Understanding the Timetable Jon Pink Academic Registrar

Purpose This presentation sets out a number of facts about the timetable from different perspectives The list is not exhaustive and additional contributions are welcome The facts are there to stimulate debate and explore solutions NOT to apportion blame or make a judgment about current practice Possible ways to address some difficulties will have trade offs with others We need to be prepared to make changes whilst retaining the benefits of current practice Add presentation title here in the Slide MasterPage 2

Information about Modules In 2015 at Canterbury and Medway for UG and PG we had around 2,300 modules for nearly 15,000 students At Canterbury in 2015 we had around 480 programmes consisting of 1,300 modules for 12,000 students This year for UGs at Canterbury we have around 78,000 individual student module registrations.

Complexity of Module Choice Our wide offering of module choice across programmes means that small numbers of students can have a disproportionate impact on the timetable The next three slides take a module from each faculty and show how student choice links programmes and Schools

Module Example The Rise and Fall of Athens CL589 POS SchoolPOSModule Registration CategoryStudents 38 - Politics & IRPOLIR:BAOption Module Am.StudiesAMSTUD:BAWild Option Module HistoryWARSTUD:BAOption Module HistoryHIS-ARCHST:BAOption Module HistoryHIS-A:BAWild Option Module HistoryHIS:BAWild Option Module SECLSHORTH04:CRDTOption Module SECLHIS-ELL:BAWild Option Module SECL CLASARCST- PHIL:BAOption Module SECL CLASARCST- DRA:BAOption Module SECLCLASARCST:BAOption Module SECLANCIENT:BAOption Module11

Module Example Introduction to Biochemistry BI300 POS SchoolPOSModule Registration CategoryStudents 45 - Anthrop. & Conserv.BIOANTH:BSCWild Option Module BiosciencesSHORTN25:CRDTOption Module Biosciences BIOMEDSCI- S:BSCCompulsory Module BiosciencesBIOMEDSCI:BSCCompulsory Module Biosciences BIOMEDSCI(V2)- A:BSCCompulsory Module BiosciencesBIOL-S:BSCCompulsory Module BiosciencesBIOL:BSCCompulsory Module BiosciencesBIOL(V2)-A:BSCCompulsory Module BiosciencesBIOCH-S:BSCCompulsory Module BiosciencesBIOCH:BSCCompulsory Module BiosciencesBIOCH(V2)-A:BSCCompulsory Module5

Module Example Global Business Environment CB343 POS SchoolPOSModule Registration CategoryStudents 38 - Politics & IRSHORTS38:CRDTOption Module KLSLAW-BUSADMIN:BACompulsory Module EconomicsBUS-ECON:BACompulsory Module KBSSHORTS35:CRDTOption Module KBSINTBUS-S:BACompulsory Module KBSINTBUS-A:BACompulsory Module KBSINTBUS:BACompulsory Module KBSINBUS-A:BACompulsory Module KBSBUSADMIN-S:BBAICompulsory Module KBSBUSADMIN:BBACompulsory Module KBSBUSADMIN(M)-S:BBAICompulsory Module KBSBUSADMIN(M):BBACompulsory Module Computing COMP-BUSADMIN- S:BSCOption Module ComputingCOMP-BUSADMIN:BSCOption Module CEWLSHORTH11:CRDTOption Module SECLSPN-BUSADMIN-A:BACompulsory Module SECLPHIL-BUSADMIN:BACompulsory Module SECLITAL-BUSADMIN-A:BACompulsory Module SECLGER-BUSADMIN-A:BACompulsory Module SECLFRE-BUSADMIN-A:BACompulsory Module SECLBUSADMIN-ELL:BACompulsory Module6

Other modules chosen by Students on CB343 Page 8

Staff Constraints The timetable includes around 2,600 staff which is a combination of ongoing and hourly paid Of these staff 630 have constraints for their time that the timetabling office know about Some of the staff have more than 1 constraint, the total number of staff constraints is 1,606 There are staff constraints that Schools use that the timetabling office do not know about as these are handled directly by the School when constructing the timetable

Page 10 Department Requested Changes Members of staff leave or are allocated additional duties and replacement staff cannot teach at that time slot 831 events changed their timeslot, day or weeks between publication of the timetable to students (14 th September) and the end of week 0 – almost 10% of the entire timetable

Student Requested Changes 19 th – 27 th September – 1807 (841 of these were via OMR so staff aliasing the student’s record and adding modules – in all likelihood where we were assisting the stage 1 students in the Sports Hall) 28 th September -9.45am 6 th October – 1756 So in the period from arrivals weekend to now, the UGO have made 3563 additions/changes to module registrations. Add presentation title here in the Slide MasterPage 11

Hours of Study We currently timetable within 9am to 6pm Mon, Tue, Wed and Thu and 9am to 1pm on Wed. We do, in exceptional circumstances place sessions 1pm to 6pm on Wed We also place some sessions between 6pm to 9pm on Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu and Fri Add presentation title here in the Slide MasterPage 12

Room Allocation Currently some rooms are “owned” by Schools who timetable their own classes in them These tend to be left clear for meetings and specialised classes and are not fully utilised, the Schools use centrally timetabled space This puts pressure on centrally timetabled space at times when we have “private” rooms not being used Add presentation title here in the Slide MasterPage 13

Access to the Timetable Some Schools have access to CMIS with restricted permissions in comparison with timetabling staff This allows them to solve issues instead of timetabling staff who then make the changes once the issue is resolved Some Schools can adjust the timetable within their own “rooms” for their own staff Schools who do not have access to CMIS find it difficult to resolve issues without contacting timetabling staff Add presentation title here in the Slide MasterPage 14

Timetabling Central and School staff There are currently 7 staff in timetabling on a variety of contracts some of whom are new During busy periods, such as the start of term there is not the capacity to handle all of the queries (phone and ) so resolving issues takes longer There are staff in Schools who do help resolve issues either by using CMIS or contacting timetabling staff, this can be a slow process There are queries that only the School can resolve which leads to lengthy dialogues between both set of staff Add presentation title here in the Slide MasterPage 15

A small number of big ideas It has been suggested that we should identify perhaps 3 or 4 ideas that when implemented together make a significant difference to producing the timetable Each idea would look to address the different areas that I have identified above Can you discuss what these ideas might be? Page 16