Learning Space Scheduling Procedures

Purpose

Learning spaces and academic resources at Red River College Polytechnic come in multiple forms—both virtual and on-campus—to accommodate a wide variety of specialized functions and equipment in order to deliver applied learning in a polytechnic setting. Some courses are delivered in a simple classroom setting wired for digital presentations, with laptop-ready access for students. Some courses are delivered through online, blended or other flexible learning modalities. Other courses in a polytechnic education and skills training setting—which is by definition practical, hands-on applied learning—require spaces that accommodate a high level of specialized equipment and technologies.

A master academic activity schedule delivers an important framework for creating quality, consistent and stable student and faculty timetables while ensuring optimal and efficient use of learning spaces and academic resources. Building on the Learning Space Scheduling policy and principles, this manual provides the guidelines and procedures that govern the generation of an annual master academic activity schedule. This manual offers a methodology to produce a learning space schedule that ensures:

1. a stable master schedule attained through advanced planning and with minimal change for pre-planned annual academic programming, balanced with the need to allow for scheduling learning activities that arise at any time throughout the academic year
2. timely program progression and availability of courses for students
3. learning space scheduled or allocated appropriate to program, course or learning activity requirements
4. learning space scheduled to optimize course delivery modality—virtual or on-campus—required resources and projected class size (i.e., form follows function)
5. uniquely designed or equipped learning spaces (e.g., labs, shops, studios) allocated according to academic program or course requirements
6. optimal utilization of general learning spaces and uniquely designed learning spaces
7. the accountability for the quality of the learning space schedule as a shared responsibility among the Scheduling Team, and Academic Schools, Departments and Programs, and Research Partnerships and Innovation.

Definitions

Academic Planner – An individual designated by a department, school or campus responsible for compiling, organizing and entering learning space scheduling information.

Academic Manager – The person assigned (usually by a Dean) with overseeing the learning space scheduling process from with an academic department or program area; for example, an Academic Chair or Program Manager.

Instructor – An individual retained to teach students in credentialed programs and courses, non-credentialed courses, pathway education, language training and apprenticeship skills training.

Learning Space Schedule – The master learning space schedule of all instructors, courses, locations, with specified days and times, offered for a term(s), semester(s) or specific time period(s).

Scheduling Information – Information that impacts the compilation and/or implementation of the learning space schedule.

Standard Hours – For administration of the scheduling process, the College day may be broken into three (3) major blocks:

1. Monday to Friday 0800 – 1800
2. Monday to Friday 1600 – 2200
3. Monday to Friday 1800 – 2200; Saturday and Sunday 0800 – 1700

Student(s) – An individual who is applying to study at Red River College Polytechnic or who is currently registered in a program, courses or course of study.

Student Timetable – The courses in which each student is registered, and the course time slots.

Procedures

1.0

The Learning Space Schedule (“Schedule”) will be generated in five (5) stages:

1. Information Collection: Academic Planners will collect all scheduling information from Instructors and Academic Managers and deliver it to the Scheduling Team using the College’s scheduling software.
2. Development: The Scheduling Team will create the upcoming term(s) or semester(s) learning space schedule and provide it to the Academic Planners.
3. Review: The Academic Planners will distribute the learning space schedule to Instructors. The Academic Planners may submit amendment requests to the Scheduling Team. This review will be the last opportunity for changes to the Schedule. Following closure of the Review stage, Instructor preference or student absenteeism will not warrant change to the Schedule.
4. Finalizing: The Scheduling Team will finalize the Schedule and provide it to the Academic Planners for distribution to Instructors.
5. Publishing: The official Learning Space Schedule and Student Timetables will be published on the College website or distributed manually by academic departments.

2.0

General learning space scheduling parameters:

2.1 – a minimum ten (10) minutes between scheduled classes is required for students to move between learning spaces in both virtual and on-campus environments

2.2 – classes for each program may be scheduled within a 9- or 10-hour window identified by the program, with 10-minute gaps between classes

2.3 – students can expect a schedule that has up to four (4) (preferred) or five (5) (limit) instructional hours in a row and up to seven (7) hours in day

2.4 – a one- (1) hour travel allowance is required for Instructors traveling between campuses within Winnipeg

2.5 – a two- (2) hour travel allowance is required for Instructors traveling between a regional campus and a Winnipeg campus

2.6 – reasonable effort will be made to accommodate individual Instructor requests approved by the Academic Manager related to:

• religious accommodation
• family or dependent care
• documented medical accommodation
• documented disability
• staff or professional development, or scholarly activity

2.7 – academic departments may request a common (staff) meeting period for a maximum two (2) hours per week, per term or semester. To avoid scheduled classes, these requests will be entered into the Schedule by the Academic Planner.

2.8 – all learning space must be scheduled through the scheduling software (regional campuses excepted).

2.9 – all activities related to a course or program outcomes must be scheduled so they are visible in the student’s timetable.

2.10 – only those hours in a blended learning course where students are in class, face-to-face with the Instructor, will be scheduled into an on-campus learning space.

3.0

Exceptions to the procedures:

Exceptions to these procedures must be documented and approved by the Manager, Scheduling and Timetabling. Procedure exception documentation must include:

• the nature of the exception
• a reasonable explanation for why the procedure exception is required
• confirmation that the exception aligns with the general principles
• documentation of any risks created by the procedure exception and how they will be managed

Changes to the Published Master Learning Space Schedule

1.0

Background

The published master Learning Space Schedule is an essential and significant piece of annual work created through extensive consultation that marries academic program and course requirements with available learning spaces to create student and faculty timetables. The published Schedule ensures a campus and inter-campus wide schedule that embraces quality program and course delivery with consistency and stability for students, faculty and the College, balanced by the need to also be nimble and responsive to education and skills training requirements as they evolve during an academic year. This procedure describes the process for requesting changes to the published master Learning Space Schedule.

2.0

Principles

• A stable, published master Learning Space Schedule enables timely program progression and ensures availability of courses for students.
• The College also recognizes a need to balance the stability and consistency of the Schedule with the need to be nimble and responsive to evolving opportunities in the academic year.
• Change requests are more difficult to process once the master Schedule is published. Since every change request may have campus-wide, cross-campus and/or timetable impact, the College endeavours to minimize changes to the master Schedule.
• Change request approvals will consider the impact on students, faculty, the effect on scheduling standards, and overall impact on the College.
• To minimize impact on students and faculty, the College will endeavour to keep the published Schedule intact if programs experience resource changes that require instructor reassignment (e.g., change in instructor workload, personal circumstances, longer term instructor absence, staff turnover).

3.0

Instructional Space Schedule Change Requests

Subsequent to the Publishing stage (after upload and release of timetables to Students), changes to the Learning Space Schedule will be considered only under the following conditions.

3.1

Tier 1: Changes that will be accommodated:

3.1.1 – to conform with Collective Agreement requirements
3.1.2 – for a documented accommodation (i.e., religious, medical, disability) request from a student or instructor
3.1.3 – for unanticipated family or dependent care
3.1.4 – for professional or staff development; scholarly activity
3.1.5 – when student numbers increase beyond the original space allocation capacity (find larger room; add course or section)**
3.1.6 – when there is an unanticipated lack of student registration or decline in student enrolment (delete course or section)**
3.1.7 – when a learning space has become a health and safety hazard
3.1.8 – for technological issues, including internet connectivity and media, that impair course delivery and cannot be repaired in a timely manner
3.1.9 – for any required changes triggered by adapting to a circumstance contemplated by 3.1.1 – 3.1.8
3.1.10 – based on direction from the Space Planning Allocation and Renovation Committee, allocated learning space may be prioritized differently to accommodate College academic or business needs

3.2

Tier 2: Change requests post-publication that will not be considered:

3.2.1 – change to the schedule for the benefit of faculty or personal preference
3.2.2 – room requests due to personal tastes
3.2.3- schedule changes due to student absenteeism at certain periods of the day

4.0

Published Schedule Change Request Process

With the exception of the Schedule change requests marked with a double asterisk (**) in 3.1.5 and 3.1.6 above, all other change requests will follow the procedure outlined below. Requests for Schedule change documentation must include:

• the nature of Schedule request change
• a reasonable explanation for the why the Schedule change is required
• confirmation that the change aligns with the general principles and Tier constraints
• the nature of any anticipated risks created by the Schedule change and how they will be managed

4.1

Schedule Change Requests

4.1.1 – The change request is initiated by an Instructor and goes to the Instructor’s Coordinator.
4.1.2 – The Instructor and Coordinator discuss the change request, and if the Coordinator is satisfied with the request, it is sent to the department Academic Manager.
4.1.3 – Alternatively, a Coordinator may initiate a Schedule change request. In this case the request is sent to the department Academic Manager, and the Coordinator and Academic Manager discuss the request.
4.1.4 – In either case, the Academic Manager will consider the request, may ask for clarification or more information and decide whether to approve the request. Whether approved or not, the Academic Manager will communicate the decision to the requestor.
4.1.5 – If the Academic Manager approves the request, it is sent to the Manager, Scheduling and Timetabling for approval and action.
4.1.6 – If the Manager, Scheduling and Timetabling is unable to process the request, the Manager will discuss alternatives with the Academic Manager.

4.2

Change Request Appeals

4.2.1 – The Academic Manager can appeal a space allocation (classroom or lab) decision by the Scheduling Office to the Space Planning Allocation and Renovation Committee (SPARC).
4.2.2 – SPARC may choose to discuss the concern with either the Academic Manager or the Manager, Scheduling and Timetabling.
4.2.3 – The final appeal decision will be made by SPARC and communicated to both the Academic Manager and the Manager, Scheduling and Timetabling.

Accountabilities

Manager, Scheduling and Timetabling is accountable for:

1. supervising the Scheduling Team
2. developing, maintaining and publishing the Learning Space Schedule
3. ensuring scheduling complies with policy, principles, procedures and guidelines
4. ensuring annual preparation and communication of critical dates of scheduling activity deadlines
5. decision-making (final) on scheduling matters
6. providing training in overall scheduling processes from DCU to final production
7. mediating conflicts (e.g., two requests for the same space at the same time)
8. providing room utilization and optimization reports to Campus Planning, as required

Scheduling Team is accountable for:

1. coordinating the annual development of the Schedule from an institutional perspective
2. allocating College resources in accordance with College policy, with the goal of achieving optimal learning space and resource utilization
3. compiling and distributing the Schedule within the annual scheduling activity timeframes

Academic Managers are accountable for:

1. approving annual Instructor workload assignments
2. working with Human Resources related to Instructor accommodation requirements
3. liaising with Student Services related to student accommodation requirements
4. working with the Scheduling Team regarding changes to the Schedule pursuant to Section 3 on page 3 of this manual
5. reporting learning space issues through the work order systems

Academic Planners are accountable for:

1. collecting, preparing, verifying and entering scheduling information (data) within scheduling activity critical timeframes
2. liaising with the Scheduling Team on behalf of Instructors in their department
3. ensuring instructional space capacities and projected class size are a good match
4. distributing the draft Schedule to Instructors within five (5) working days of receiving it during the Review stage
5. ensuring they or a designate are available to answer questions during the Review stage timeframe

Instructors are accountable for:

1. informing their Academic Planner(s) of accommodation requirements arranged through the Academic Manager and/or Human Resources
2. advising the Academic Planner, during the Review stage and within a week of receiving the Schedule, of any equipment, capacity or technological issues that may compromise course delivery
3. ensuring they or a designate are available to answer questions during the Review stage timeframe
4. following scheduling activity critical timeframes
5. reporting any damage or other learning space issues to their Academic Manager

Students are accountable for:

1. contacting Student Services regarding personal accommodation requirements
2. informing their program Coordinator or Academic Manager of any accommodation requirements arranged through Student Services
3. checking the College website for timetable information or changes periodically

Campus Planning and Facility Management are accountable for:

1. maintaining complete and accurate instructional space descriptions in the College’s facility software
2. ensuring learning spaces are in good working order
3. reporting and repairing any damage to instructional spaces in a timely manner

Centre for Learning and Program Excellence is accountable for:

1. maintaining accurate learning space information technology descriptions

Scheduling Information Checklist for Academic Planners

Definitions

Pavilion – Refers to a specific group of buildings and the rooms contained therein. A pavilion request allows Academic Planners to request a course to be located within a specific pavilion. When such a request is entered, the scheduling software will check for room availability only within the pavilion, not over the entire campus.

Information Checklist:

Academic Planners are responsible for entering and/or verifying the following information in the scheduling software:

• Course name and course code
• Number of sections per course
• Length of slot time for the course
• Course start and end date (if different from semester or term dates)
• Number of times per week the course is offered
• Instructor(s) name (or TBA if not known) assigned to the course or course section if there is more than one being delivered concurrently
• Any constraints related to the Instructor assigned to a course or course section
• Learning space requirements (preferred pavilion, building or actual space if a specialized space assigned to the department is required, and required space attributes)
• Any additional information (per course) required to ensure the course is scheduled accordingly (e.g., course only offered in the morning or afternoon; must be last day of class)
• If applicable, elective course information; for example, which elective courses are offered at the same time, and which electives are being delivered in the semester or term

Changes to the Procedural Manual

As the policy owner, the Vice President, Academic delegates the authority to make changes to the procedural manual on an as-needed basis (in between the 5-year policy renewal framework) to the Space Planning Allocation and Renovation Committee (SPARC). Recommendations for Procedural Manual changes will be through the Manager, Scheduling and Timetabling and submitted to SPARC for consideration.