System for scheduling classes and managing eductional resources

Abstract

A method is provided for automatically producing a schedule of classes for an educational institution having a plurality of teachers, a plurality of students, and a curriculum. The method preferably includes receiving designations of a plurality of curriculum modules of the curriculum, each curriculum module including educational material, one or more of the curriculum modules being prerequisite modules for one or more subsequent modules. The method also preferably includes receiving, as an input into a computer system, curriculum information comprising an indication of which of the modules are prerequisite modules for subsequent modules. An input into the computer system includes student information comprising, for one or more of the plurality of students, an indication of his level of competence with respect to the educational material of one or more modules. The computer system preferably produces a schedule of classes for teaching the educational material of at least some of the modules responsive to the curriculum information and the student information. Educational material to be taught in each of the scheduled classes includes the educational material of a respective one of the curriculum modules. The students assigned to each of the scheduled classes have preferably attained at, least a predetermined level of competence with respect to the educational material of the respective modules that are prerequisite modules for the module to be taught in the class.

1 . A method for automatically producing a schedule of classes for an educational institution having a plurality of teachers, a plurality of students, and a curriculum, the method comprising providing a computer algorithm adapted for: 
 receiving, as an input into a computer system, designations of a plurality of curriculum modules of the curriculum, each curriculum module including educational material, one or more of the curriculum modules being prerequisite modules for one or more subsequent modules;    receiving, as an input into the computer system, curriculum information comprising an indication of which of the modules are prerequisite modules for subsequent modules; receiving, as an input into the computer system, student information comprising, for two or more of the plurality of students, indications of their levels of competence with respect to the educational material of one or more modules; and    producing, by the computer system, a schedule of classes for teaching the educational material of at least some of the modules responsive to the curriculum information and the student information, wherein educational material to be taught in each of the scheduled classes comprises the educational material of a respective one of the curriculum modules, and wherein the students assigned to each of the scheduled classes have attained at least a predetermined level of competence with respect to the educational material of the respective modules that are prerequisite modules for the module to be taught in the class.    
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein receiving the student information comprises receiving an indication of prior success one or more of the students has had with one or more of the teachers.  
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein receiving the curriculum information comprises receiving, for at least some of the curriculum modules, one or more formats in which the module may be taught.  
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein producing the schedule comprises: 
 determining that one of the students has attained at least a first level of mastery of a first one of the prerequisite modules;    determining that the one of the students has attained at least a second level of mastery of a second one of the prerequisite modules, the second level being different from the first level; and    scheduling the one of the students to take a class responsive to the one of the students having attained the first and second levels of mastery in the first and second prerequisite modules, respectively.    
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein producing the schedule comprises receiving an input indicative of a desired percentage of students to be involved in tutoring sessions.  
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein producing the schedule of classes comprises determining when a student has failed to attain a desired level of mastery of a module and subsequently assigning the student to study the educational material in the module in a class configured to facilitate the student to attain the desired level of mastery.  
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein producing the schedule of classes comprises receiving a first scheduling request and generating a tentative schedule responsive thereto, and, subsequently, receiving a second scheduling request and generating a tentative schedule responsive thereto.  
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 1 , and comprising receiving an assessment of a student's performance in one or more modules taught by a particular person, wherein producing the schedule of classes comprises preferentially assigning the student to be taught by the person if the assessment is positive, and inhibiting assigning the student to be taught by the person if the assessment is negative.  
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 1 , and comprising receiving, as an input into the computer system, an indication for one or more of the modules of a number of textbooks pertaining thereto which are available to the institution, wherein producing the schedule comprises scheduling classes to teach the educational material in the one or more modules responsive to the number of available textbooks.  
     
     
         10 . A method according to any one of claims  1 - 9 , wherein receiving the student information comprises receiving a designation for giving priority to scheduling one or more of the students selected from the plurality of students, and wherein producing the schedule comprises producing the schedule responsive to the designation.  
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 10 , wherein receiving the designation comprises receiving the designation with respect to students having a disability.  
     
     
         12 . A method according to any one of claims  1 - 9 , wherein receiving the designations of the plurality of curriculum modules comprises receiving, for at least some of the modules, an indication of the relative importance of the module to the curriculum, and wherein producing the schedule comprises producing the schedule responsive to the indication of importance.  
     
     
         13 . A method according to  claim 12 , wherein producing the schedule responsive to the indication of importance comprises designating a relatively high level of competence to be attained by at least some students in prerequisite modules for a module having a relatively high importance to the curriculum, and designating a relatively low level of competence to be attained by the at least some students in prerequisite modules for a module having a relatively low importance to the curriculum.  
     
     
         14 . A method according to any one of  1 - 9 , and comprising receiving an administrative instruction as an input into the computer system, which designates for students in a first category a first level of competence with respect to the educational material of at least one module that is prerequisite for a module to be taught in a class, and which designates for students in a second category a second level of competence with respect to the educational material of the at least one module, the second level being different from the first level, wherein producing the schedules of classes comprises producing the schedule responsive to the administrative instruction.  
     
     
         15 . A method according to  claim 14 , wherein receiving the administrative instruction comprises receiving with respect to two or more of the modules, each having prerequisite modules associated therewith, an instruction that students in the first and second categories demonstrate different levels of competence in order to participate in classes teaching the two or more modules.  
     
     
         16 . A method according to any one of claims  1 - 9 , and comprising receiving, as an input into the computer system, teacher information comprising, for at least some of the plurality of teachers, an indication of a suitability of the teacher to teach one or more of the modules, wherein producing the schedule of classes comprises producing the schedule of classes responsive to the teacher information.  
     
     
         17 . A method according to  claim 16 , wherein receiving the teacher information comprises receiving, for at least some of the plurality of teachers, an indication of a preference of the teacher to teach one or more of the modules.  
     
     
         18 . A method according any one of claims  1 - 9 , wherein receiving the student information comprises receiving, for at least one of the students, an indication of a learning disability of the student, and wherein producing the schedule comprises producing the schedule responsive to the learning disability.  
     
     
         19 . A method according to  claim 18 , wherein receiving the teacher information comprises receiving an indication of one or more of the teachers who have specialized training to teach students with the learning disability, and wherein producing the schedule comprises preferentially assigning the one or more of the teachers with the specialized training to teach a student with the learning disability.  
     
     
         20 . A method for automatically producing a schedule of classes for an educational institution having a plurality of teachers, a plurality of students, and a curriculum, the method comprising providing a computer algorithm adapted for: 
 receiving, as an input into a computer system, designations of a plurality of curriculum modules of the curriculum, each curriculum module including educational material;    receiving, as an input into the computer system, student information comprising, for a first student, a second student, a third student, and a fourth student selected from the plurality of students, respective indications of their levels of competence with respect to the educational material of one or more modules;    scheduling a class to teach one of the modules, taught by one of the teachers, for the first student and the second student, responsive to the indications of the levels of competence of the first and second students; and    scheduling a tutoring session to teach the one of the modules, in which the third student is designated to tutor the fourth student, responsive to the indications of the levels of competence of the third and fourth students.    
     
     
         21 . A method for automatically producing a schedule of classes for an educational institution having a plurality of teachers, a plurality of students, and a curriculum, the method comprising providing a computer algorithm adapted for: 
 receiving, as an input into a computer system, designations of a plurality of curriculum modules of the curriculum, each curriculum module including educational material;    receiving, as an input into the computer system, student information comprising, for one or more of the plurality of students, an indication of his level of competence with respect to the educational material of one or more modules;    receiving, as an input to the computer system, optimization parameters which are indicative of an educational focus of the educational institution;    executing an optimization algorithm responsive to the student information and the optimization parameters; and    generating a schedule of classes responsive to executing the optimization algorithm.    
     
     
         22 . A method according to  claim 21 , wherein receiving the optimization parameters comprises receiving an indication of an amount of emphasis to place, when generating the schedule, on assessments of prior success of one of the teachers in teaching the educational material of one of the modules.  
     
     
         23 . A method according to  claim 21 , wherein receiving the optimization parameters comprises receiving an indication of an amount of emphasis to place on continuity of a teacher-student relationship over a plurality of separate modules.  
     
     
         24 . A method according to  claim 21 , wherein executing the optimization algorithm comprises: 
 generating a list of potential classes;    assigning each student to a class in the list;    ranking the classes with respect to a utility function;    eliminating one or more classes having a low utility; and    reassigning students in the eliminated classes to other classes.