Have you ever looked into a large lecture theatre and only seen a handful of students, all huddled at the front and thought – Where are the rest of the students? Surely a class of this size wouldn’t have been timetabled into such a large room?
There are likely to many instances of this happening every day in a large institution. Investigating why this is happening and resolving the issues highlighted, can significantly increase the availability of space within your institution.
Typically I found there there are 5 factors that can cause a class to use a teaching room with a significantly larger capacity:
1) The data used to create the timetable is inaccurate
2) Student attendance for this teaching activity is poor
3) The estate has a shortage of suitable sized teaching space for this activity, therefore this was the smallest room available.
4) Timetable constraints have resulted in this teaching room being the most suitable room.
5) A timetabling error, has resulted in a larger room being timetabled when a smaller room was available.
To begin with you need to investigate how each of these factors are effecting you institution occupancy rate and therefore the first step is to compare the teaching space utilisation survey data against the timetable data for the same week looking for differences between the recorded attendance and timetabled class size. My advice to use software such as Microsoft Excel to carry this out, rather than manually checking (This will not only save you a huge amount of time, but is also likely to be more accurate).
Highlight all those activities with a significant difference between the room capacity they have been allocated and the attendance figure recorded at that time during the teaching space utilisation survey. Then, also highlight (i.e. in a different colour) all those activities that have a significant difference between the recorded attendance figure and the timetabled class sizes. (Again getting Excel to automatically do this for you will save time)
For all those activities that are highlighted both colours (recorded attendance figure is significantly less than room capacity AND recorded attendance figure is significantly less than the timetabled class size) the second three factors can be discounted, leaving the first two possibilities as the most likely factors resulting in a the room being poorly used by these activities i.e. the timetabled class size if significantly greater than the recorded attendance
1) The timetable class sizes do not accurately represent the number of students who are required to attend the activity
This is a relatively common issue, as the the timetabled class sizes are typically created using a combination of historical class sizes for this activity (especially if this is an optional module), predications for the coming academic year and module pre-selection data. This is due to the timetable construction usually beginning many months before any teaching has taken place, therefore the size of a requested timetable activity can rely on the information that is passed on by the academic department (or person responsible for the activity).
Therefore if you have timetable activities with class sizes much greater than the recorded attendance, it is certainly worth investigating why this has happened with both the timetabling team and the department/person responsible for making the request. Find out what the reasons are and discuss solutions for resolving this difference in future years. The reasons for why this can occur, will differ from one activity to the next – but some common issues are: “timetable class size was rolled over from last year (despite reduction in student numbers)”, “predicted all students would take this optional – just in case they did” and “predicted a class size higher than was required to ensure that the activity was put in a lecture theatre”.
By improving the accuracy of the predictions you will be releasing some of the pressure on the largest teaching spaces, increasing the availability of these spaces within the timetable.
2) Student attendance for this teaching activity is poor
Student attendance can be a big issue that effects the occupancy rate and something the timetable team typically cannot accommodate for. For example, if the enrolled number of students for a teaching activity is 100 but the recorded attendance during the survey week was only 20, this suggests that a much smaller room could have accommodated the class. However, the timetable typically allocates a teaching room based on the figures it has been provided i.e. the maximum attendance = 100 (enrolled students). Some institutions do incorporate a small percentage of students not attending, however this is genuinely not advised as if all the students did attend the activity the room would then be overcrowded.
Therefore, it is worth discussing the student attendance issue with those departments responsible for the teaching activities effected. Typically it is recognised that a very low student attendance is a concern, therefore the academic departments will want to resolve these issues as improving attendance can positively effect a whole range of measurements, such as student results and the student experience (as well as space utilisation!).
For all the activities that are highlighted the first colour only (i.e. recorded attendance figure is significantly less than room capacity), then you can discount the first two factors as possibilities and investigate the final three factors as the likely causes of the room being poorly used:
3) The estate has a shortage of suitable sized teaching space for this activity, therefore this was the smallest room available.
4) Timetable constraints have resulted in this teaching room being the most suitable room.
5) A timetabling error, has resulted in a larger room being timetabled when a smaller room was available.
To investigate these three factors, I would advise following the data analysis techniques described in a previous article “Why Do Teaching Rooms Have Low Occupancy Rates”. This will article will help you to uncover which of these factors have resulted in the activities recording a low occupancy rate and enable you to find solutions for improving the teaching room occupancy rate in the future.
At this point, there shouldn’t typically be any activities highlighted the second colour only. If you have, then this suggests that class using the room is an appropriate size compared to the capacity, but the timetabled class size is much greater than the recorded attendance figure – and therefore above the room capacity.
To investigate, discuss your findings with the person(s) responsible for timetabling this activity to find out why this has occurred. If the timetable class sizes are correct and potential overcrowding has been permitted, I would advise investigate why this is – overcrowding is something students and staff do not like (quite understandably, especially if students have to sit on the floor or stand!) and instances of overcrowding often impact on the student experience. I would also investigate why these activities weren’t in fact overcrowded, again considering the first two factors above (1) The data used to create the timetable is inaccurate and 2) Student attendance for this teaching activity is poor).
Procedures and practices that result in an institution having a low teaching room occupancy rate cause the larger teaching spaces to appear (from a timetabling perspective) as being in short supply. By investigating those activities that are using the timetabled teaching room capacity poorly and discussing the issues with those involved , you will find solutions to these practices and procedures that will help to release this pressure on the larger teaching spaces. This enables those responsible for the estate, the timetable and teaching to consider other options such as a more flexible timetable or a reduction in teaching space, using the space for other beneficial purposes.
I hope you have enjoyed this article and found it useful. Remember to subscribe to the Education Space Consultancy newsletter and you can download for free, the Education Space Consultancy Teaching Space Utilisation Data Tool as well as be sent a fortnightly newsletter with lots of free information and news.
This article is the 5th in this series looking at teaching space utilisation data analysis. If you have missed any of the previous articles in this series, it would be worth taking a look back at Education Space Consultancy blog as these article are focussed towards helping you get the most out of your teaching space.
If you currently don’t carry out teaching space utilisation surveys at your institution or do but currently manage them internally or with another company, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with me to discuss how Education Space Consultancy can offer you a professional, reliable and client focussed teaching space utilisation service that will provide you with the information you require, when you need it, at an affordable price. Also, remember to take a look at the Teaching Space Utilisation Survey and Consultancy page for more information on how Education Space Consultancy can help you gather this information and help you improve your institutions teaching space utilisation
Next week I will be posting another article in this series, this time looking at Day and Timeslot Analysis so remember to look out for this or sign up to the Education Space Consultancy newsletter to be sent a link to this article via the fortnightly newsletter.
All the best
Ben Moreland
