Course and Classroom Scheduling: Duke's Approach to a Common Problem

Bruce W. Cunningham Assistant Vice Provost and University Registrar Duke University 2013 SACRAO Annual Meeting San Antonio, Texas

The Need for Change Duke had the same problem many institutions have

–

too many classes offered in

“

prime time

”

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Limited choices for students Limited room availability/poor room utilization General dissatisfaction with course scheduling

The Problem More than 65% of course offerings at prime time (10 AM

–

PM) 2

  

Had guidelines for spreading out offerings, but no enforcement Virtually no classes before 9 AM Very few classes on Friday, especially Friday afternoon

The Solution

Provost appointed a faculty led committee to propose a new course scheduling policy



Membership included deans, student affairs staff, athletics staff, Vice Provost, University Registrar, students, and several faculty



Primary goal was to spread course offerings across the day and across the week

– Increase course options for students – Improve room utilization

The Policy

Policy

  

Time periods, including “ nested three day per week offerings ” time periods to facilitate flexibility between two day and Added more MW time slots and new WF time slots (have since added MF as another 2-day alternative) Started the day at 8:30, with a goal of adding several classes at that time

Policy

Critical component is

ENFORCED

scheduling constraints

  

No more than 50% allowed in prime time Balance between various meeting patterns to force better spread across week Enforcement of constraints via the Departmental Schedule Validator (DSV)

Time Slots

TIME PERIODS: Monday through Friday (note the “ nesting ” of 50-minute courses within 75-minute courses) 75 minute classes pd. 1) 8:30-9:45 pd. 2) 10:05-11:20 pd. 3) 11:45-1:00 pd. 4) 1:25-2:40 pd. 5) 3:05-4:20 pd. 6) 4:40-5:55 pd. 7) 6:15-7:30 pd. 8) 7:30-.....

50 minute classes 8:45-9:35 10:20-11:10 12:00-12:50 1:40-2:30 3:20-4:10 4:55-5:45 6:30-7:20 7:30-....

Time Slots

All classes, regardless of length, must begin at the official starting times

  

All classes meeting in 75 minute sessions must start at the times in the first column All classes meeting in 50 minute sessions must start at the times in the second column Classes not meeting for either 75 minute or 50 minute sessions (e.g. a one day per week, 150 minute class) must start at one of the official starting times

Meeting Patterns

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Monday/Wednesday/Friday - for 50-minute classes that meet three times per week Monday/Wednesday, Wednesday/Friday, Tuesday/Thursday, and Monday/Friday - for 75-minute classes that meet two times per week One day per week classes may be scheduled on any day of the week, but must start at one of the standard starting times

Constraints



Departments may schedule UP TO 50% of all of their classes below the 700 level during periods 2-4 (“prime time”)

Constraints



Classes meeting three or more days per week or, for two days per week, in MW, WF or MF pattern must constitute AT LEAST 40% of all departmental course offerings below the 700 level

– Number of MW classes must equal

number of WF classes

Constraints



Departments may schedule UP TO 50% of their classes below the 700 level in the T/TH meeting pattern

Other Points

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For purposes of the percentage constraints, cross listed courses count only for the department “owning” the course

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No TBAs for day and time are to be submitted, with the exception of independent studies



Schedules must be validated through the end of early registration

Changes

Several changes have been introduced, based on departmental feedback

–

MF two day per week meeting pattern

–

Use of “Wild Card”

 

Can be out of validation by one constraint Departments found it hard to maintain validation so they are being encouraged to validate and use the wild card only when needed

– Eliminated once-per-week classes restriction

The Departmental Schedule Validator (DSV)

The DSV

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Software written “in-house” to assist departments in “validating” schedule submissions Partially integrated with PeopleSoft New version introduced for Spring 2007 scheduling cycle – written in “Ruby on Rails” Uses component interface Continuous enhancements

The DSV

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Departments must submit schedule via the DSV, after “validating” Software designed to allow departments to either enter individual courses or upload entire schedules from spread sheet or via previous semester “roll” Departments can check validation in the DSV, as they build their schedule, and find out where problems exist

The DSV

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When schedule is complete, and valid, department submits schedule, and Office of the University Registrar (OUR) receives e mail OUR uploads departmental submissions from DSV via component interface Schedule changes are made and submitted via DSV

Questions?

Contact Bruce Cunningham at: [email protected]

Policy statement: http://www.registrar.duke.edu/registrar/ facultypages/courseschedulepolicy.html