Articles
Power BI for Timetablers (Part One)
Power BI can be an incredibly powerful tool for timetablers. This article gives a brief introduction to Power BI and the various parts which make up the system. There is also a brief overview of some of the reports which I've built so far.
Reports Instead of Travel Tables
Travel Tables allow us to avoid staff and students having to make impossible journeys across campus, but they are time consuming to run. This article looks at how some simple reports can fulfil the role of travel tables when building a timetable.
Self Solving Timetables with AI?
AI has potential for helping us construct timetables, but I was wondering if the AI found in computer games might actually be sufficient to do the job.
Pathfinding with GameplayKit
Apple's GameplayKit framework is a useful toolkit for developing games in Swift, but getting pathfinding working as expected can be tricky. This article outlines how I managed to get it working.
Calculating unique pathways in Excel
Timetablers often need to work out which combinations of courses were taken by students and how many students took each pathway. This is often a slow and fiddly process, but the latest versions of Microsoft Excel include some features which make it much easier.
Timetable Contact Tracing for COVID-19
During the pandemic it was critical to identify students who had been in contact with those who had tested positive for COVID-19. This article provides some resources for performing contact tracing on timetable data from Syllabus+.
Programme Pathway Combinations with Combo Counter
A conversation about how to illustrate the impact simple changes to a curriculum offering can have on the number of possible pathways through a degree programme resulted in me writing the Combo Counter app for iOS.