ABSTRACT
Scheduling
lectures and practical timetables for a large array of courses is a very
complex problem which often has to be solved manually by the center staff even
though results are not always fully optimal.
Timetabling being a highly constrained combinational (pertaining to the
combinations and arrangements of elements in sets) problem. This work attempts
to put into play the effectiveness of evolutionary techniques based on Darwin’s
theories to solve the timetabling problem if not fully optimal but near optimal.
Genetic Algorithm is a popular meta-heuristic that has been successfully
applied to many hard combinational optimization problems. In this work, the
course sets, halls and time allocations are represented by a multi dimensional
array on which a local search is performed and a combination of the direct
representation of the timetable with heuristic crossover is made to ensure that
fundamental constraints are not violated. Finally the genetic algorithm was
applied in the development of a viable timetable system which was tested to
demonstrate the variety of possible timetables that can be generated based on
user specified constraints and requirements. PHP was used for the front-end
design of the application while MySQL was used for data storage.
CHAPTER
ONE
1.1
BACKGROUND
OF THE STUDY
Examination
scheduling is a largely studied class of timetabling problem concerning the
scheduling for testing student’s performance after several meetings with their
lecturers within a specified period of time. A good examination timetable
ensures that both student, lecturers and the school management are satisfied
with the examination arrangement, making sure that all examination are
scheduled within the stipulated time frame and both hard and soft constraint
are well satisfied. For many decades now, educational institutions have adopted
computer-based systems to support a wide range of administrative functions such
as course registration, student record management, courses and examination
timetabling, personnel and financial management [1]. Timetabling problem in
educational institutions is categorized in three groups: university
examination, university course, and school timetabling. University examination
timetabling defines the exact day, time slot, and room that each exam is held.
In other words, which exam is scheduled on which day, the time slot, and in
which building, floor, and room it is held are determined [2]. Setting up a
conflict-free examination timetable poses a difficult challenge due to limited
resources like periods and examination rooms. The main objective in the
examination timetabling problem is no student takes more than one examination
at any time period. This conflict can be regarded as a hard constraint and must
be eliminated.
The
need for automated information system for educational development cannot be
over emphasized.The assertion by many professionals that information is power is
continuously gaining affirmation as the countries of the world continue to
witness dynamic trends in information technology. The manual system of
accessing and scheduling of examination time-table in higher institutions is
always very tedious. The scheduling is done by the school’s exams and record
department. The number of exams hall in the school and their various capacities
must be put into consideration, if not there will be a clash of exam venues.
For each of the sections, levels and departments, there will be a time slot for
each of the examination day. Manually scheduling of this time is confusing and
takes a long period of time to produce and excellent and perfect result that is
free from clashes.
1.2STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
An
improper examination timetable may result in students’ poor performance as it
may not let them enough preparation between two sequential exams. In addition,
there are many exams to be scheduled, large number of students who have taken
different courses, the limited number of rooms or exam halls are available, and
some constraints such as no conflict in a single student’s exams make it very
difficult to schedule experimentally. The scheduling problem created by these
set of circumstances clearly poses an interesting intellectual challenge. This
study explores this challenge and proposes solution to this problem. The
following are some of the challenges encountered in the Manual Process of Exam
Time Table Allocation;
a. The
current manually prepared exam time table is always error prone and takes a lot
of time to reschedule.
b. Manual
system of planning and accessing this time table is stressful.
- Actual
class sizes are not captured and as such there is error in Venue
Allocation. - Clashes in
take place in cases of carryover students.
1.3OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
The
world is changing into a global village and the quest for knowledge and information
is increasing. The computing is fast dominating all the aspects of life and
many academic institution activities. There is a need for an easy way for
planning and scheduling the school examination time table. To achieve this
purpose, the following objectives must be put into consideration:
1.
To develop flexible and interactive
Examination Scheduling Software that enables automatic generation of
examinations schedules for tertiary institution in Nigeria.
2.
To develop a simple easy-to-use software
which an individual with little or no idea of software application can interact
with a great deal of comprehension.
3.
To develop a system that will capture
the actual sizes of the class and allocate venues accordingly.
4.
Developing a system that will create room
easy amendment where there are errors.
1.4SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
This
research work is greatly hoped to eliminate the manual way of scheduling
examination time table in the school. It will more also eliminate stress in
planning of the time table. It will also avail the students to go for their
worship at Sundays that is no more writing exams on Sundays. Students will now
write exams comfortably with good venue and much time and more also eliminate
examination clash.
1.5
SCOPE OF STUDY
This
project work is meant to cover examination time table scheduling for school of
Industrial And Applied Science (SIAS) in federal polytechnic Nekede Owerri. The
system is web based so it will be hosted on a server and run on a browser. For
the purpose of this project, the system will be hosted on a localhost. The
system has a login page which restricts access to unregistered users, an
interface for the registration of courses and classes.
1.6
LIMITATION OF STUDY
No
research work can be carried out without certain constraints either in form of
finance or logistics. This research is not an exemption and as such as money
factors serves as constraints in the process of carrying out this research.
Below are little of the constraints encountered.
- TIME: Given the
time required for the submission of this research work, the necessary
attention was not given to the study coupled with the work load of any
final year student. - FINANCE: Financial
resources are not readily available to carry out an extensive and thorough
research and the work is a tasking exercise, which requires a lot of
financial commitment. Unfortunately, the money required to carry out this
thorough work is not always available. As a matter of fact, finance was a
constraint in this research especially with the harsh economic condition. - POWER SUPPLY: There
has been no power for this work because in the area we are living their
transformer got damage has not been restored.
1.8
DEFINITION OF TERMS
- Lay-men:
A person who is not a member a particular profession. - End-user:
A person that users a software developed by another person - Allocate:
to distribute resource for a particular purpose. - SIAS: School
of Industrial and Applied Science. - PROLOG:
A high level language programming language base
on logical rather than mathematical relationships. - Constraint: something that limits
freedom of action. - Linear Programming: A
method of finding maximum and minimum of a linear transformation using
variables that are subject to constraints.