Scheduling plays a crucial role in any educational institution. A schedule provides the foundation for students while also ensuring the teacher’s availability. Student enrollment, course requests, staffing, and curriculum changes all have a significant impact on the academic goals of schools. Look into the 4 ways you can build a better schedule for your school and your students.
Any school with new semesters has to decide on the type of schedule they will be building for the next. Maybe a traditional schedule is holding the school and its students back or perhaps the current complex schedule is ineffective to boost student academic performance.
- 4 Ways to Build A Better Schedule
- How to choose a better scheduling method for your school
- Remember, there is no right or wrong
4 Ways to Build A Better Schedule
There are various ways to build your master schedule. Understanding this is like building the foundation and the more solid the foundation and what you want to have as the final product, the better the whole master schedule process will be for everyone.
Any method of scheduling you choose to adopt for your school has its own list of advantages and drawbacks. After familiarizing yourself with the different ways you can build your master schedule, you can then choose one that suits your educational institution the best.
The 4 ways to build your schedule include future scheduling, arena scheduling, flex mod scheduling, and rotational scheduling.
Future Scheduling
When adopting the future scheduling approach, students are assigned to core subjects. Students are then allowed to choose their own electives, typically via an online course request system. The school staff will analyze the requests sent in by students to determine the number of courses offered. Since students choose which courses will be popular, future scheduling helps determine staff requirements and allocate resources.
Students will be able to experience a taste of choice and independence through future scheduling, while still incorporating the traditional model. A viable option for schools to ease their way into a new way of scheduling.
Arena Scheduling
Arena scheduling is an approach in which students have a specific window of time to select the classes they want to take in the periods they want to take them. Schools define boundaries, including course limitations based on the number of staff or teachers available, and class sizes.
The biggest reason to consider arena scheduling is the impact it has on student ownership and motivation. The school sets up the arena, but students are responsible for making sure they get the courses they have been aiming for and when they would like to have them. This can help to teach them to take responsibility for their choices and not procrastinate. Important life lessons.
Flex Mod Scheduling
The flexible modular schedule (flex mod) splits sessions into small modules of time to allow for maximum flexibility and access to resources. A module, or mod, could be between 15 and 30 minutes long, course sessions may take up only one mod or several, and may meet once or a few times a week.
Students can fit in more courses and increase one-on-one time with teachers. Although the clear advantage is that class sizes stay small, flex mod schedules can end up looking very complicated.
Rotational Scheduling
If a school is not ready for a full-blown flex mod implementation, the rotational scheduling method allows some flexible options to fit into a more traditional approach. Rotational scheduling gives students a taste of the freedom and responsibility the flex mod schedules offer.
Students may take the same course but with separate sessions taught by teachers with different specialties. Course schedules may fluctuate, depending on student needs, teacher skills, and the district’s priorities.
The rotational concept may remind secondary school leaders of stations in elementary school, with good reason. The flexibility allowed in the rotational model lets teachers structure courses and classrooms to fit the subject matter, not the other way around.
How to choose a better scheduling method for your school
What is of the utmost importance for your school? If it’s flexibility, increasing student ownership, or maximizing the number of electives being offered, one of the scheduling options mentioned above may be your answer.
Different schools have different needs. It is vital to know what is important for your school. When you are clear about your school’s vision and mission, this will help in determining which method will suit your school best.
Once the method is chosen, you and your team can then start working on your master schedule. We believe that teachers’ input for the scheduling process is important, you can easily and seamlessly collaborate with your colleagues with the help of our comprehensive online master scheduler.
With Orchestra, we provide an array of schedules that we can help you out with. From the basic schedule to the more complex types, our school scheduler software has got it all covered. This can be either 4×4 block scheduling, A/B block scheduling, multiperiod flex block scheduling, a rotating block schedule, or the traditional period day scheduling.
Remember, there is no right or wrong
Each method has its own benefits and disadvantages. It really comes down to what is truly needed for each school. In the end, you simply want to offer better class choices for students. While improving the learning experience, you also get to ensure more time is saved for teachers to prepare for classes.
Looking for an online master scheduler to fulfill your scheduling needs? Sign up today and build your master schedule in just 3 days!
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