Attachment D
Faculty Senate Agenda
November 8, 2001

Proposed amendments to the current FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING POLICY
Prepared and approved unanimously by the Faculty Senate Work Group on Class Scheduling November 6, 2001

(NOTE: Deletions are indicated with a strikeout and additions with underlining.)

SUGGESTED STRATEGIES FOR ACHIEVING THE GOALS

(adapted from the Facility Utilization Workgroup Report to CUP, February 1, 2001).

A number of strategies exist that would help us achieve the campus goals of providing classroom capacity as student enrollments grow as well as utilizing classrooms outside of the high demand periods on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. However, each College has a different mix of undergraduate and graduate programs, small and large programs, different student profiles, etc., which necessitate a thoughtful, collaborative, consultative process to determine the strategies appropriate for each College. Consequently, this policy gives to each College dean the responsibility for establishing his or her own plans. In some cases, student demand for sections offered outside of high demand periods may be insufficient. In such cases, Colleges and departments must be given some latitude in the budget process by allowing evening and Friday courses to "make" with lower enrollments. Finally, uncertainty about the magnitude of future enrollment growth and state support for the growth will require continual monitoring of the progress toward achieving capacity and utilization goals.

GUIDELINES

1. The purpose of increased flexibility is to maximize the use of facilities while also increasing student retention and graduation rates. This will require optimal communication between departments, schools colleges and other units of the university.
   
2. Academic programs will be given top priority in the use of instructional space; use of instructional facilities by guest speakers, visiting scholars and community groups will be given second priority.
   
3. Any scheduling system requires that departments, schools colleges and the university solicit input from students on a regular basis regarding the types of courses and schedules that best meet their needs.
   
4. It may be necessary for each department to submit a skeleton schedule two years in advance in order to guarantee a harmonious schedule with a viable schedule of final exams.

CONTROLS (applied to the scheduling of undergraduate courses):

For purposes of this policy, "prime time" is defined as the block of time from 9:00 AM through 2:00 PM on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

1. The approved scheduling time frames must be enforced. Departments offering two-day 3-hour lecture (non-lab) sections the two-day 3 unit courses should do so on a MW, WF, MF or TR basis. Exceptions may be made with University approval only if they can be made consistent with the final examination schedule.
   
2. Departments Colleges using the 75-minute "prime time" periods on MW, MF and WF must have sections schedule classes during the same time period in the same classroom during the missing day.
   
3. Laboratory and other 3-hour sections must stay within the time blocks of the schedule as specified in the ROOM UTILIZATION section below (i.e., AM or PM). Two-hour and shorter duration labs may be given in early morning or late afternoon.  Two-hour and shorter duration labs must be scheduled in a manner compatible with the scheduling time blocks as specified in the ROOM UTILIZATION section below.
   
4. Departments Colleges must offer have 30% of their 3-hour lecture (non-lab) sections major courses outside of "prime time", that is before 9:00 AM, after 2:00 PM Monday through Thursday, or any time on Friday or Saturday.
   
5. Departments that require courses from other departments must coordinate their schedules with those service units in order to minimize the number of scheduling conflicts.
   
6. Departments that serve other majors must coordinate their schedules in order to minimize the number of scheduling conflicts.
   
7. Multiple sections of courses must be offered at different times of the day.
   
8. A Faculty Senate Class Scheduling Committee must be established 1) to monitor progress toward achieving capacity and utilization goals, 2) to perform an annual assessment of effectiveness of this policy, 3) to recommend changes as appropriate, and 4) to identify and recommend improvements in the scheduling process.

Members of the Committee would include a department chair from each of the seven Colleges and a College Dean. Staff support would be provided by an appropriate representative from Space Management and Academic Affairs.

The Committee would analyze various strategies for achieving the goals specified in this policy and make recommendations as appropriate.  A sample of possible strategies has been provided by the Facility Utilization Workgroup in their report to Council on University Planning (see the appendix to this policy).

The conclusion to the Facility Utilization Workgroup Report provides not only the context for this policy but also its intent. As stated in the report:

"As our enrollment increases over the next several years to accommodate demand, we must expand our facility usage in the non-prime time areas at a much greater rate than our current pattern. We do not expect large increases in physical capacity that will enable us to continue the usage patterns that presently exist. We should use this opportunity to examine our usage patterns and develop plans that will expand our levels of evening, Friday and weekend utilization. Although our workgroup has identified several strategies that could be used to improve the utilization measures, we are certain that more will be identified as the colleges develop the plans we have suggested. By setting campus goals, and providing annual data, which shows the utilization patterns by college, we can challenge the colleges to develop plans that will meet or exceed the goals we have set."

Note: The following section is a new addition to the policy.

ROOM UTILIZATION:

Each classroom scheduled during PRIME TIME (9:00 AM through 1:50 PM) would be allocated as follows:

A room scheduled for a 75-minute section beginning at 9:00 AM requires that a second 75-minute section be scheduled to begin at 10:30 AM in the same room. A room scheduled for a 50-minute section beginning at 9:00 AM requires that two additional 50-minute sections be scheduled at 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM, respectively.

A room may be scheduled for single 75-minute section beginning at 12:00 PM. A room scheduled for a 50-minute section beginning at 12:00 PM requires a second 50-section be scheduled to being at 1:00 PM.

These room-scheduling options are summarized below:

APPENDIX.  Strategies suggested by the Facility Utilization Workgroup in their report to the Council for University Planning (CUP), February 1, 2001 (pages 4 and 5).

"Suggested Strategies for Achieving the Goals. . . 

We offer the following strategies:

• Identify programs with large numbers of students where a planned evening/weekend degree program could be defined and marketed to the evening student population. Evening students need to know that the courses they need to complete a major will be offered on a regular basis in the evening. Three programs currently offer a two-year defined evening/weekend curriculum (Psychology, Communication Studies and Liberal Studies). Although these programs are using a cohort model with a defined two and a half-year curriculum, other options exist by ensuring that the requirements for the major are always offered in the evening.
  
• Change the meeting patterns for some MW courses to MWF, particularly if there are multiple section courses
  
• Consider a Friday/Saturday meeting pattern for some courses
  
• Provide incentives to departments to schedule MWF courses by providing priority for room assignments to those courses that are offered with the MWF pattern (done at the college and/or department level)
  
• Reinforce the Scheduling Standards (which have largely been ignored) that were established when the "synchronized scheduling system" was implemented in Fall 1996
  
• For large departments with multiple section courses, shift a section to evenings and/or Friday
  
• For high demand GE courses with multiple sections, shift a section to evenings and/or Friday (maybe we can "shape" student demand)
  
• As enrollment increases occur and new sections of courses are added to accommodate enrollment, add them in the evening and/or on Friday
  
• For seminar type courses, particularly upper division or graduate courses, offer some on Fridays only or one night per week
  
• Provide yearly utilization data by college in early Fall (for the previous Academic Year), prior to the schedule building process for the subsequent Academic Year
  
• Use the annual reports to monitor the progress toward achieving the goals"