Developing Examination Scheduling Automation System by Using Evolutionary Computing Technique

Abstract

In this study, manually (paperwork) and periodically prepared exam scheduling applications at universities have been taken into a computer automation system by developing a software solution. In the software developed by the authors, Evolutionary Algorithm method has been applied and university administration's specific improvement requests have also been taken into consideration while developing the software. The developed software has two parts: First part is about collecting data through the web application, and the second part is the application project, which calculates the final scheduling results. By utilizing the software, a considerable amount of time lost by manually preparing exam schedules will be saved. In addition, with the real-time connection to the student automation system database, numerous problems will be vanished, i.e. students/classes exam scheduling conflicts, etc. In the study, tables added to the current student automation system database have been explained. Additionally, by applying the genetic algorithm methods to the various parts of data have been examined along with the constraints used in the application, which are essential parts of the software. User interfaces have been designed with their sample instances. Finally, exam-scheduling table has been created and an example output of the schedule has been generated in the study.