Timetabling Principles and Procedures

Timetabling Principles and Procedures

As approved by Academic Board 17 May 2006

1.  Definitions

In this document, the following words and phrases have the meanings listed:

“Timetable”: The official schedule of times and locations at which nominated classes (lectures, tutorials, seminars, laboratory, practical and other classes) are conducted. “Timetabling” or “scheduling” is the process of producing the timetable.

“Draft Timetable”: The version of the timetable produced by the Timetabling, Examinations and Results (TE&R) Section on the basis of timetabling requests submitted by the nominated due date.

“Final Timetable”: The version of the timetable

(i) produced by the TE&R Section, having

(a) responded, to the extent possible, to requests for change to the Draft Timetable submitted by the nominated due date; and

(b) ensured that it is free of clashes in core or compulsory units in the standard semester of the relevant course(s), and

(ii) authorised by the School Timetabling Liaison Officer for publication.

“Associate Dean”: The Associate Dean (Teaching, Learning and International) of the relevant Faculty.

“School Timetabling Liaison Officer” (“TLO”): A member of staff nominated by the Head of School to act as the interface between the School and the TE&R Section, and to undertake the role of TLO as outlined in Appendix A.

“Sign-off”: Authorisation of the Final Timetable by the Timetabling Liaison Officer for publication.

2.  Timetabling should be a proactive rather than reactive function. All areas of the University benefit from timetables published as far in advance as possible and timetables will normally be published at least six weeks before the commencement of the first semester and at least four weeks before the commencement of the second semester; a shorter timeframe may apply in the case of non-standard study periods.

3.  Timetables should be developed within overriding principles of support for student learning and achieving optimal and sensible utilisation of the University’s resources (including its staff, and facilities such as lecture rooms, tutorial rooms, computer or practical laboratories, libraries, parking, cafeterias). Every effort will be made to provide facilities appropriate to the pedagogical needs of classes, as specified on the Timetable Request Form.

4. Each School will nominate a Timetabling Liaison Officer (TLO). Other members of staff will undertake any transactions with the TE&R Section through their School TLO.

5. The roles and responsibilities of the TE&R Section, TLOs and Managers of other organisational units, Associate Deans and Heads of School are set out in Appendix A.

6.  The TE&R Section (using Timetable Request Forms) will request information from Schools, through the School TLO, and from relevant organisational units through their Managers, in accordance with the schedule of published timelines in Appendix B. Required data will include items such as unit offerings, teaching staff member(s) for each unit, projected size, number, type and duration of classes, class group specifications (including unavailability arising from field experience, practical and clinical placements), the nature of teaching space requirements (including IT and audio-visual requirements, specified room types, such as laboratories, studios etc).

7.  The TLO/Manager will finalise the specification of timetabling requirements (in accordance with Appendix A) and submit complete and accurate data to the TE&R Section via the Timetable Request Forms by the nominated due date/s. The TE&R Section will check the forms and return incorrect/incomplete forms to TLOs for amendment. The TE&R Section will commence timetabling on the first working day after the due date for submission. Campus resources are limited. The TE&R Section may not be able to accommodate specific requests made by Schools whose Timetable Request Forms are submitted after commencement of the timetabling process.

8.  Amendments to submitted Timetabling Request Forms will only be accepted if endorsed and justified by the Head of School and endorsed by the Associate Dean. Even with such endorsement, such requests may not be able to be accommodated.

9.  Following the due date for submission of Timetabling Request Forms, the TE&R Section will compile a Draft Timetable for each campus for the relevant semester.

10.  Each timetable will be constructed having regard to the following principles:

a.  Classes will normally be conducted between 8am and 8pm, Monday to Friday except where specific requests are made by Schools to extend these times or where local Council regulations specify maximum hours of operation. Except where justified on occupational health and safety grounds, full use must be made of this entire spread of hours. Where possible, however, classes (other than those nominated as evening classes or requested to be scheduled later than 6pm) will be conducted between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday.

b.  If it is not possible to accommodate standard semester classes during the spread of hours specified in paragraph (a) above, classes may, with the approval of the relevant Pro-Vice-Chancellor, after consultation with the Head of School, be scheduled between 8am and 5pm on Saturdays.

c.  ‘Intensive mode’ classes may be conducted between 8am and 6pm on weekends and public holidays as well as 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday.

d.  When classes are scheduled on evenings, weekends and public holidays, rooms will be consolidated, where possible, into adjacent areas rather than spread across teaching facilities on the relevant campus.

e. As far as possible, lectures for compulsory/core units will maintain the same timetable from year to year. In the case of ‘set’ courses, consistency of students’ commitments from semester to semester is desirable.

f. Where it is identified, on the relevant Timetabling Request Form, that a member of academic staff is teaching on multiple campuses, adequate time must be allowed between teaching commitments for travel and necessary preparations at both locations[1].

g. Casual or sessional academic staff should be engaged having regard to the scheduling of the classes for which they are appointed. Only in exceptional circumstances, endorsed by the Associate Dean, will scheduling be subject to, or changed in the light of, availability of casual or sessional staff.

h. It is recognised that academic staff have diverse responsibilities, including teaching, research, community engagement and administrative functions. Staff commitments to teaching will take precedence over other activities to which greater scheduling flexibility applies. Wherever possible, staff designated by the Head of School as ‘research active’[2] will have one day per week free of teaching commitments. However, unless a specific time commitment necessitated by external factors beyond the control of the staff member can be demonstrated, staff will not designate any specific time for research, writing or other non-teaching activities until the timetable is finalised. Where documented external factors beyond the control of the staff member exist, and the request for recognition of such commitments is endorsed by the Associate Dean, every endeavor will be made to accommodate the request but this may not always be possible.

i. Unit timetabling requirements should be consistent with requirements/information published in the relevant Course/Unit Enrolment Guide.

j. Where unit/s from one School form part of the core program requirements for course/s offered by another School/s, the inter-relationship must be identified on the Timetable Request Form.

k. Except for the purposes of field experience/clinical or practical placements/industry experience, students cannot be guaranteed that any day will be free of classes; in particular no day can be designated as a ‘rostered day off’.

l. Courses/units having periods of field placement/practical or work experience will be timetabled only for those weeks when campus resources are required. The rooms concerned may be timetabled for other purposes when students are undertaking such off-campus activities.

m. As far as possible, students and staff should have:

(i) no more than four hours of consecutive classes, without at least a one hour break;

(ii) no more than six hours class contact on any day;

(iii) except in response to specific requests, class contact spread across no more than eight hours from the commencement of the first class to the conclusion of the last class of the day.

n. Each campus will have a one-hour session (particularly aimed at facilitating attendance at lunchtime liturgy) and a two hour session (aimed at facilitating activities such as, research seminars and staff meetings) of reserved time per week. These periods will be on separate days and normally common across campuses. [3] No classes will be scheduled during these times, which will be identified on the published timetables as ‘ACU Common Time’. The relevant Pro-Vice-Chancellor or Rector must approve any regular classes or non-class activities that are requested to be timetabled during the Liturgy Common Time on the particular campus.

11.  By the nominated date, the TE&R Section will place all Draft Timetables on the web for review. It is the responsibility of the TLOs and Managers to ensure that there is rigorous scrutiny of the Draft Timetable by Schools/organisational unit staff. Where necessary change requests are provided through the TLO/Manager to the TE&R Section by the nominated due date, which (from preparation of the first semester 2007 timetable) will be ten working days from the date of posting of the Draft Timetables on the web.

12.  Following the due date for responses to the Draft Timetable, the TE&R Section will review the requested changes and the extent to which they can be accommodated, and liaise with the TLO accordingly. Changes will not normally be made because of personal preferences, eg for particular rooms or times, or when School/organisational unit requests were not accommodated because Timetabling Request Forms were submitted after the due date. The TE&R Section will provide feedback to the TLO regarding requested changes which will not be accommodated in the Second Draft Timetable.

13.  The timetable will then be revised having regard to point 12 above and the Second Draft Timetable will be posted on the web for final review.

14.  Any requests for changes to the Second Draft Timetable must be made through the Head of School and endorsed and forwarded to the TE&R Section by the Associate Dean by the nominated due date, which (from preparation of the first semester 2007 timetable) will be five working days from the date of posting the Second Draft Timetables on the web.

15.  All Second Draft Timetables must be signed off by the due date, which (from preparation of the first semester 2007 timetable) will be five working days from the date of posting the Second Draft Timetables on the web. In the event of failure of a TLO/Manager to provide sign-off to the TE&R Section, by the nominated due date, the matter will be referred to the relevant Associate Dean, or in the case of other organisational units, to the responsible Pro-Vice-Chancellor.

16.  The TE& R Section will then publish the Final Timetables to the web and will notify TLOs and relevant Managers, who should advise School/organisational unit staff accordingly. The TE&R Section will also advise current students by broadcast email that the Final Timetable is available on the web.

17.  Once published the Final Timetable must be stable. Therefore, changes can only be actioned after this time if approved, due to extraordinary circumstances, by the Academic Registrar, and with the written support of the Associate Dean. Approved change requests will referred to the TE&R Section.

Where any such request is approved, it will be factored into vacant slots in the timetable, and will not result in changes to already scheduled classes.

18.  From the Monday of Lecture Week 1 of each semester all one-off room bookings will be made by Campus Operations, subject to the following principles:

(i)  such bookings can only be made

(a) for the current semester; and

(b) where there is room availability on the published timetable;

(ii)  all requests for changes to scheduled classes must be referred to the TE&R Section and actioned according to point 17 above.

19.  Notwithstanding point 18 above, the TE&R Section will liaise with Campus Operations to assess the possible availability of auditoria and associated facilities for booking for special (non-teaching) purposes on Friday evenings and weekends, by 30 September each year for the following calendar year. In any case where external bookings are made in accordance with such assessment, such bookings cannot be required to be altered in order to accommodate one-off teaching or associated requirements.

20.  Particular rooms (as negotiated with and advised to the TE&R Section prior to construction of the Draft Timetables) are ‘owned’ by Campus Operations and are identified on the timetables as X rooms. Bookings for these rooms are always the responsibility of Campus Operations and are not subject to the principles in point 18 above.

21.  Where required, and normally due to exceptional scheduling difficulties, the Manager TE&R will negotiate with the relevant Campus Operations Manager for the use of X room/s for regular or intensive mode classes.

22.  Any staff member can request a one-off room booking additional to normal timetabling requirements, ie for meetings, workshops, conferences etc. Such a request must be made directly to Campus Operations, who will, if necessary, liaise with the TE&R Section to accommodate the request. NOTE: There may be a charge associated with such a booking.

23.  LICs should notify Campus Operations in advance if lectures are cancelled.

24.  Audits of room usage and the size of groups occupying rooms will be conducted by Campus Operations to monitor actual compared to timetabled room usage and the appropriateness of room allocation having regard to room capacity and student numbers. A report of such audits should be provided to the relevant Pro-Vice-Chancellor (and, where relevant, Rector) and the TE&R Manager each semester.

25.  An avenue of appeal in relation to timetabling is available, by means of written appeal to the Academic Registrar. An appeal may only be made on the grounds that these Timetabling Principles and Procedures have not been observed. Any such appeal must be submitted not later than five days after publication of the Second Draft Timetable to the web

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Appendix A

Timetabling Principles and Procedures

Approved by Academic Board 17.5.06

TIMETABLING ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Timetabling, Examinations and Results (TE&R) Section