Academic Scheduling & Policies

Academic schedule planning should include core offerings for face-to-face and online courses. 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUMMER 2024 SCHEDULE RUN
The Summer 2023 schedule has been rolled and you may begin submissions upon receipt of this call. Courses will not be auto-scheduled. Classes will remain in the rooms originally assigned unless a Classroom Technology Request Form is received or the requirements of the class dictate a change.

Late submission of schedule changes and special classroom requests will be processed on a space-available basis and only after submissions received by the due date have been processed.

REPORTS
Log into Power BI using this link. 

Reports can be downloaded as an excel spreadsheet by hovering your mouse above the first row in the detail view and selecting the ellipses that will appear on the upper-right hand of the datasheet and then clicking “export data”. 

If you have any questions or need assistance or access to these reports you may submit a ticket with IT requesting access.

Your filter selections will be remembered each time you access these reports, so if you have issues selecting parameters make sure to click “select all” and “apply” for each selection criteria on the filters screen.

Class Schedule

• Access the report here.
• Select parameters. Term, College, and Subject are appropriate.
• Click “View Detail”
• Download your report into Excel format.

Course Management Course Prerequisite

• Access the report here.
• Select parameters. Term, College, and Subject are appropriate.
• Click “View Detail”
• Download your report into Excel format.

Note: All prerequisites added will be enforced. 

Course Management Course Restriction

•  Access the report here.
• Select parameters. Term, College, and Subject are appropriate.
• Download your report into Excel format.

Course Management Course Selection Attribute

• Access the report here.
• Select parameters. Term, College, and Subject are appropriate.
• Download your report into Excel format.

DATA ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS

Please use the following methods for the initial submission of the spreadsheets back to the Academic Scheduling Office (ASO).

Changes, Additions, Deletions

• Indicate Change, Delete, or Add in the first column.
• CHANGES must be highlighted in yellow.
• ADDITIONS should be in BOLD to clearly identify those that require our attention, font color of blue, and highlight ALL fields in yellow.
• DELETIONS must have a red line and red font through the entire row.

Course Comments and Comments to Academic Scheduling (AS)

• Indicate any comments that need to be attached to a class in the Comments column in your spreadsheet. These comments will be visible to students in the public web schedule. 
• Because many departments like to provide us (AS) with comments about a class but not necessarily to be attached to the class itself (like a Special Classroom Request form is coming for this particular class), we prefer that you add a column to your excel spreadsheet by going to Insert and then selecting Column. You may title the column “Comments to AS” and enter anything you would like us to know when preparing your schedule.

Below is a sample of the changes that need to be made to your spreadsheet.  This small spreadsheet does not include all of the possible fields.

Additional Scheduling Guidance

1) Title
Most titles may not be changed from what appears automatically.  Course titles must correspond to what is in the Banner (electronic) catalog. Exceptions to this no-changes-allowed rule are classes whose Banner titles are “Special Topics,” “Advanced Topics,” “Topics in Forensic Anthropology”—anything with the word “topics” in it. It is expected that these “topics” titles will change from term to term; a title that accurately reflects what content is being taught is appropriate for these classes.

If a department needs a particular title to be listed, it is required that we check the University Bulletin and electronic course catalog to make sure that the class is actually a topics course. Some topics courses do not have the word “topics” in their Banner titles.

Note: In Banner, the field for the title of a class is 30-characters, including spaces.  Departments will often provide much longer titles; if you do not provide an abbreviation then AS will provide one for you.

2) PoTerm (PoT)
The PoT field is critical as it determines the dates on which students may register. Dates and corresponding terms are as follows: 

The start and end dates above represent the first and last days of classes. However, not every class begins on that date and ends on that date; that means that all classes fall within that range of dates.  For example, the term may begin on Monday, but if the class meets on Tuesdays/Thursdays, it won’t begin until the first Tuesday after the first day of the term. Similarly, the class may end on a Tuesday while the end date of the PoT is a Wednesday. This does not mean that the PoT dates should be changed to the exact start and end dates of the section. Start and end dates should only be changed if they do not match the dates listed above.

When creating a section, please carefully refer to the chart above and select the appropriate part of term based on the description and start/end dates.  If the dates of your class do not align with these part of term dates, please select the part of term of best fit. A comment giving the exact beginning and ending dates should be placed in the comment field.

The PoT field is critical as it determines the dates on which students may register.
 

3) Appr (Approval)

The two commonly used approval codes are:

IS – instructor’s signature required to register
DP – departmental approval required to register

If one of these codes is entered, no one will be able to register online. All students will have to get the required signature on a Registration Transaction Form and have the form submitted to the Registrar’s Office for manual data entry. 

The start and end dates above represent the first and last days of classes. However, not every class begins on that date and ends on that date; that means that all classes fall within that range of dates.  For example, the term may begin on Monday, but if the class meets on Tuesdays/Thursdays, it won’t begin until the first Tuesday after the first day of the term. Similarly, the class may end on a Tuesday while the end date of the PoT is a Wednesday. This does not mean that the PoT dates should be changed to the exact start and end dates of the section. Start and end dates should only be changed if they do not match the dates listed above.

When creating a section, please carefully refer to the chart above and select the appropriate part of term based on the description and start/end dates.  If the dates of your class do not align with these part of term dates, please select the part of term of best fit. A comment giving the exact beginning and ending dates should be placed in the comment field.

The PoT field is critical as it determines the dates on which students may register.
 

Appr (Approval)

The two commonly used approval codes are:

IS – instructor’s signature required to register

DP – departmental approval required to register

If one of these codes is entered, no one will be able to register online. All students will have to get the required signature on a Registration Transaction Form and have the form submitted to the Registrar’s Office for manual data entry. 

Schedule Type
The most commonly used are:

• L – lecture
• H – laboratory
• D – discussion
• R – recitation
• M – seminar
• X – self-paced course
• A, B, P, Q, T, U, V, etc. – special topics lectures

If a department wishes to offer more than one of its special topics courses during a term, each section of that class must be coded with a different special topic schedule type or a student will not be able to register for more than one of these classes. For example, HIST 1011 is a special topics course number. HIST 1011.10, 1011.11 and 1011.12 may not all be coded as schedule type L.  L may be used for the first section, but the other special topics schedule type codes must be used for the second, third, etc., sections.

Section Number
All section numbers should be in numerical order. If the department does not change them into numerical order, we will change them during our data entry process. Please note the significance of section numbers as follows:
.10s = first summer session
.20s = second summer session
.30s = lab, discussion or recitation sections
.50s = Medical School courses only
.60s = study abroad courses
.80s = cross-listed courses
.MVs = Mount Vernon sections
.D01 = first summer session distance courses
.D20 = second summer session distance courses

Print
By default, most courses will appear in this field by default.  If a particular course should not appear in print, the check must be removed manually.

A check mark in this box means that the course will appear on the web schedule and in any printed reports. If a course should not appear online or in printed material, please indicate “do not print” in the comment field.

Web Availability Indicator
Most courses should be available for web registration; however, some departments may decide that a particular course(s) should not be available for online registration, if the course is designed for a  specific population of students or cohort. If a class should not be made web available for registration, please indicate this in the comments. Students will not be able to register online and will have to complete a Registration Transaction Form (RTF) to register.

Departments may decide that a particular course(s) should not be web available at all if the course is designed for a specific population of students. They may ask that the course not be web available because they intend to paper register the students for a group of courses designed for a cohort, for example.

Enrollment Cap
The department will set the enrollment cap it wishes to have on each class. The Maximum column and the Projected column should list the same number. Caps must be realistic; please do not under- or overestimate and be mindful of the enrollment history and reasonable expectations for any increases. Remember that classroom assignments depend to a great extent upon the caps placed on the classes by the departments. Any caps that are greater or less than 20% of the previous enrollments may be returned to the school for justification.

Cross-Listing Codes and Link Identifiers
Please do not submit only one portion of a cross-listing. If you would like to have two or more classes cross-listed, please make sure to submit all classes with the same cross-listed information, including the individual maximum capacities and the combined cross-listed cap. If we do not receive this information, the classes cannot be cross-listed. 

Linked sections should be clearly identified and reviewed to ensure registration is linked.

Registration Restrictions
Available restrictions supported by Banner are: college, major, class, student type, degree, program and campus. These restrictions imply accurate coding on the student records.

If restriction codes are to be built into a class, please give the appropriate codes, as well as the names of the codes. For example:  If a class is to be restricted to history majors only, please list the code for the major in history, 061. Academic deans’ offices are responsible for providing up-to-date codes.

When requesting a restriction to be placed on a class, be sure to say whether you want that particular population to be included or excluded. For example: if you want only history majors to register for the class, you request that the history majors code 061 be included.

Please remember that these are guidelines. If you are unfamiliar with any particular document or guideline, do not hesitate to contact your college's scheduling liaison.

Prerequisites
If you would like to enforce prerequisites for a given class, please use the separate “Class Listings with Prerequisites and Restrictions” report from the Course Listings menu in the GW Data Marts. Make sure you indicate “AND” or “OR” when listing multiple prerequisite classes. We will not list any prerequisites in the course comments. If you have questions, please contact us directly.

MANAGEMENT OF DEPARTMENT-CONTROLLED SPACES
The Academic Scheduling Office does not schedule classes in department-controlled spaces. We do, however, need to list building and room information for all classes – both in Banner and in the schedule of classes. If your classes are meeting in departmental spaces, please indicate this on your spreadsheets. This data will only be used to help departments coordinate schedules and emergency situations. Departmental spaces will not be used as general-purpose classroom space.

Schedules & Projections Guide 2023 Summer Time Bands
For 3 credit hour courses*

Reference summer & accelerated guidelines in the Assignment of Credit Hour Policy on the Provost’s website.

Due to multiple Monday holidays during the first half of the summer, Monday classes will not be included in the approved time bands below. All Summer 2023 time bands have been adjusted with these restrictions in mind. Please do not offer Monday classes if your class meets in the first half of the semester.

1-Week Session**
Session I: May 22 to July 1  TWRFS 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Session II: July 3  to August 12 MTWRF 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

4-Week Session***
Session I: May 22 to June 16
WR 9:00 AM - 12:50 PM
TR 9:00 AM - 12:50 PM
WF 1:00 PM- 4:50 PM
TR 1:00 PM- 4:50 PM

Session II: July 3 to July 28
MW 9:00 AM - 12:50 PM
TR 9:00 AM - 12:50 PM
MW 1:00 PM - 4:50 PM
TR 1:00 PM- 4:50 PM

6-Week Sessions***
Session I: May 22 to July 1

TWRF 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM WF or TR 8:00 AM – 10:15 AM
TWRF 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM WF or TR 9:30 AM - 11:45 AM
TWRF 12:00 PM- 1:30 PM WF or TR 11:00 AM – 1:15 PM
TWRF 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM WF or TR 1:00 PM - 3:15 PM
TWRF 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM WF or TR 2:30 PM - 4:45 PM
TWRF 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM WF or TR 3:30 PM – 5:45 PM
TWRF 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM WF or TR 6:10 PM – 8:00 PM WF or TR 6:10 PM – 8:40 PM

Session II: July 3 to August 12

MTWR 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM MW or TR 8:00 AM – 10:15 AM
MTWR 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM MW or TR 9:30 AM - 11:45 AM
MTWR 12:00 PM- 1:30 PM MW or TR 11:00 AM – 1:15 PM
MTWR 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM MW or TR 1:00 PM - 3:15 PM
MTWR 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM MW or TR 2:30 PM - 4:45 PM
MTWR 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM MW or TR 3:30 PM – 5:45 PM
MTWR 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM MW or TR 6:10 PM – 8:00 PM MW or TR 6:10 PM – 8:40 PM

8-Week Session***
May 16 to July 9

WF 6:10 PM – 8:50 PM
TR 6:10 PM – 8:40 PM

10-Week Session***
May 16 to July 23

T 6:10 PM - 8:45 PM
W 6:10 PM - 8:45 PM
R 6:10 PM - 8:45 PM
F 6:10 PM - 8:45 PM

14-Week Session***
May 22 - August 19

Make-up classes must be scheduled through the Academic Scheduling Office for any date and time during which classroom space is available, provided conflicts for the enrolled students are avoided.

*Four-credit courses need to meet for additional time, in accordance with summer and accelerated guidelines in the Assignment of Credit Hour Policy, with time bands starting at the same time of day as noted for 3 credit courses.
** Classes in which class meeting times are 1-week in duration should be scheduled for a full 6-week session to accommodate assignments, readings, and other out-of-class learning experiences that students cannot be expected to fulfill during the week that classes meet. Faculty proposing 1-week classes must include in their syllabi assignments, projects, papers, etc. that students are expected to complete before the class meets and/or after the classes end. Assignments or readings prior to the beginning of class cannot be due until the beginning of the first day of classes. Syllabi for 1-week sessions must be reviewed by the department chair to ensure that the minimum direct instruction and independent learning requirements are met.
***No in person meetings will occur on Mondays for sections that meet in the first half of the summer. If a section requires an additional meeting it should be arranged with Academic Scheduling.