Education Space Consultancy

Providing expert timetable and space management consultancy services within the education sector

6 Methods For Ensuring Classes Are Timetabled Into Suitable Teaching Spaces

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Timetabling is a complicated and occasionally (or perhaps often!) exasperating task for all timetablers, especially when other expectations are very high! One of these timetable expectations that is often taken for granted and seen as something that “should be simple”, is that each class will be timetabled into a a room that suits the class size, teaching pedagogy and equipment demands.

This article isn’t going to explain why this is more complicated that it an seem (although this is a by product!) but rather specifically look at this expectation and provide 6 methods for improving the rate at which activities are timetabled into the right size room, with the equipment the class requires, in the style that suits the classes desired teaching pedagogy.

As with every article, I welcome your input so if you have any other tips and methods, please add them to the comments field at the bottom of the article to let other know.

1) Timetable Data Collection, Ad-Hoc Bookings And Software Set-up – How Are Teaching Activities Assigned Rooms?

I have touched on this briefly already, but in order to assign the correct room the timetable data collection stage and timetabling team/person must request from every activity the information [Read more…]

How To Get More Out Of Your Teaching Space – Computers And Tables

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The provision of both traditional teaching desks AND computer terminals in the same space is a pet hate of mine, although from a purely teaching perspective I can see how and why this practice has become embedded in many institutions. My problem with this set-up, is that it wastes a huge amount of space as only a proportion of the room is ever being used at any given time.

For example, the following teaching room has an actual capacity of 25, with 13 standard size computer terminals and 12 seminar style workplaces at traditional teaching tables. However, the room will seldom be used or timetabled for more than 12 students as the class will only use one or the other at any given time i.e. 12 using the computer terminals, or 12 using the tables/chairs. If the room layout was changed to only include teaching tables, this room could accommodate classes with up to 24 students – doubling the size of the classes using the same size space and therefore enabling the institution to get twice as much out of the space.

Dual Purpose and Single PurposeSimply replacing all the furniture with traditional tables or computer terminals however, won’t address the teaching pedagogy that has resulted in this [Read more…]

Are your “actual” capacities wasting space and money?

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The use of “actual” capacities is typically a fundamental part of calculating how well your institution is using any of its space, but do they actually reflect the size of your rooms?

“Actual” capacities that are misrepresentative of the space they have been assigned, will result in your space utilisation data creating a false impression of how well the estate is using its space, preventing you from saving money and getting the most out of your space.

For example, having an actual capacity for a teaching room of 24 that could realistically, easily seat 48, will cause your space utilisation results to appear more positive if only using this “actual”capacity to investigate space usage, when in reality this space is being very underutilised as at least half of the space is not being used at any given time, as shown [Read more…]

Are You Timetabling Classes For More Weeks Than Required?

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The number of weeks a taught module activity is timetabled for, often fall sunder the “all semester” bracket with module activities being booked for all weeks, at the set day/time throughout the semester. There is therefore typically (and hopefully) an expectation that these timeslots will then be used for all the timeslots booked ……but how sure are you, that this is actual what is happening ? Are all the weeks booked, actually being used?

I have found that in answering this there is often an institutional belief that yes, the timetable does reflect what is actually happening. However once investigated via a space utilisation survey it quickly becomes apparent that this is certainly not the case. Why is this?

In most cases, those requesting timetable activities do have the option of requesting specific days and times but either don’t realise or if they do, still choose to select “All Semester”. This can be for a variety of reasons/misunderstandings, such as “I thought I would be more likely to get a better room, if I chose all semester”, “I didn’t realise I could choose specific weeks”, “Although I won’t teach all weeks, I like the flexibility of having all the weeks available”, “I haven’t yet decided which weeks I will be teaching” and “It’s easier to select all weeks, rather than select each individual week, what’s the difference anyway?”.

All of these can be answered through effectively communicating the impact this booking behaviour has upon teaching room availability, the timetable and consequentially student experience and available funding. There are two common [Read more…]

Getting The Most Out Of Your Teaching Space – Occupancy

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Occupancy rate, is just as important as frequency rate, yet it is often not seen this way and I find this is usually simply down to a misunderstanding over the importance of occupancy and what the effects of poor occupancy practices can be.

There is often an embedded view within institutions that as long as the room is being used, it is being well utilised, but this simply isn’t the case. Changing this understanding of what a “good” room utilisation is, can make a significant difference to the overall occupancy and utilisation rate for an institution – without having to invest funds – so is definitely a worth the effort. If your large teaching space always seems to be the space where there are no timeslots available, this article will be particularly helpful.

First of all, lets start from the beginning – what is occupancy rate? I have explained this in more detail in a previous article looking at frequency, occupancy and utilisation rates however, in brief your occupancy rate is defined as how the number of people using a room compares against the room capacity. For example, if there are 5 people using a room with a capacity of 100 the occupancy rate is: 5/100 = 5%. Whilst if 80 people were using this same room, the occupancy rate would be: 80/100 = 80%.

The problem that institutions face, is that [Read more…]