Time Table Proposal for Campus Review

As the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK) moves towards implementing budget cuts in 2011, we must take steps to improve efficiency and effectiveness in areas such as classroom utilization. Approximately 31% of all student enrollments occur on Tuesday and Thursday and about 29% on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. The remaining classes are offered either once a week (about 29% of student enrollments) or on “non-standard” times. Of the approximately 11% of students enrolled in a “non-standard” class time, almost all meet on Monday/Wednesday. About 69% of all classes meet during “prime-time” which is defined as having a start time between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. During prime-time hours, especially on Tuesday and Thursday, the number of available classrooms dips into single digits.

Taken together, these factors lead to several negative outcomes:

• Limited choices for students
• Limited room availability/poor room utilization
• General dissatisfaction with course scheduling

To address the negative outcomes detailed above, a taskforce made up of faculty, staff, and students was formed in spring of 2010 with the charge of proposing new timetable options that would spread course offerings across the day and across the week and  accommodate 50, 75, and 150 minute classes/seminars on multiple days. After review of both UT’s own scheduling patterns and innovations at peer universities, the taskforce has identified four potential options for changes to the timetable. Those options along with pros and cons of each are provide in the document below.

Feedback on the plan should be shared with taskforce co-chairs Don Cox (dcox@utk.edu) and/or Jennifer Hardy (jhardy11@utk.edu).

 

Posted: May 5, 2010