North Dakota State University

Course Scheduling Guidelines

• Class Notes/Fees
• Classroom Assignments
• Computer Cluster Reservations
• Distance-Delivered Courses
• Enrollment Capacities
• Faculty-led Study Abroad
• Graduate Research Credits
• Guidelines for Course Days/Times
• Instructor Assignments
• Schedule Changes
• Topics/Subtitles
• Variable Credit Courses
• Variable Length Courses

These guidelines provide consistency for academic departments and ensure compliance.

Class Notes/Fees

Class notes or details include important class information for students. These may include professional program and classification restrictions, course fees, tuition information, instruction mode, administrative drop notices, etc.

Class prerequisites and co-requisites are maintained in the Course Catalog, which is linked from the Schedule of Classes. If changes are to be made to course prerequisites/co-requisites/restrictions, submit requests via CourseLeaf (CIM).

Course Fees must be approved by the Provost’s Office and posted in the Campus Connection schedule before registration begins. Please be sure all fees are included and accurate when you submit your schedule edits.

Please Note: if a course should be Department Consent (permit required), this requires issuing of electronic and/or paper permits for students to register.

The classes and rooms included on the edit schedule spreadsheet reflect the previous year's semester assignments, and are subject to change (unless the room/lab is managed by the academic department). If you have specific classroom requests, include them with your schedule submission. Availability is greatest from 8-8:50 am MWF, 8-9:15 am T/Th, or any day after 3 pm. If instrumentation, special seating or other requirements are needed, please note this as well. We try our best to meet instructor/department requests while accommodating a growing number of classes and students each term.

• Classrooms Available for Reservation

If a computer cluster is needed, submit the request with the schedule submission. Classes that meet weekly have priority over classes that use clusters sporadically.

Courses offered through Distance & Continuing Education (DCE) are to be coordinated with the Office of Teaching & Learning/ Distance & Continuing Education. Registration & Records receives a list of confirmed courses from DCE.

Distance-delivered courses that are not offered through DCE should be included on the schedule submission along with instruction mode. These include IVN, which should have all sites clearly indicated.

All courses offered through Distance and Continuing Education must include an instruction mode as indicated below:

Instruction Mode for distance-delivered courses:

Please indicate expected capacities for each section of a course on the schedule spreadsheet. This information will help determine what size classroom is optimal.

Per federal financial aid regulations, coursework extending beyond the term may not overlap another term. A standard term is defined as one with specific start and end dates that fall within a semester. This is important to pay attention to as there are financial aid implications for students.

If a semester-based course has a study abroad component, students can depart up to two weeks prior to the start of the term in which the course is scheduled as long as travel commences after the last date of the previous semester. Alternatively, travel can extend up to two weeks beyond the last day of the course’s term as long as the subsequent semester has not started.

Example: Student is enrolled for a class that has a study abroad component during the spring term, which runs from 1/11/2016 – 5/13/2016. Travel options are as follows:

1. May depart as early as 12/28/2015 but must return by 1/11/2016;
   
   
2. May depart at any date (including after the final date of the semester), but must return by 5/27/2016 OR by the first day of summer school, whichever comes first. At NDSU, they must return by 5/17/2016 to avoid overlapping terms even if they do not plan to enroll in summer courses.

If the set of outcomes a faculty member has in mind encompasses three credits worth of instructional time, consider breaking the credits into separate courses and sequencing them. For example, a two credit course in the spring might serve to prepare students and serve as a prerequisite for a 1 credit course scheduled as a summer course that encompasses the physical time abroad. The 1 credit course would have to start after the end of the spring term (the last day of final’s week), and would have to end prior to the start of fall semester.

Summer study abroad credits would not be counted towards the spring tuition cap. For planning purposes, a rule of thumb is that a course can earn a maximum of one credit for every week of time abroad. One credit is 750 minutes of contact time (12.5 hours) in addition to 120 minutes (2 hours) of study time. Remember that the workload needs to be realistic within the constraints of the timing and situation.

More information is available at:
Study Abroad - abroad:http://ndsu-studyabroad.applicationgateway.com/
Financial Aid - www.ndsu.edu/bisonconnection/finaid/study_abroad_aid/

Generally, one section of each type of graduate research credits is included in a term schedule, and is assigned to the department chair/head. Upon request, additional sections of 797, 797S, 798, 798S, 799, 799S, 899 will be created. If desired, please submit with the schedule edits spreadsheet, along with instructor names.

For standard, full semester courses, please follow the guidelines below. Deviations from standard scheduling times will be scheduled after standard class sections have been built due to the strain they present to existing classroom space on campus.

Monday-Wednesday-Friday Classes:

• Daytime classes begin on the hour (Downtown on the half-hour)
• Class length is 50 minutes (passing time between classes is 10 minutes)
• Three-hour classes are scheduled in three 50-minute blocks
• Two-hour classes must follow the same rules, but may choose any combination of M/W/F days. Four-hour classes may be scheduled on any week days according to the above guidelines.

Tuesday-Thursday Classes:

• Day classes begin at 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. (begin at 8:30 a.m. for downtown)
• Class length is 75 minutes (passing time between classes is 15 minutes)

Extended Day Classes:

• Courses scheduled after 4 p.m. typically are scheduled in blocks of time with 50 weekly contact minutes per credit.
• Evening schedules consist of two-non-overlapping class periods each day. The first shall conclude prior to 7:30 p.m.; the second shall not begin before 7:30 p.m.
• Evening classes must conclude by 10 p.m.

IMPORTANT: Contact hours for lecture courses must equal 750 minutes per credit (equivalent to 50 minutes in class per week/credit). Laboratories are a minimum of two-50 minute periods per week. Minimum hours must be prorated accordingly for variable length courses.

Any faculty, including adjuncts and graduate teaching assistants, may be assigned as course instructors. New instructors who do not have Campus Connection security access as faculty, must request such access with approval of their department chair/head. Departments may list faculty who supervise GTAs as the sole or secondary course instructor. Instructors can only access class and grade rosters if assigned to their classes in Campus Connection.

Because the schedule is used for advising and to assign classroom space on campus, please plan and review carefully. If schedule adjustments need to be made, please do so prior to the start of registration. Newly approved courses may be added to the schedule upon request.

Once the schedule is posted and registration has begun, changes in title, credit, and catalog number may only take effect for subsequent terms.

Class day/time changes made after students have begun registering are discouraged because they disrupt the schedule build process for students.

Ensure Topic/Subtitle for variable topic courses (i.e., individual study) is up-to-date.

Please include in the edit schedule spreadsheet the number of credits for which a variable credit course is to be scheduled (i.e.: individual study, seminar, etc.).

If a course is shorter than the regular (16-week) semester, include the actual course start and end dates on the schedule submission. Academic and refund dates and deadlines will be set accordingly.

Because of scheduling and classroom constraints, please limit deviations from the standard semester start and end dates. Total contact hours for variable length courses must be equivalent to those prescribed for standard length courses (750 minutes/lecture credit).

A standard term is defined as one with specific start and end dates that fall within the semester. Federal financial aid regulations state that course start/end dates can extend no more than two weeks beyond either side of the standard term. Additionally, coursework extending beyond the term may not overlap another term, including summer term.

Please contact Kim Miller at kimberly.miller@ndsu.edu or 231-7986 with any schedule related questions.