Academic Scheduling Why a new system? FAQ’s Dates to remember

Why a new system?  Academic Scheduling at UNO until now was done entirely on paper, relying on one person to compile and enter all data.  This practice was not only a miss-use of resources, but was also prone to mistakes.  Decentralizing the scheduling process will allow individual departments more time and direct control in creating their schedules, eliminating mistakes, decreasing paperwork and removing needless administrative oversight.

Frequently Asked Questions

Combined Courses  Combined courses at UNO are treated as separate entities and must be scheduled as such. (This includes 4000G courses)  Schedule courses that will later be combined with identical information in all fields.  The Registrar’s office will ask you for a list of courses to be combined once the initial scheduling process is complete.  Courses that are combined across subjects must have blank IOR assignments. Instructors for cross-subject course combinations must be assigned manually by the Registrar’s Office.

Combined Course Enrollment Maximums  Combined course enrollment maximums should be dealt with as follows.  All courses to be combined should use THE TOTAL NUMBER FOR THE ENTIRE COMBINED COURSE  For example. Course 4000 and 4000G should have a total of 35 students in their combined course. Therefore, course 4000 should have an enrollment max of 35 and course 4000G should have an enrollment max of 35.  This will allow any combination of registrations in any section included in the combo up to the maximum enrollment.  Any deviations from this policy will be dealt with on an individual basis.

Common Lecture Courses  Common lecture courses are treated similarly to combined courses.  For any course with a combined lecture, use Meeting Pattern for the common lecture pattern and time, and use Addtl. Meets for recitation/breakout meeting patterns and times.  The Registrar’s Office will ask for a list of courses with common lectures after the initial scheduling process is over and will assign rooms accordingly.  IOR’s must be assigned to all sections, regardless of the common lecture.

Special Classroom Needs  The new system cannot yet process special room requests.  These requests will be handled as before through lists requested by the Registrar’s office after the schedule is compiled.  As the software is refined, room feature needs and requests will be automated.

Special Topics Courses  The new system will allow the department to assign Special Topic Titles to Special Topics Courses themselves.  Any course with a Special Topic Title in the catalogue will have a drop-down box under the Basic Info tab on the section editing portion of the interface.  The drop-down will only reflect topics previously taught as new topics must be added to the catalogue before they can be selected.  Special Topic Titles must be assigned BY SECTION as there can be multiple titles for multiple sections of the same Special Topics Course.

Ind. Study / Non-Meeting Courses  Ind. Studies, Dissertation Research etc. or any course that will not utilize academic space or meet regularly DOES NOT need to be assigned a meeting pattern. PSOFT no longer records blank meeting times as TBA so please leave them blank if the course does not actually meet.  This will prevent facility and student scheduling conflicts.

Add/Cancel after deadline  Once the scheduling deadline has passed, courses cannot be added or canceled without submitting the proper form.  As these additions are considered add/cancel, signatures are required  Photocopies or s claiming “paperwork to follow” will no longer be permitted.  Paperwork IS NOT necessary for room changes or changes to enrollment maximums, only for meeting pattern changes, time changes, or adds/cancels.  THIS ONLY APPLIES TO CHANGES AFTER THE SCHEDULING DEADLINE!  An electronic version of this form is something else we wish to automate in the near future.

Instructors of Record  Using the new system, departments can assign and change IOR assignments at will up until grade rosters are printed.  The IOR portion of the system will remain active, even after the scheduling deadline.  There may only be two IOR’s per section.  All IOR’s will be defaulted to APPROVE level status. The Registrar’s office may be notified to lower the grading status of any IOR if you wish (i.e. TA’s)

IMPORTANT DATES  Feb. 5 th – 9 th : Training (system open)  Feb. 9 th 4:30pm: System data wiped  Feb. 12 th : System open for scheduling  March 9 th 4:30: Dean’s deadline for approval, system closed. Schedule committed to production (available to general viewing)  March 12 th 4:30: List of courses to be combined, combined lecture courses, and special room requirements/requests due in Registrar’s office.