Schedule request – a smarter approach for greater control
At KTH, the Schedule request form is handled in different ways. The ITM School aims to reduce the number of intermediaries and give teachers greater control. Claes Tisell, Associate Professor at the Department of Engineering Design, shares his experience of entering course scheduling data directly in TimeEdit Preferences.
The traditional process for schedule requests, which is still used in many places, involves teachers filling in an Excel file that is sent to the school administration. From there, the information is passed on to the central scheduling team who enter the information into the system.
“It can easily become like the game of Chinese whispers,” says Claes Tisell . “You hand over material that is reworked in several steps, and it’s hard to know exactly what is finally registered.”
Today, Claes enters the scheduling data himself directly in Preferences – something he has done for both the autumn and spring semesters.
“I never liked the Excel files. Now I work directly in the system where the data is actually used.”
Clear overview and greater confidence
When teachers work directly in Preferences, they see exactly what the schedulers see. One major advantage is the ability to copy last year’s scheduling data and adjust it for the new course run.
“It gives a completely different sense of confidence. Previously, I didn’t know exactly how the information was interpreted. Now I have full control and a much better overview.”
The system includes templates for different types of teaching activities and makes it easy to rearrange sessions, add comments – for example about room requirements – and see how everything fits together.
“The comments follow the data all the way through, both to the schedulers and onwards to the students. That means the information doesn’t have to be interpreted multiple times.”
Benefits for teachers and administration
The ITM School encourages more teachers to try this approach. A key benefit is that teachers work directly to the schedulers’ deadline and therefore have more time.
“In terms of time, it’s roughly the same amount of work as before, especially when you can base it on last year’s data,” says Claes. “At the same time, it frees up time for the administration.”
Annika Lilja, Team manager for the educational administrators at ITM, emphasises that there is no single solution that suits everyone.
“This isn’t a new approach, but we want to highlight that there are choices. For larger or more complex schedules, administrative support can be very valuable, but many teachers gain better control by entering the data themselves.”
Preferences can be challenging for infrequent users, but support is available. Before each deadline, the Scheduling Office holds online help sessions and visits each school so that teachers can get help directly on site.
“Both the central scheduling team and the school administration have been very professional and helpful – for example, for courses that run across multiple periods,” says Claes. “You can adjust the data several times before submitting it.”
His advice to anyone who feels unsure is simple:
“Give it a try! If you have a copy of last year’s scheduling data, it’s easy to get started. You have the whole summer to work on your schedule, and there’s plenty of help available if you get stuck. I can definitely recommend that teachers enter the scheduling data themselves.”
Text and photo: Ulrika Georgsson