Classroom Management

The Associate Provost for Academic Support and Classroom Management has ultimate responsibility for these areas. This office will be responsible for coordinating, monitoring, refining, and implementing our classroom policy. Advice about technology standards will be provided by standing committees that work through ITS. It will be up to each dean to determine the extent to which faculty involvement within each school is necessary or desirable.

Centralized Scheduling

The process of centralized scheduling began in the spring of 1996. The task has been approached incrementally and school-by-school rather than by the wholesale adoption of a comprehensive schedule.

Conversion of Classroom Space to Other Uses

The Classroom Utilization Report prepared by outside consultants concluded that the University has too many classrooms and that much of our classroom stock is the wrong size (e.g., too many 26-50 person classrooms and too few 1-25 person classrooms). The consultants recommended a reduction in available classroom space of 22,000 square feet. As currently planned new dormitory space is completed, classrooms on central grounds will be withdrawn from service that matches in size the classrooms being built into the new dormitories. Whenever renovations or additions create new classrooms, others will be withdrawn so that planned downsizing of classroom stock will not be adversely effected

Accurate Recording of Usage

Classroom space is often used for events other than organized credit-bearing classes. Each school has been trained on the Events Scheduling System to accurately track and assign all usage of classroom space. We need to ensure that bookings done at the school or departmental level do not conflict with the central scheduling done in the Office of the University Registrar.

Essential information about Classroom Reservations

Food

Only incidental food (for example, coffee, pastries, cupcakes, fruit) brought by individual faculty and students or food carried by individuals for individual consumption is allowed in classrooms at any time. Please be considerate of those people following you in the classroom: do not leave class celebration remains in the room. Please take away the trash or leftovers.

Catered food may not be served or consumed in classrooms.

Only incidental food (for example, coffee, pastries, cupcakes, fruit) brought individually by faculty and students, or food carried by individuals for individual consumption, is allowed in classrooms.

Events for which the main academic activities are scheduled in classroom spaces and which intend to serve catered food including morning coffee service must plan in advance to use nearby departmental or school-controlled space such as conference rooms or reception areas for food service and consumption. Participants may bring remaining beverages back to classrooms. Please do not leave food trash in containers or receptacles inside of classrooms. Classrooms should be left as found at the beginning of your class or event.

Furniture

If the furniture in a classroom which you have reserved does not meet your needs, please contact [email protected] to REQUEST another room with an appropriate configuration. For the needs of a class or event that may follow your reservation, our state reporting requirements, and for various fire code requirements, DO NOT remove furniture from any classroom or class lab. For departmental class labs, please consult with a department administrator for changes.

New Policies

  • All classes will be scheduled centrally as far as possible into "right-sized" rooms; that is, rooms that are not too large for the projected enrollment. Changes will be made based on enrollment history, preliminary enrollments, and actual enrollments so as to match class and room size.
  • Schools and departments are requested to indicated technology needs for the classes.
  • Deans are charged with the responsibility to assure that requested times for daytime courses are spread from 8:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M. Monday - Thursday and 8:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M Friday. Deans are also charged with the responsibility to address the issue of conflicts between classes in different subject areas with a view to maximizing the available student choices. Communications from the Office of the University Registrar will not prejudge these issues by suggesting the use of the previous year's schedule.
  • The spread of classes throughout the day will be closely monitored.
  • Every effort will be made to assign classes in local areas to the extent possible and to minimize faculty travel from one school to another. But to a much greater extent than the past, the Office of the University Registrar has been instructed that all space in all schools within reasonable walking distance is available for the scheduling of any class. Special accommodations will of course be made if required.

The Associate Provost for Academic Support and Classroom Management recommends the adoption of other policies as we gain more experience in centralized classroom management. Please contact the Associate Provost in Booker House (924-3728, [email protected]) if you have questions or comments about any of these matters.


Electronic Classroom Policies

The policies on use of electronic classrooms is maintained by ITS.