Understanding the Course Scheduling Tool

Owned by Fitsjba (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Aug 04, 2023
8 min read

Introduction

The Course Scheduler is used to plan course offering schedules per semester. This allows schedulers to have a better visual of all course offerings plotted on a calendar. With validation checks, this tool is beneficial to ensure that no conflict exists in instructors' teaching schedules, course offering schedules, and room reservation requests.

 

In the following section, you will learn how to do the following:

  • Understand the components that make up the Course Scheduler

  • How to schedule courses

  • Who is responsible for course scheduling

  • When does course scheduling occur

How to Navigate the Course Scheduler

The Course Scheduling module feeds off of data entered in the Course Planner and Components Management pages. The components that make up this page include a filter, statistic cards, and a calendar where course offerings will be dragged onto to create class schedules.

Filter

The filter contains multiple fields to narrow down the data that appears on the statistic cards and calendar. The term will be pre-set to the current semester + 1. Offering Publish Status and Schedule Publish Status will be pre-set to include published, unpublished, and in progress offerings and schedules. You will need to at least complete the Faculties field for results to appear on the Course Schedules, but can also refine the results by completing the other fields in the filter too. If you frequently use the same filter setting, you can save it by clicking .

 

Filter

Function

Terms

Specifies the Term that will appear in the search results. By default, the term will display the current semester + 1.

Faculties

Schools/Departments/Programs

Displays all courses that are attached to faculty as a primary or non-primary academic unit. If you do not see a particular course filtered under an academic unit, you may need to speak to the Course Manager to ensure if the course profile is attached to the correct academic unit.

Subplans

Narrows down courses by academic subplan. Offerings must first be tagged with the subplan in order for them to show up under this filter selection.

Academic Careers

Narrows down courses by academic career (undergraduate, graduate, other, non-university/non-degree). This tag is based on the academic career attached to the course profile.

Course Levels

Narrows down courses by course level.

Course Divisions

Narrows down courses by course division (lower division, upper division, graduate). This tag is based on the course division attached to the course profile.

Course Numbers

Start typing the course number to see available options. This tag is based on the course number attached to the course profile. You may search and select more than one option to filter. 

Course Sections

Start typing the course section to see available options. This tag is based on the course section attached to the course offering profile. You may search and select more than one option to filter.

Section Groups

Narrows down courses by section group (primary sections, non-primary sections).

Component Types

Narrows down courses by component type.

Campuses

Narrows down courses by the campus they are offered at. This tag is based on the campus attached to the course profile.

Locations

Narrows down courses by location. This tag is based on the campus attached to the course profile.

Instructors

Start typing the instructor's name or employee ID to see available options. You may search and select more than one option to filter.

Employment Groups

Narrows down courses by the employment group.

Service Courses

Narrows down courses by if it is a service course. You can indicate if a course is a service course in the Course Settings tab of the Course Profile.

Offering Publish Status

Narrows down courses by the offering publish status (published, unpublished, in progress). You can publish course offerings on goSFU Course Data Upload.

Schedule Publish Status

Narrows down courses by the schedule publish status (published, unpublished, in progress). You can publish schedules on goSFU Course Data Upload.

Statistic Cards

The statistic cards provide a quick reference for schedulers on lower and upper division enrollment and non-enrollment courses that are scheduled in prime time. The percentage of courses scheduled in prime time can appear in two colours: black or red. If the term is in spring or fall and the course schedule has more than 40% of courses scheduled in prime time, the percentage will be red. If the term is summer and the course schedule has more than 50% of courses scheduled in prime time, the percentage will be red. The percentage will be black when it does not meet either of these two scenarios. As no more than 40% in spring or fall and 50% in summer of courses can be scheduled during prime time for a department, course schedule adjustments should be made if the prime time statistic cards are red.

Calendar

Course offerings are listed on the left-hand side of the page. The calendar beside it is where course offerings can be dragged onto to create class schedules. 

Toolbar

The toolbar appears on the top-right of the calendar and contains a few functions that assist you in creating class schedules. 

Settings

Course offerings in the calendar can be set to indicate its schedule publish status using colour code. Red tags will on offerings that have an unpublished status.

Share Service Course Schedules

If there is a service course in your department, this button will appear in the toolbar. By default, all service courses will be pre-selected for you. You can share the service course(s) to different faculties, schools, departments, and programs. You can set up a course offering as a service course through the course profile. Information on how to do that can be found at How to Manage Course Profile Settings.

Assign No Schedule

Check for and assign components with a No Schedule meeting pattern. Course offerings assigned this meeting pattern will appear in red boxes on the Course Offerings section on the left-hand side of the page.

Schedule Conflicts

Schedule Conflicts contains two tabs: View Conflict and Course Conflict Rules. The View Conflict tab shows the courses that are in conflict with each other. The Course Conflict Rules tab allows you to set rules against a course taking place at the same time as one or more other specific courses. Any rule violations will result in the course conflict appearing on the View Conflict tab. The course conflict can be resolved by rescheduling the conflicted courses.

 

The Course Scheduler performs validation checks to inform you of potential issues. Location conflicts occur when the same instructor(s) are scheduled in sessions on different campuses without a 2 hour window. Schedule conflicts occur when a component breaks the rules(s) set on Schedule conflicts or is scheduled to an already reserved room. Location warnings notify you that the instructor(s) will be teaching in more than one campus on the same day. Red message boxes will appear for conflicts and yellow boxes will appear for warnings. While conflicts need to be resolved in order to proceed, warnings will only ask for confirmation to proceed.

 

Switch to List View

There are two view options: calendar view and list view. Calendar view is the default option. After switching to the list view, you can select Switch to Calendar View to return back.

VIEW

 The calendar has multiple view options:

  • M-F View shows a condensed view of course offerings scheduled from Monday to Friday for the entire semester. 

  • Month View shows course offering schedules plotted on an actual calendar (with months and days).

  • Work Week View shows course offering schedules from Monday to Friday plotted on an actual calendar (with months and days).

  • Week View shows course offering schedules from Monday to Sunday plotted on an actual calendar (with months and days).

  • Day View shows course offering schedules on a specific day plotted on an actual calendar (with months and days).

Export

Export the class schedule as an excel spreadsheet. You are able to export when there is warnings, but not if there are conflicts. Please refer to Schedule Conflicts to learn more about warnings and conflicts.

Course Scheduling

Schedule Course Offerings

Course offerings are listed on the left-hand side of the page. Blue boxes denote primary components and turquoise boxes denote non-primary components. Red boxes denote components that have a No Schedule meeting pattern. If you filter for shared service courses, grey boxes that represent service courses will appear on the calendar. These are solely for reference and does not affect your ability to schedule courses. You can drag and release course offerings onto the calendar to schedule it.

Card Menu of Course Offerings

By hovering over scheduled course offerings on the calendar, you can see the card menu, which contains basic information like its meeting pattern, location, etc. Furthermore, it contains two buttons: and . Click  to open up the edit modal. Click to delete the course schedule.

Edit Modal of Course Offerings

The modal contains four sections: Meetings, Course Offering Data, Enrollment Control and Reserve Cap, and Instructors. The Meetings section allows users to edit meeting details and put in room requests for rooms that are within your academic unit. Besides being able to select pre-set meeting patterns or a No Schedule meeting pattern, you can also select User Defined to customize the frequency for course offerings. The Course Offering Data section is for editing the course offering information. In the Enrollment Control and Reserve Cap section, you can edit the enrollment control and reserve cap. In the Instructor section, you can assign the instructor and grade approver. Deleted course offerings will re-appear on the left-hand side of the page.

Who is Responsible for Course Scheduling?

Each faculty has their own teams working on Course Scheduling. There may be instances when the Course Planning group is separate from the Course Scheduling group. In this case, Course Planners have to make sure to complete the list of course offerings in the Course Planner and keep it as up-to-date as possible before schedulers start working on scheduling classes.

When Does Course Scheduling Happen?

Scheduling happens two terms in advance. For example, Spring 2021 will be scheduled in July 2020. Area Coordinators must assign instructors by the deadline (which is the end of week 8 of each term) so that the instructors have a chance to submit their teaching preferences. Instructors then have weeks 9 and 10 to submit their time and room preferences.

How to Use the Course Scheduler

Creating Course Schedule

  1. Drag and release the course offering onto the calendar.

  2. Set the meeting pattern in the card menu that has popped up.

Meetings 

  1. Hover over the scheduled course offering to see the card menu.

  2. Click  to open the Edit Course Schedules modal.

  3. If the course is published, click .

  4. Under 'Meetings', make changes to the meeting details and room request.

  5. Click .

Course Offering Data

  1. Hover over the scheduled course offering to see the card menu.

  2. Click  to open up the Edit Course Schedules modal.

  3. If the course is published, click  to edit the offering and to edit the class notes.

  4. Under 'Course Offering Data', make changes to course offering data.

  5. Click .

Enrollment Control and Reserve Cap

  1. Hover over the scheduled course offering to see the card menu.

  2. Click  to open the Edit Course Schedules modal.

  3. If the course is published, click  to edit the enrollment control and/or  to edit the reserve cap.

  4. Under 'Enrollment Control' and/or 'Reserve Cap', make the adjustments.

  5. Click .

Instructors

  1. Hover over the scheduled course offering to see the card menu.

  2. Click  to open the Edit Course Schedules modal.

  3. If the course is published, click .

  4. In the Instructors section, make the adjustments.

  5. Click .

Deleting Course Schedule

  1. Hover over the scheduled course offering to see the card menu.

  2. Click  on the bottom right of the card menu.

How to Find the Course Scheduler

Course Scheduling can be located with the following steps:

  • Navigate to the menu dropdown under Course Mgmt > Course Management

  • Select Course Scheduler

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