Useful Utilities

Syllabus Organizer

Pack a course outline of topics with hour loads into numbered teaching weeks with balanced weekly loads, hold break-list topics back, and flag weeks that must cover two or more topics.

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Course outline*One topic per line; "Topic: hours" sets the hour load, a plain line means 1 h
Teaching weeks*Rows in the plan, one per week
Break topics to hold backTopic names (or lines from the outline) not to scheduleDefault

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About Syllabus Organizer

Each outline line names a topic; a trailing "hours" figure sets its load, a plain line counts as one hour. Topics are then placed largest-first, and each one goes to the week that currently carries the least teaching, which keeps the weekly hour loads as even as this greedy method can.

A break list holds named topics back from the term: they stay out of the plan and are listed as deferred, which is how a long outline is trimmed to what still fits. Every row of the table is one week, with its topics and its hour load.

The table always has exactly the chosen number of rows, so a plan for ten weeks shows all ten. When the outline has more topics than weeks, some week must teach two or more topics and a note says so; hour loads above 48 h per topic are refused.

Questions about Syllabus Organizer

How are the weeks kept balanced?

Largest-first fit: topics enter by descending hour load and each takes the currently lightest week, so no week's load grows past the others by more than one topic.

What are break topics for?

They are topics you want on hold: listed in the break box, they keep their outline lines but stay out of the week-by-week plan and are reported as deferred instead.

What if I have more topics than weeks?

The plan still shows every week, but one week has to cover two or more topics; a note flags that and suggests the break list or more weeks.

Do plain outline lines have hours?

They read as one hour each, the shortest sensible unit of teaching; add "Name: 6" when a topic needs more.

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