In fall 2019, an estimated 19.9 million students attended colleges and universities in the US. That represents over a quarter of US students (starting from elementary) combined. All in all, the country had an estimated 76.5 million students during fall 2019.
By contrast, there were only about 3.7 to 3.8 million educational workers from 2019 to 2020. Meaning, there was one school worker per 20 students.
Juggling all those students would be quite tricky without school scheduling software. Especially today, with institutions having to switch to online learning. Scheduling conflicts are sure to arise as teachers and students turn to e-learning.
The question now is, what exactly makes for the best scheduling software for schools?
We'll serve up the answer below, so be sure to stick around!
First Things First: What's a Scheduling Software?
Scheduling software lets you automate schedule creation. They're much like a secretary or assistant, except that they use artificial intelligence. From scheduling events to appointments, there's a platform that can automate each.
Scheduling software for schools run on the same concept and perform similar tasks. For starters, institutions can use them to create schedules for each faculty member. There are also scheduling platforms for the IT or even the facility management team.
So, What Makes for the Best School Scheduling Software?
Does your faculty consist of full-time, part-time, or on-call educators? Perhaps your school offers courses that require tenure. Maybe you want to create schedules that run on a first-come, first-served basis.
Whatever system you need, the best school scheduling software will meet your demands. It will give you full control over all these key scheduling variables.
That's just the tip of the iceberg, though. Here are other features that make a certain scheduling software the best for your school.
It's Impartial and Unbiased
A study found that an average of 72% of employees cares about workplace culture. These workers place particular attention to workplace equality.
As such, a work environment that lacks this is likely to have high attrition rates.
Impartial school scheduling is one of the things that shout equality at work. After all, this ensures that every staff member, be it in the faculty or IT, has shared opportunities.
The best scheduling platform lets you create unbiased schedules wherever you may be. It allows you to evenly spread open schedules among your available staff members. Of course, you can always specify parameters to ensure that they get picked up by qualified staff.
It Lets Staff Members Trade Shifts
The best scheduling platform should do more than automate workforce management tasks. It should also allow staff members to trade shifts as needed.
Let's say one of your assistant professors can't attend an upcoming class due to an emergency. Another qualified lecturer is free to cover that class, though. Then, the two of them can do shift trading to ensure that the students will still have a competent educator.
It Doesn't Forget Necessary Breaks
Job burnout can result from overworking, which, in turn, often arises from a lack of work breaks. While working hard is important, working too hard does more damage. It can render workers fatigued, unproductive, super stressed, and inefficient.
Conversely, not having scheduled breaks can leave key tasks incomplete. Without a systematic break schedule, employees may end up taking breaks at the same time.
The best school scheduling software addresses all these issues by automating break schedules. It also gives you the freedom to add, delete, or modify breaks as needed.
It Allows for Self-Scheduling
More than two in three (that's 14 million) enrolled college students are also workers. While many have jobs outside of the school, others work for the school itself.
If your educational institution employs learner-workers, it's best to consider their busy schedules. That's why it pays to use scheduling software that allows self-scheduling. With this feature, your student-employees can create shifts based on their availability.
It's Easy to Integrate With Other Functions
Student-workers are multi-taskers who have many other extra-curricular activities. Many of them play sports, others have clubs, and some may even be part of the student body. On top of all these are educational or work training and certifications they need to get done.
Your school workforce may also have new employees who need training. Perhaps they're new to the IT department, so they have to demonstrate their skills further. There may also be programs required by law, such as workplace safety.
Manually tracking all these won't only be challenging; it can also lead to legal issues. This is especially true when it comes to workplace (or school) safety and ethics training.
The great news is, the best scheduling platform can help you monitor all these extra tasks. You can get certification and training management added to the scheduling system. With this in your toolbox, you'll know who finished the program and who still has to complete it.
It Eliminates Scheduling Woes
At the end of the day, the best scheduling tool for schools is one that fulfills all your unique needs. It makes adjusting shifts easy and hassle-free. It helps minimize issues like duplicate schedules and unfilled shifts.
Most importantly, it helps prevent uneven or overloaded scheduling across school staff.
With all these benefits, the entire school workforce can perform more efficiently. Students, on the other hand, benefit through maintained quality education.
School Scheduling Done Right
There are dozens, even hundreds of school scheduling software to choose from. While that means more options, it also means more work for you, as not all of them are all-encompassing. If you have to use more than a single software, then that's not the best one for your school.
SubItUp is the exact opposite; it delivers all the benefits mentioned above and more. It's a unique platform that can meet the needs of your educational institution.
Ready to give it a try to see the huge difference it can make for your college or university? Then please feel free to get in touch with us now!
