TWIN CITIES GENERAL PURPOSE CLASSROOM SUPPLY, DEMAND & UTILIZATION UPDATE FALL SEMESTER 2002 Office of Classroom Management

2 INTRODUCTION  This presentation provides data on classroom resources, courses taught in classrooms and overviews key scheduling issues  Ongoing classroom supply, demand and utilization issues are discussed along with progress and implications for the future

3 BACKGROUND

4 TWO TYPES OF CLASSROOMS  General Purpose classrooms are designed to meet the teaching and learning needs of a broad range of academic programs and to support the entire university community – Also called “central classrooms” – Centrally managed and funded  Departmental classrooms are designed to meet the specific and more specialized needs of a given department or program. – Examples: studios, special use classrooms – Departmentally managed and funded

5 GENERAL PURPOSE CLASSROOMS  A critical teaching and learning resource – East Bank:200 rooms14,967 seats in 40 buildings – West Bank: 71 rooms 6,027 seats in 7 buildings – St. Paul: 32 rooms 2,525 seats in 15 buildings – TOTAL: 303 rooms 23,519 seats in 62 buildings  Sizes range from small seminar rooms to large auditoria  Approx 300,000 SF Version 4.0

6 DEPARTMENTAL CLASSROOMS  224 departmental classrooms  341 labs

7 SCHEDULING POLICY

8 KEY SCHEDULING DOCUMENTS  Policy on Classes, Schedules, and Final Examinations for Semesters.  Twin Cities Campus Assembly Supplemental Policy of the University Senate Policy on Classes, Schedules, and Final Examinations for Seminars.  Schedule for the Twin Cities Campus.  Provost Approved Policies Governing University Centrally Scheduled Classrooms. Four Key Documents:

9 ‘A’ TIME: 50 minute class period may be used any weekday (subject to supplemental policy) ‘B’ TIME: 75 minute class period is restricted to Tuesday and/or Thursday class meetings only PEAK TIME: (Period II - VI) DAY: (Period I - VIII) STANDARD WEEK:Monday - Friday BASIC DEFINITIONS

10 STANDARD CLASS MEETING TIMES PEAKPEAK PEAKPEAK

11 BASIC POLICY – STANDARD HOURS Standard Meeting Times:  All classes must start at a standard beginning time.  Departments will be required to change times not meeting the standard time module. -Standard time modules are based on: ‘A’ times (50 minute) and ‘B’ times (75 minute) in accordance with Senate Approved Policy.  Classes follow the Senate Policy regarding hours per credit.

12 BASIC POLICY – PEAK TIME Special Considerations during Peak Time of Day:  Peak Time = hours (Period II -VI) -Highest demand -Period of time with most severe classroom shortage -Special policies/guidelines apply  Provost Approved Scheduling Guidelines: -Departments can have no more than 60% of initial course offerings in Peak Time.  Senate Approved Policies: - More strict provisions apply during peak time

13 BASIC POLICY – EXEMPTIONS Special Policy for Grad/Prof Course Sections:  6xxx to 8xxx course sections during Non-Peak hours may be taught at Non-Standard Times  6xxx to 8xxx course sections during Peak hours must be taught at Standard Times

14 BASIC POLICY - EXEMPTIONS  Course Sections beginning at or after 1700 hours are exempt from standard time requirement  Course Sections occurring on Saturday &/or Sunday are exempt from standard time requirement Additional Policies/Issues applying to all sections:

15 STANDARD CLASS HOURS

16 WHY HAVE STANDARD CLASS HOURS ? Standard Class Hours:  Improve course access  Enable students to take interdisciplinary courses  Improve utilization of valuable space resources  Increase tuition revenue  Facilitate common university-wide academics and programs

17 Non-Standard Hours Standard Hours Optimize university level Optimize student scheduling Requires fewer classrooms Higher overall utilization Optimize undergrad programs Optimize college/dept. level Optimize individual faculty scheduling Requires more classrooms Lower overall utilization Optimize grad/prof. programs STANDARD/NON-STANDARD HOUR TRADEOFFS

18 WHAT IF WE DID NOT HAVE STANDARD CLASS HOURS ?  Without standard class hours, colleges, their students, their faculty, and their classrooms would exist totally within independent silos

19 FMTWTh  Non-standard classes cause unused gaps in rooms, less student usage, and greater cost per square foot of usage  Even small numbers of non-standard classes have significant impact on classroom utilization & availability NON-STANDARD HOUR SCHEDULING IMPACT

20 FLEXIBILITY OF STANDARD HOUR REQUIREMENT  Recognizing the tradeoffs, our policy provides exceptions - Grad-Professional courses at non-peak times - Evening/weekend courses  Sufficient flexibility exists to accommodate special requirements - Clinical teaching needs in AHC

21 CENTRAL CLASSROOM DEMAND DEMAND SUPPLY

22 CENTRAL CLASSROOM DEMAND  Demand is up – Semester conversion – Program growth – IMG impact

23 CLASSROOM DEMAND – SECTION GROWTH SEMESTER CONVERSION QUARTERS SEMESTERS

24 CLASSROOM DEMAND – SECTION LOADING  TOTAL NUMBER OF SECTIONS TWIN CITIES – FALL ,186

25 TWIN CITIES COURSE SECTIONS - FALL 2002 ON vs. OFF CAMPUS 5,289 (42%) Total Sections = 14,186 Off Campus 13.8% 1,958 On Campus 86.2% 12,228

26 TWIN CITIES COURSE SECTIONS - FALL 2002 ON CAMPUS Total On Campus = 12,228

27 Total In Classrooms = 7,129 Departmental Classrooms 42.3% 3,016 General Purpose Classrooms 57.7% 4,113 TWIN CITIES COURSE SECTIONS - FALL 2002 IN CLASSROOMS Approximately: 300 Central Classrooms Approximately: 220 Dept. Classrooms 340 Dept. Labs 560 Rooms

28 Evening 14% 576 Day 86% 3,537 Total In General Purpose Classrooms = 4,113 TWIN CITIES COURSE SECTIONS IN GP CLASSROOMS - FALL 2002 DAY vs. EVENING

29 CENTRAL CLASSROOM SUPPLY DEMAND SUPPLY

30 CLASSROOM SUPPLY  Supply is down over the long term – Construction/renovation impact – Downward trend in number of classroom seats – Loss of large lecture halls

31 CLASSROOM SUPPLY – CONSTRUCTION IMPACT  Ford/Murphy (offline Fall 99, online Spring 00) – OLD: 17 rooms, 1083 seats NEW: 14 rooms, 683 seats – Net: - 3 rooms, seats  CALA (offline Spring 00, online Fall 01/Spring 02) – OLD: 11 rooms, 1016 seats NEW: 10 rooms, 670 seats – Net: - 1 room, seats  JOML (offline Fall 99, online Fall 00 JacH & Fall 02 MCB ) - OLD: 10 rooms, 1078 seats NEW: 6 rooms, 478 seats - Net: - 6 rooms, seats  Temp leased classrooms (1701 Univ) (Fall 00) – NEW: 9 rooms, 597 seats

32 FUTURE CLASSROOM SUPPLY  With the completion of CALA and MCBB projects, we have most of our classrooms on-line  When the next round of construction starts in Spring 2002, we will have approx 1,000 student seats off line each year for the foreseeable future  Bottom line – classroom supply is NOT projected to increase

33 SUPPLY – DEMAND – UTILIZATION IMPACT DEMAND SUPPLY

34 SUPPLY- DEMAND IMPACT  Insufficient classroom inventory plus inefficient utilization has resulted in the unplaced course problem before each semester  Problem is most acute during peak time of day

35 UNPLACED COURSES

36 INTERIM SOLUTION  These unplaced courses have been solved by using sub-standard spaces as classrooms and by extraordinary “hand massaging” by OCM, departments and colleges. BUT  Unless we change the equation, this issue will become critical

37 UNPLACED COURSE IMPLICATIONS  We are approaching the limits of central classroom’s ability to support the growth of sections and courses  If we continue to use substandard classrooms, our educational quality and reputation will suffer  If we are to avoid enrollment limits, growth caps and other restrictive measures, we must improve the scheduling and utilization of both departmental and central classrooms

38 PROBLEM IS ADDITIVE  Not just a supply – demand issue  Too much slack in scheduling and inefficient classroom utilization are also major factors  In the past, we had sufficient extra classroom capacity to allow less efficient room utilization THIS IS NO LONGER THE CASE!

39 LONG TERM SOLUTION  OPTIONS: – Fewer classes – More classrooms – Better utilization of existing classrooms

40 VIABILITY OF OPTIONS  Fewer classes - Does not support Deans’ needs  More classrooms - Desirable, but is not in current capital plan  Better utilization - We CAN improve this!

41 HOW DO WE IMPROVE UTILIZATION?  Continue to improve central classroom technology (Tech Upgrade Project)  Improve overall utilization of departmental and central classrooms  Focus more on following current scheduling policy in regards to standard class hours  Departments and OCM must be smarter in planning and in scheduling

42 HOW ARE WE DOING UNDER CURRENT SCHEDULING POLICY?  In Fall 2002, 21% of day courses in GP classrooms had some type of non-standard scheduling issue  755 of 3537 sections had non-standard time, or time distribution issues NON- STD 21% (755) STD 79 % (2782)

Time Distribution Issues Time Issues TWIN CITIES COURSE SECTIONS - FALL 2002 ISSUES Note that a section may have both issues.

44 NON-STANDARD TIME ISSUES Variance from standard: 401 sections  Non-Standard Start Time  Non-Standard End Time  Non-Standard Start & End Times  Non-Standard day pattern  “B” time (75-min) on “A” days

45 TIME DISTRIBUTION ISSUE  Variance from standard: 351 sections  No more than 60% of a departments course offerings should be in the peak time of the day – Period II thru VI

46 ARE WE IMPROVING?  Fall Semester 2002 data indicates that we are making some progress, but we must continue to improve adhering to University standard scheduling policies and guidelines

47 HOW MUCH ARE WE IMPROVING?  We are doing better in use of standard times -From 800 in Fall 00 to 400 in Fall 02  We are NOT improving in teaching outside of peak hours -From 360 sections in Fall 2000 to 350 in Fall 02

48 ONGOING ACTIONS  OCM is working with colleges to address specific deviations from current scheduling policy and non-standard scheduling issues  OCM will continue to increase efforts to adhere to current scheduling policy

49 OCM APPROACH TO ONGOING ACTION  Common sense action based on existing approved policy  Recognize existing special provisions for grad/prof courses  Collaborative not unilateral effort

50 GOALS OF ONGOING ACTION  Reduce peak-time congestion  Emphasize compliance with existing policy: - for start & end times - for days of week - for 60% max in peak time  Increase accuracy of departmental projected enrollment and number of sections submitted for scheduling  Continue progress in providing Tech Upgrade classrooms  REDUCE/ELIMINATE UNPLACED COURSES

51 FACTS OF LIFE  We do not have the luxury of not teaching at unpopular times (Mon morning, late afternoons, on Fridays)  The current economic climate demands efficiency in classroom utilization

52 QUESTIONS: Steve Fitzgerald Director of Classroom Management Nancy Peterson Scheduling Manager Credits and special recognition to those contributing to this report: Nancy Peterson, Manager, OCM Scheduling Unit Bob Quinney, Analyst, OCM Scheduling Unit