Handling students who switch time slot without disrupting a class

Students changing time slot is routine at language, skills and talent centres. The reason may be a work schedule, a school timetable or a wish to attend fewer sessions a week.

Handled manually, one student's change can shift the schedule of the whole class or corrupt the count of sessions attended. This post compares manual handling with handling in software and sets out the steps to follow.

Common types of time slot change

• A student reduces from two sessions a week to one
• A student moves from one time slot to another in the same class
• A student moves to another class with a more suitable time slot

In each case the class continues on its existing schedule. Only the individual student's schedule changes.

Problems with manual handling

In a spreadsheet, centres usually remove the student's name from one date column and add it to another, or add a note alongside. After a few changes nobody knows exactly how many sessions the student has left or on which dates they will attend.

• Remaining sessions are miscounted after the change
• Instructors still see the student on sessions they no longer attend
• Staff edit the schedule of the whole class instead of one student
• No trace remains of the schedule before the change

Principle: a student's change does not change the class

The class and its time slots are the shared schedule. When one student changes, only the part of the schedule tied to that student is adjusted. Other students and the instructor are not affected.

The student's remaining sessions must also be preserved. For example, a student with eight sessions left in the course still has eight sessions after switching time slot, only on different dates.

Example: reducing from two sessions a week to one

A class meets on Monday and Wednesday. One student wants to attend on Wednesday only. The correct approach is to cancel the Monday time slot for this student only and move the remaining sessions to the following Wednesdays.

1. 1Select the student and the class they attend
2. 2Select the time slot to cancel, Monday in this example
3. 3Move the remaining sessions to the days of the Wednesday time slot
4. 4Check the new schedule and the student's remaining sessions
5. 5Inform the student and the instructor of the new schedule

After the change the student finishes the course later because they attend once a week, but the total number of sessions is unchanged. The schedules of the class and the other students stay the same.

Mistakes to avoid

• Removing the student from the class and adding them back, breaking the link to earlier attendance data
• Changing the class time slot when only one student has changed
• Not rechecking remaining sessions after the change
• Changing the schedule outside the software and forgetting to update the system

These mistakes usually appear when the tool has no dedicated action for changing one student's time slot, forcing staff to use workarounds.

Sol26 Edu is designed to handle time slot changes

Sol26 Edu is designed to cancel one time slot for a student without affecting the class and move the remaining sessions to the days of the remaining time slot. Per-session attendance and sessions attended per student sit in the same software, so the centre can still track progress after the change.

Frequently asked questions

Does changing time slot lose earlier attendance data?

Handled correctly, sessions already attended and earlier attendance data are kept. Only the remaining sessions move to the days of the remaining time slot.

Are other students in the class affected?

No. Sol26 Edu is designed to cancel the time slot for that student only, so the class schedule and other students stay unchanged.

Does the student's total number of sessions change?

The total stays the same. When sessions per week are reduced, the student's course end date moves later.