Master Schedule

Jasmine Randolph
Jasmine Randolph
Name Dropper Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud K–12 Education Solutions™ General Discussions

Hello! This is my first time creating a master schedule and I am running into several conflicts. We currently have several teachers that teach many different classes for our high school scholars. Is it possible for me to create a master schedule for 9th grade to work out any kinks and then add each proceeding grade level (10th-12th), one-by-one after that? I am trying to fix kinks along the way rather than having one huge puzzle on the back end.

Comments

  • Michael Clark
    Michael Clark
    Seventh Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant

    @Jasmine Randolph If you've set up all your “grade level" settings in each Course, then yes. In the Generate Master Schedule settings screen, under Courses to Include, simply choose “Select Courses Based on Grade Levels”. Of course, if you have courses that are available to multiple grade levels, it would include them as well.

  • Jasmine Randolph
    Jasmine Randolph
    Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Michael Clark
    Thank you! Considering that I've already created the master schedule for grades 9th-12th and I am at the point of working out several kinks--what would be the best way for me to resolve the conflicts that exist? I have some classes that do not have any students enrolled--should I move classes around and see if that resolves the issue?

  • Mitchell We
    Mitchell We
    Second Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Jasmine Randolph
    what is the conflict that you are seeing on your end? it might be too early to run the schedule?? Did you rollover the academic data from last year? those will bring the courses with sections. How complex is the high school schedule, is it block schedule with electives?

  • Jasmine Randolph
    Jasmine Randolph
    Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Mitchell We I really do appreciate your help. We currently have a block schedule with several electives. The issue that I am currently having states there many of the students' schedules conflict with other classes. I went back and looked over all courses that were entered before I stepped into this role and noticed that class types (course or elective) weren't selected for a few of the classes, so I went back and added that to ensure that courses receive priority. I also added class locations (classrooms) as well because many of those were missing.

    Our schedule is very complex in the sense that we have several teachers that needs to be off A block for a leadership meeting and others who oversee our ACT Seminar requested the same planning, so a block availability for them was removed.

    I rolled all data over from last year and I am working with what was already entered.

  • Mitchell We
    Mitchell We
    Second Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Jasmine Randolph Yes, the schedule can be complexed and some of the them will need to be entered manually. We have chapel monday and we have block a & b on (Mon, Wed and Tues, Thursday). just make sure if there is any schedule change from last year (like new class times and new classes are reflected on the block schedule). You can run the schedule first and work on the conflict. It will never be 100 percent and you will get there with a lot of looking at the manage student enrollment and section schedule.

  • Krista Gunzel
    Krista Gunzel
    Second Anniversary Name Dropper Participant Facilitator 1

    @Jasmine Randolph this is my 2nd year running schedules and I'm still learning but some things that have helped are (1) it's worth the time to review all the details on courses and teacher constraints to make sure they are updated for the next year, (2) have as few constraints as possible for your first run, (3) make sure all student requests are loaded before running the scheduler - even though you might be scheduling students one grade at a time, the scheduler can look at all course requests to minimize conflicts, (4) if a course has many constraints then uncheck the “include in Generate Master Schedule” box and schedule it manually. Hope that helps!

  • Jasmine Randolph
    Jasmine Randolph
    Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Krista Gunzel
    Thank you so much!! That helps a lot

  • Annemarie Merow
    Annemarie Merow
    Ninth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Krista Gunzel
    Is there a good report that gives separate totals for semester courses? I just realized that the fulfilled/unfulfilled matrix doesn't list a year/semester so I believe I haven't been looking at true totals for semester classes. Thanks.

  • Krista Gunzel
    Krista Gunzel
    Second Anniversary Name Dropper Participant Facilitator 1

    @Annemarie Merow our semester length courses are all linked so it is pre-determined what you are taking in 2nd semester, and it's the same Room/Teacher/Block so no change in schedule. I'm sure you've tried this, but what about when you toggle the drop-downs on the Request and Schedules page to 2nd Semester? I noticed the fulfilled/unfulfilled matrix data does change…

  • Annemarie Merow
    Annemarie Merow
    Ninth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    @Krista Gunzel Thanks! Agreed that if I return to the Request and Schedule page and update the term, that the Fulfillment Matrix updates. But unless I am careful, I have already lost track of which semester the numbers on the Matrix reflect. Maybe I'm missing something, but updating the term and sorting/filtering by department would be really helpful on the Fulfillment Matrix screen.

    Please consider voting on this old idea:

    https://blackbaudk12.ideas.aha.io/ideas/K12OR-I-2241

    Add ability to filter Fulfillment Matrix

    It would be great to be able to change the term directly from the Fulfillment Matrix screen as well as filter by department to have a view that is more in tune with what you are working.

    Thanks!

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