Station Rotation Schedule

Create a cyclic station-rotation schedule with one visit per group per station.

Description

Station rotation can arrange equal numbers of groups and stations through a cyclic schedule.

Station rotation can arrange equal numbers of groups and stations through a cyclic schedule. Each group visits every station once over all rounds.^[1]

Create a cyclic station-rotation schedule with one visit per group per station.

When to use Station Rotation Schedule

Use this tool to create a cyclic station-rotation schedule with one visit per group per station.

Prepare the lesson timeline, roster, observations or assessment labels requested. Use consistent units and exact identifiers, then choose comparison criteria appropriate to the activity.

How to use Station Rotation Schedule and understand its results

Prepare the lesson timeline, roster, observations or assessment labels requested. Use consistent units and exact identifiers, then choose comparison criteria appropriate to the activity.
Enter groupIds, stationIds, roundMinutes, startMinute using the field table and calculation rules, then run the tool.
Read assignments, roundStartMinutes, endMinute. The explanation below defines the units, signs, ordering and any flags or placeholder values.
If the tool reports an input issue, correct the values and run it again. Apply the stated assumptions when interpreting a successfully returned result.

Input field	Meaning	Value type; see rules below	Requirement
groupIds	Group ids	list of string	Required
stationIds	Station ids	list of string	Required
roundMinutes	Round minutes	number	Required
startMinute	Start minute	number	Required

Enter nonempty distinct exact group/station IDs with equal counts, positive round minutes and finite start. Return n comma-separated group:station assignment strings, round starts and end minute.

station(group i,round r)=stations[(i+r) mod n]; roundStart=start+r×duration

Units, indexing, boundary conditions and exceptional cases are defined in the calculation rules above.

Output field	Meaning	Value type
assignments	Assignments	list of string
roundStartMinutes	Round start minutes	list of number
endMinute	End minute	number

json

{
  "input": {
    "groupIds": [
      "A",
      "B",
      "C"
    ],
    "stationIds": [
      "1",
      "2",
      "3"
    ],
    "roundMinutes": 10,
    "startMinute": 0
  },
  "output": {
    "assignments": [
      "A:1,B:2,C:3",
      "A:2,B:3,C:1",
      "A:3,B:1,C:2"
    ],
    "roundStartMinutes": [
      0,
      10,
      20
    ],
    "endMinute": 30
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

No capacity, travel, setup or learner constraints are modeled. IDs containing commas or colons are not escaped, so avoid them for unambiguous strings.

Numeric inputs must be finite. Follow the calculation-specific rules for overflow, underflow and exceptional cases. Lists are limited to 100,000 entries; the rules above may require smaller limits. Missing required fields, extra fields, wrong value types and violations of the calculation rules are input errors.

Alternative or Complementary methods

Use Jigsaw Rotation Schedule: Assign each home-group member a distinct topic and form expert groups. For a complementary task, use Breakout Group Planner: Partition participants into breakout rooms and calculate usable task time.

References

Station Rotation Schedule — tool.io

Similar or alternative tools

Jigsaw Rotation Schedule
Assign each home-group member a distinct topic and form expert groups.
Breakout Group Planner
Partition participants into breakout rooms and calculate usable task time.