A Value Focused Thinking Approach to Academic Course Scheduling

Abstract

In 1997, the School of Engineering of the United States Air Force Institute of Technology began exploring ways of automating the academic course scheduling process. The administration desired an expedient approach for course scheduling which supports the institute's mission of "providing scientific and technological education" to officers from all branches of military service, as well as international military forces. The scheduling approach needed to be flexible, efficient, and represent the institute's values and principles. Decision Analysis (DA) and specifically, Value Focused Thinking (VFT), is used to decompose the complex problem of academic course scheduling and determine the factors that are important in a schedule. An MS Excel based Decision Support System generates a Mixed Integer Program (MIP). The MIP formulation combines the institute's goals with facility constraints, faculty preferences, student preferences, and administration guidance to develop an academic course schedule representative of the institute's values.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 10, 1998
Accession Number
ADA342347

Entities

People

  • Shane A. Knighton

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Facilities
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computers
  • Decision Support Systems
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • Instructors
  • Integer Programming
  • Mathematical Programming
  • Operations Research
  • Schools
  • Spreadsheet Software
  • Students
  • United States
  • User Manuals

Fields of Study

  • Education

Readers

  • Defense Technology Research and Development.
  • Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
  • Team-Based Human-Centered Cognitive Task Decision Making and Information Performance.