A METHOD FOR SCHEDULING STUDENTS TO CLASSES
Abstract
In the paper the author proposed a method for programming an electronic computer to provide a solution for a medium sized university to the classroom scheduling problem with the following features: (1) Given (a) a list of available courses, sections, times and maximum enrollments, and (b) for each student a list of the courses he would like to take together with 2 or 3 hours during the week at which he would like to be free, the program produces schedules for each student, and an over-all schedule for the whole university that keeps within the prescribed bounds (providing such a feasible schedule exists.) (2) At the heart of the method is a streamlined version of the 'stopped simplex method' for solving integer programming problems. (3) The resulting schedule is not necessarily optimal relative to any objective function. However, several heuristic rules are built into the code which give it high probability of finding a schedule that is optimal or nearly optimal relative to the objective function proposed in the model. (4) The computer time (IBM 7090 or equivalent machine) required to schedule all the students in a university having 15,000 to 20,000 students is estimated to be 2 or 3 24hour days, i.e., a long weekend. Hence the method is practical on a real-time basis.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1965
- Accession Number
- AD0620174
Entities
People
- Gerald L. Thompson
Organizations
- Carnegie Institute of Technology