Custom FET BP - block planning (Need help choosing a custom version)

[ChicagoPianoTuner]

Oh those constraints sound very useful - are they in the most recent aat version too?

[Liviu Lalescu]

Unfortunately latest FET-AAT is based on FET-5.37.5, so the answer is no.

[ChicagoPianoTuner]

OK, thanks. Can you think of any reason why I couldn't just use the official FET for my needs? What advantage does AAT have?

[Liviu Lalescu]

The customizations of FET-AAT are explained in the corresponing readme: https://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/download/custom/aat/readme-aat.txt

[ChicagoPianoTuner]

Thank you! Can you explain a bit?

- First customization: activities with common students cannot intersect in the real-life slots, so that they cannot have overlapping FET hours.

How is this a customization? Isn't this just a basic time constraint?

Never mind, I understand. This means that a student can only have a course in one real hour, no matter the day (teacher), e.g. if I have Mrs. X's science class during lesson 1, then I can't have anything else in lesson 1 on any day (teacher).

I think that is the most important constraint for me. So I must use AAT. But I think it is the only AAT customization that I need.

[ChicagoPianoTuner]

Hmm, I actually wonder if this one might be a problem:

- Fourth customization: activities split into 2 or 3 per week won't have all the components consecutive. Assuming real days = 5 and real hours = 6. Assuming the activities split into 2 have durations 2+1 and those split into 3 have durations 2+1+1.

But maybe I'll have to see.

[Liviu Lalescu]

Indeed, FET-AAT was designed for a very specialized purpose.

Never mind, I understand. This means that a student can only have a course in one real hour, no matter the day (teacher), e.g. if I have Mrs. X's science class during lesson 1, then I can't have anything else in lesson 1 on any day (teacher).

I think this was the explanation.

[Volker Dirr]

It's a bit depending on the rules how a student can select subject.
But it look very close to German course planing. So in that case you might do the course planning with StElTo, export that into official FET and use offical FET for timetabling.

[ChicagoPianoTuner]

I hope I have not used up my credit for custom versions, but I have a request. I tried using AAT for my new application, but I have more than 35 teachers/days (perhaps as many as 80). There may be other changes as well - I can't really know yet. I think that the second AAT customization about FET hours per day = 30 will not work for me either.

Could you possibly post a custom version based on the current version of FET (or whatever is easiest for you) with:
- first AAT customization: activities with common students cannot intersect in the real-life slots, so that they cannot have overlapping FET hours and just increased number of days.
- maximum number of FET days (real teachers) = 100

I would be very grateful if you can help

Thank you!

[ChicagoPianoTuner]

Maybe I should mention: if it is easier for you to base this version on the same FET version that AAT is based on, that would work just as well. Whatever is easiest for you!

[Liviu Lalescu]

Hello again, CPT,

I am not sure I can help now. I might consider your request in the future, but I cannot promise.

[ChicagoPianoTuner]

OK - I understand. You have helped me very much in the past. I can try to figure some things out on my own. Can I just ask this: may I have access to version 1 of AAT, with only that one constraint implemented? I can only download AAT-6.

[Liviu Lalescu]

I searched and found the old versions on the external backup hard disk I have. I have put them on https://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/download/custom/aat/old/ . Please let me know when I can delete them. But I don't know if they are of any use.

I thought some more on your request. Might your request be useful also for other institutions as well? I luckily just released the official FET, which was a bit stressful.

[ChicagoPianoTuner]

I will look through them - thank you. I tried looking through the FET source code in an IDE - I think it will take me a while to understand everything

Congratulations on releasing the new FET version!

The core concept behind my custom version is the same used at very, very many North American schools. It is called a "block schedule," though this term means different things to different people. But the details will be different from one school to the next. For example, in the custom version you helped me with over the summer, there were 7 blocks, with 5 partitions (partitions is my word - there is no official term for this). I tried explaining it to my administration and they found it too complicated (they were correct), so we designed a simpler system using 8 blocks with only 2 partitions. Some schools do 8 blocks with 1 partition. Some do 4 blocks with 2 partitions. Each school uses the same principle, but varies the theme slightly. So, in principle, a custom version would be very useful if it allowed users to vary a theme. If you would like, I would commit to writing a guide on how to use it, using terms that many North American schools would find familiar.

It is essentially just course planning done in a specific way, which is why AAT is the right tool.

I am trying to make this system very simple. For example, successfully got AAT to generate one year group of students, but it raise an assert error after the last activity had been placed, I think because of the timetable export customization in AAT. That is why I ask for only the primary AAT customization. The increase in teachers (FET days) is so I can do all students at once, and not just one year group.

Please let me know if I need to explain anything more.

[ChicagoPianoTuner]

Great - I just downloaded the first version of AAT and it did not crash upon generation. Perfect I think you can delete it now.