Screen 6

Screen 7

10. Click

    

    Screen 8

     

    Highlight each group in turn, style='font-size:16.0pt'>ASSEMBLE THE DATA

     

    Now that we have some basic data to work with, we can begin

    

    Screen 9

     

    2. a. Double-click unselect a teacher or students by double-clicking them in the selected boxes

        

       3. Repeat repetitive. It can be speeded up if you have identical lessons to be repeated several times per week, for example a daily period of English (double-length on two days for good measure!)

           

          4. Start with Screen 9. On the right, above the numbered tabs 1 to 5, you can choose to 'Split into .... activities per week'. Make it 5, for this example.

           

          5. Move
          6. Now move down a little and change 'Duration' to 2.

           

          7. Move to the numbered tabs. Click on 1; you have just created a 'double-length' lesson.

           

          8. Click on tab 2 next and create another 'double-length' lesson. (Duration will need to be changed to 2 again)

           

          9. That's enough double-length lessons for one week. Duration can be left at 1 for the next three lessons.

           

          10. End by clicking "Add current activity", OK it and close. You have just created five lessons, two of them double-length.

           

          name, so that your hard work so far is safe and never has to be re-typed!

           

           

          After a minute or less, the display will stabilize, hopefully showing zero conflicts of space or time, as in screen 10b

           

          id="_x0000_i1040" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:387pt;height:376.5pt'>

           

          

           

          PRINT YOUR TIMETABLE

           

          Your teachers and students are unlikely to be interested in the fascinating details of all you have done so far. They will just want error-free print-outs!

          

           

          2. Note in 12b above that my timetables are stored on the Desktop, in a sub-folder

             

             Finally I open 鍍est file-single賠see below screen 13c

           

          

          Screen 13c

           

          Numerous timetables can be can print the whole file, or use your mouse to highlight just one timetable and simply print that selection. You can also copy the selection and paste it into a word processor or spreadsheet for additional formatting before printing. (I

          	David
          	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
          09.15 - 10.45	---	---	---	CE2 F/T Tutorial W1	---
          11.00 - 12.30	E0 F/T Reading B312	---	E1 F/T Grammar B303		L1A Writing B19
          13.00 - 15.15	L1A Listening/Speaking B301	E3A Reading B302	EAL2 Writing L2	E3A Writing B301	E1 F/T Study skills B303
          15.30 - 17.00	---	---	---	---	---
          18.15 - 20.15	L1C Listening/Speaking B301	E3C Listening/Speaking B303	---	---	---
          	Timetable generated with FET 5.11.0 on 05/11/2009 15:03

          Screen 13d

           

          Congratulations! You have just completed the basic steps to produce an individual teacher痴 timetable using FET. You can go

          I find that each teacher and each student needs a timetable of their classes; each room needs a room-timetable displayed on the door. In the staffroom I place three large spreadsheet-like displays of all teachers, this latter case FET still serves as a powerful database storing all your timetable data, enabling you to modify, interrogate or view it on screen with a few mouse clicks, as well as  print out a variety of consistent and up-to-date timetables.

           

           

           

          

          

           

          5. Remember, whenever you add a new activity in future, you will probably need to

              

             1.  Main id="_x0000_i1052" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:378.75pt;height:376.5pt'>

              

             3. Repeat steps 3 and 4 above to add space more constraints.

              

             5. The left-hand window will fill up, as mine below (Screen 17)

              

             

             Screen 17

              

             6. I

                 

                 

                Handling Conflicts

                two places at once for example, or a room too small for the class. It can be very puzzling initially as to what exactly the problem is. I recommend that you make a habit of generating a new timetable regularly after entering just a very small amount of new data. It generates almost instantaneously, or fails and then you know the problem is related to the last data you entered.

                 

                Why not experiment with a tiny practice file? Create a new constraints of space and two constraints of time, forcing two activities into the same room at the same time. Generate again and watch the results of the conflict you have created. Go back and adjust the constraints to remove the conflict and then generate again. You could also try putting a teacher, or a set of students, in two places at the same time. I have found that practising like this helped me resolve problems with my real timetables.

                 

                 

                

                 

                The problem is that activity Id:3 is trying to go in the same room at the same time as activity Id:2 or Activity Id:1. Now screen 18b

                Conclusion

                 

                I hope you found this basic guide useful in getting you started. If so, you will realise of course that there are several aspects of FET that I have not dealt with. However, there are many sources of help available on the FET website and the user forum at http://www.lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/. Happy time-tabling!

                 

                 

                WRITTEN BY Tom Hosty, 5 November 2009 Email: tomhosty@hotmail.com

                 

                Guide, updated as often as necessary to make it as useful as possible.