The potential of computer-generated master scheduling for high schools in Newfoundland and Labrador

Small, Melvin Baxter (1983) The potential of computer-generated master scheduling for high schools in Newfoundland and Labrador. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF (Migrated (PDF/A Conversion) from original format: (application/pdf)) - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (40MB) [English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. (Original Version)

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to ascertain whether the computer could significantly assist school administrators with the annual construction of the master schedule for high schools throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. -- The computer scheduling program which was chosen for this study was the Norwegian Nor-Data School Scheduling System, which was judged to be technically excellent and which had been designed to tackle a high school master scheduling problem very similar to that found throughout the Province. -- With the financial support and the technical assistance of Newfoundland and Labrador Computer Services Limited, as well as with the full cooperation of the three participating principals, an intensive eight-day computer scheduling project was undertaken during November of 1982 at Newfoundland and Labrador Computer Services Limited under the direct supervision of Dr. Harald Michalsen, the Norwegian developer of the Nor-Data School Scheduling System. This timetabling project produced the Province's first four useable computer-generated master schedules. -- Without any technical or programming difficulty whatsoever, the Nor-Data School Scheduling System very satisfactorily produced an alternate master schedule for 1982-83 for each of the four selected schools: Ascension Collegiate, Bay Roberts; Gonzaga High School, St. John's; John Burke High School, Grand Bank; and Partanna Academy, Grand Bank. -- The major findings of this study were as follows: -- 1. The Nor-Data School Scheduling System proved to be a locally viable computer scheduling program which has immediate application for all high school administrators throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. -- 2. Newfoundland and Labrador Computer Services Limited has the technical capability and the programming expertise to competently use the Norwegian Nor-Data School Scheduling System to efficiently produce master schedules for schools throughout the Province. -- 3. The computer-generated, timetables were judged by the majority of the staff of each of the participating schools to be as good as, if not significantly better than, the manually-constructed timetables for 1982-83. -- 4. Computer-generated master scheduling is a modern functional alternative to the traditional method of manual construction of the school's master schedule. -- 5. Computer-generated master scheduling could become an immediate reality for high school administrators and an affordable option for School Boards, provided the Department of Education substantially subsidized the cost to Newfoundland and Labrador Computer Services Limited to schedule schools with the Norwegian Nor-Data School Scheduling System. -- 6. The Nor-Data School Scheduling System could be purchased from Dr. Harald Michalsen by either Newfoundland 'and Labrador Computer Services Limited or the Department of Education, so that computer-generated master scheduling could become commercially available to all high school administrators for the 1984-85 school year. -- Clearly, the Norwegian Nor-Data School Scheduling System has the potential to immediately become a new and invaluable administrative tool for most, if not all, high school administrators throughout the Province. It could also become the impetus for our adopting more defensible timetabling principles as the real basis on which better scheduling is built.

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