “Create Schedule” button constructs the desired report for a typical week in the semester.

Operation & Execution

For example, if the user selects a particular room, then the schedule presented displays all course sections that occupy that room across the week. This view is helpful to determine when rooms are unused if new classes must be fit into an existing schedule. In the case illustrated in the video, the selected room is basically full all week, except for evening availability on either Monday or Thursday. The key at the right gives a visual indication of the status of these course sections, as well as identifying any room conflicts that currently exist (two classes assigned to the same room at the same time). Note that several class sections have been targeted for cancellation, a room conflict exists at 2:00pm on Tuesday and Thursday, and a late starting class is scheduled for Wednesday evening.

These schedules can be printed locally by clicking the “Print” button. Other buttons can be customized to perform other specific actions as desired by the institutional administration. At this institution, printouts of the room schedule for the semester were actually posted by the classroom doors. A quick ad-hoc meeting or consultation could be arranged using this information, knowing the room availability at a glance.

Another option for this tool is to display all sections for a particular course on a single weekly calendar, as shown below. This view allows the user to assess if the scheduled course sections provide good coverage across days and times during the week to ensure suitable student access. Note that in this case, the class section enrollments are also given (an option). This is helpful when determining where student demand is the highest for this course, in the event that a new section would need to be added to the schedule. The enrollments also indicate if a section should be considered for cancellation due to low demand.