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Contents > Section 3.4
Section 3.4
SCHEDULING OF COURSES--GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Consistent with the provisions of the Charter,
each Chair/Director is charged with the responsibility to assure that
the curriculum of his/her unit is developed according to the
following principles:
- Tenured and tenure track faculty should routinely teach
required courses at all levels of the curriculum.
- It is desirable for tenured and tenure track faculty to teach
extensively in the lower division, especially in courses that
serve as gateway courses for majors. To the greatest possible
extent, therefore, Chairs should assure significant senior faculty
presence in lower division classes.
- In putting together academic schedules, no temporary staff
funding will be approved until it is established that tenured and
tenure track faculty are unable to cover all of the required
courses in general education, honors sections, required major
courses, and essential graduate courses. In short, no
electives taught by tenured and tenure track faculty should
be scheduled until such time as the required curriculum has been
covered and/or it is demonstrated that the unit has inadequate
faculty resources to do so.
- Allocation of temporary resources from the Dean's Office will
proceed only after student demand for courses has been fully
demonstrated during the registration process. Priority must go to
meeting undergraduate general education and required course
demand. Departments should be prepared to amend their fall
schedules during the summer to respond to course requests from
incoming first year and transfer students. Deans will be
responsible for opening new sections as warranted.
- To assist in planning, schedules in all units should be built
around the following priorities: undergraduate courses before
graduate courses; within undergraduate courses, general education
courses should have higher priority than required courses in the
major and honors sections, which should have higher priority than
elective courses. Chairs and directors are to meet the demand at
each level before moving to the next level of priority. Allocation
of temporary dollars will be done in the context of solving
problems that arise from our efforts to schedule according to
these principles.
- The time
grid as established by campus policy must be observed
by all units. Three hour courses must stay within the published
three hour grids; four and five hour courses must follow the
combinations in the published grids. Unusual time patterns such as
Monday/Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. and Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. classes,
or courses which use two grid blocks, are not permissible.
- The classroom allotment, excluding those in large lecture
rooms or labs, must be observed. Large lecture rooms need to be
assigned on a priority basis by the Registrar, but only after
discussion with and approval of the Dean. The goal is to maximize
the number of seats available for general education classes and
for required major classes. Full utilization of large classrooms
should be a key priority in determining whether a unit continues
to have access to the room in subsequent semesters.
- No fewer than 60% of a department's three-credit hour courses
may be scheduled on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and these
sections must accommodate no fewer than 60% of the overall demand
for those courses.
- No more than 40% of a department's three-credit hour courses
may be scheduled on Tuesday and Thursday, and no more than 40% of
the overall demand for these courses may be scheduled on those
days.
- No more than 60% of any department's courses may be scheduled
between 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. It is imperative to make full
utilization of our classroom space both throughout the day and
throughout the week.
While exceptions to these principles are possible, they will be
driven by academic considerations of the campus, the college, and/or
the program and not by individual preferences of faculty members
and/or students.
In preparing the schedule of courses, the Registrar's
Office will deal primarily with Dean's office. The Registrar may
not make any exceptions to these policies without the written
authorization of the Dean and/or a designee. Units may not deal
directly with the Registrar in order to address concerns involving
these Campus-wide policies, unless authorized to do so in writing for
specific purposes by the Dean.
PLANNING COURSE OFFERINGS
The actual schedule of classes for each semester is initiated by
the Office of Registration and Records and sent directly to the
departments/schools for recommendations. The
departments/schools/ programs may suggest changes in course
offerings, meeting times, and capacities, and indicate staff
assignments. The amended schedules are then returned to the
college office, for review and approval. The following factors should
guide consideration of changes:
- Course changes and new courses cannot be added to the schedule
until the formal approval process has been completed. This
includes changes in credit hours, level, prerequisites, or
title. The Registrar will not accept such changes without
formal approval.
- Departments/schools are expected to maintain the same quantity
of spaces at each level of instruction in adjusting the schedules,
unless justification for reduced offerings is made.
- Time
grids and utilization of classrooms as recommended by the
Registrar should be followed as much as possible. The
scheduling office of the Registrar should be consulted if any
substantial departures from the grid or room quota are
contemplated. It is the policy of this university that classes be
offered during the times they are originally scheduled and
advertised; to do otherwise penalizes students. Chairs and
Directors are asked to inform faculty of this policy and to
encourage their adherence to it. This issue becomes especially
critical during summer sessions.
- At the same time that schedules are submitted to the college,
staffing needs and tentative staff loads should be stated, and if
possible, staff assignments indicated on the returned
schedule. Sections for which no staffing is available should
not be included in the schedule without explicit approval
of the college. It is assumed that departments/schools are
prepared to staff all the sections indicated on an in-load basis,
without additional staff.
- Deadlines are important to allow the registration process to
function smoothly. Every effort should be made to submit
schedules promptly.
- In cases where large scale revision of the schedule has been
proposed, a summary of changes will help expedite approval and may
insure against errors in building the schedule.
- All adjustments and additional offerings that can be
anticipated should be included in the schedule at the time the
schedule is built.
Student request for seats is our principal source of
confirmation of need, and must increasingly become the
determining factor in requests for added sections or additional
staff. For this reason, it is important that as many students,
including graduate students, as possible utilize continuing student
registration. Departments/schools are required to establish some form
of "wait listing" for courses.
If the continuing student registration indicates need for more
spaces, the college will:
- ask the department/school to provide more spaces or more
teaching time, or
- ask the department/school to cancel sections with low demand,
and reassign staff, or
- seek funds to provide for additional sections.
For your information, the minimum course enrollments as
established by Academic Council (2/17/82) follow:
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100-200 level courses
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15
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300-400 level courses
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10
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500-700 level courses
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5
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Cooperation in meeting demand is important since the total student
credit hours are a critical factor in obtaining funds for the
college.
Late additions and deletions from the schedule should be made in
writing to the Registrar and a copy of this correspondence sent to
the college. If staff is required, approval of the college is
necessary.
Section size control is largely up to the department/school.
Admission to closed sections is obtained only by approval from
appropriate departmental/school personnel. The college office
does not grant permission to students making this request.
Special courses, such as A & S 100, 200, 250, 300, 400,
coordinated programs, workshops or field courses are to be approved
by the college, and the necessary budgets established, before the
courses are included in the schedule. Special arrangements for
registration may be established with the Registrar.
If special approved fees are to be collected for a course, the
department should check with the Bursar's office to confirm that the
fees will be billed.
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