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CSE Term Planning - Semester 1, 2009
If you've done this before, you can skip the below information and just log in here.
Update on changes since last year
Deadlines and associated UNSW activities
Reviewing your course
It's all too confusing? Got more important things to do with your time?
Update on changes since last year
NEW For those who have selected "yes" for Lectopia in the past, please note that you will now need to clarify your request:
Lectopia (iLecture) enable Podcasting
Lectopia (iLecture) make Publically accessible
Lectopia (iLecture) with Screen capture (limited availability)
A reminder that Lectopia is now in 'Opt Out' mode. This means that if classes are scheduled in a Lectopia enabled venue (regardless of whether you specifically requested one), the classes will be scheduled for recording automatically, unless the instructor 'opt's out'. Opting out of recording for ALL current and future recordings, or for selected courses only, is controlled via the Lectopia Self Service Wizard.
Most LiCs are getting the hang of Term Planning and there have been no major class set up issues in the last semester or two. This is excellent news, as it is generally too late to fix the problem by the time the LiC checks the class closely (ie. a week before classes commence).
Some minor issues that have arisen in recent semesters is to do with room allocation. LiCs should be aware that requesting room or teaching requirements that are not absolutely necessary will likely result in contricting the scheduling of your course. The more requirments you have, the more difficult it will be to schedule your course in the way you prefer. You should also be aware that clash free course combinations (CFCCs) will take priority and so if a choice needs to be made between you having dual data projectors for simultaneous use, or keeping a set of courses clash free for students, the students will win out.
This semester, I have contacted Student Representatives and asked that they submit for consideration some desirable CFCCs. Hopefully this will identify any combinations that are necessary, that have not already been requested.
These days, the Term Planning database sends every LiC an email notifiying them of the basic set up of their course, so if they don't have time to log in and see what we've done, they will at least know if there is a lab or not, and what timeband the lecture will be running in. A general announcment follows to academic-staff, just in case someone who thinks they should be LiC are not formally listed as LiC and therefore didn't receive a personalised email with term planning data.
I hope you find the email useful, and if you have any requests, questions or criticisms about the way we're handling Term Planning, please get in contact with me. I'll assume everything is fine unless I hear otherwise...
Cassandra Nock
3 September 2008
Deadlines and associated UNSW activities
| 9am Wednesday 10 September |
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Deadline for LiCs to review term planning data and request changes via the SO. |
Sunday 14 September
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Term Planning Deadline - for Cassandra and Colin to enter collected data in myUNSW |
| Friday 19 September |
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Special Staff Scheduling Request Form due |
| Monday 1 October |
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DEEWR Publishing Deadline - can't create/publish/schedule courses for the next semester after this date |
| Friday 7 November |
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Provisional timetable released to staff |
Friday 21 November
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Final timetable published to students |
| Thursday 4 December |
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Next semester enrolments commence |
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It is best to offer a course 'tentatively' and cancel it as it is not possible to schedule a course after the DEEWR deadline without making a case to the DVC Academic.
Reviewing your course
Please review your courses carefully and contact Cassandra Nock if you have any questions or concerns well before the deadline.
Using your CSE login and password, log in here to review your term planning data.
You'll notice you have three options:
Option 1 - Look at all courses in one long list
Option 2 - Look at a particular course by itself
Option 3 - Look at courses allocated to you only, with an option to update most fields.
It is highly recommended that you read some of the notes below first so that you can be familiar with the structure of the term planning data.
| Activity Structure |
| What do you need to check? |
Tools |
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LECTURE
Weeks - Does your lecture run every week? Courses are scheduled now on a week by week basis.
Planned Size - If you don't like the planned size, contact us. We have used expected enrolments plus 10% as it can be difficult to get a bigger room further down the track if the planning numbers are off. The planned size of combined classes is taken into consideration when rooms are being allocated by SARU.
Duration - Do you want one three hour lecture, or three one hour lectures, etc?
Schedule on Separate Days - Only applies to courses with multiple lectures. If you have three one hour lectures, and you don't ask for them to be scheduled on separate days, you could end up with the three hours scheduled on the same day .
Retain Meeting Order - If the duration is 1 x 2.0, 1 x 1.0 and you want to make sure the two hour lecture comes first, you will need to answer yes here. Answering no means that you could get the classes in any order.
Timeband Distribution - You don't need to do anything here if the course is core in any program. There isn't much choice. However, if your course is an elective and you prefer a different timeband, contact us to discuss or add a comment in the special request text box provided.
TUTORIAL OR TUT COMPONENT OF A TUT-LAB
Weeks - Does your tutorial run every week, or does it start in week 2?
Planned Size - We've used 17 as the default size for TUT-LABS (min size of labs - we'll increase this once labs are allocated if there is more room) and 20 for courses which just have a tutorial. You can change this class size if appropriate, but be aware that the total number of classes created for timetabling is done by dividing the overall expected enrolments by the planned size of tut/lab activities.
Duration - Most tutorials are one hour, this is what we've used as a starting point. Change it if needed.
Try to Schedule close to the lecture - This will put the component as close to the lecture as possible. If you have specific needs, eg. need the tutorial to precede the lecture then make a special request in the text box provided.
Try to Schedule Parallel Classes - For example, if you want all tutorials to be held at the same time in different locations you need to say yes here. If you want no parallel classes at all, you need to make a special request.
Timeband Distribution - As for LECTURE, but with the option to spread classes over more than one timeband. Where we have combined UG and PG classes, we need to schedule them with the same timeband distribution but have the option of setting the % to 0 if we want no classes created for a particular group.
LABORATORY OR LAB COMPONENT OF A TUT-LAB
Weeks - Does your lab run every week, or does it start in week 2 and go only for three weeks?
Other requirements as for TUTORIAL.
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List of Timeband options |
| Resource Requirements |
| What should you consider? |
Tools |
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LECTURE AND TUTORIAL
Campus Precinct - If you have a preferred location, please indicate where. There are no guarantees but most requests should be accomodated.
Room Type - Lecture Theatres are used for big classes (eg. over 200), tutorial rooms for smaller classes.
Teaching Requirements - If you have specific needs you should indicate them here. Eg. seating options, microphone, blackboard. NOTE: if you need internet access, then you will require a room with Campus Wide Network (CWN).
LABORATORY
The precinct and room type for CSE linux labs will be allocated as follows:
1st year Courses:
Primary: Mech Eng, K17
Alternative: Elec Eng
2nd and 3rd Year Courses:
Primary: Elec Eng
Alternative: Mech Eng, K17
Postgrad Courses:
Primary: K17 (if night labs 0800-0000)
Primary: Elec Eng (if day labs 0800-2100)
All CSE Labs now have whiteboards.
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List of Precincts
View Room Info on the CATS Website
Map of Kensington Campus (pdf)
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| Staff Scheduling |
| What are your options? |
Tools |
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Full-time staff don't get too many options...
4 September 2006 - Memo to HoS and Deans regarding:
Scheduling Staff in the Centralised Timetable (pdf)
"The Full-time Staff Scheduling Request pro-forma should be completed only after the situation of the individual staff member has been discussed and agreed with the Head of School. The form should be submitted to the Dean for her / his approval, and then submitted to the DVC (Academic) via SARU for endorsement and action."
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Staff Scheduling Request Form:
Full-Time Staff
Part-Time Staff
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| Combined and Parallel Classes |
| Do you need to do anything? |
Tools |
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Not really. These are generally known up front.
Combined classes have just one entry in our term planning database so that we can ensure that the same requirements are submitted for each course.
There are only a few parallel courses which we know about, but if for some reason you think you need to have your course scheduled at the same time as another, please advise us asap.
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| Clash Free Course Combinations (CFCCs) |
| Do you need to do anything? |
Tools |
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No. We have already identified co-requiste courses which need to remain clash free.
Cassandra is currently working on the CFCC spreadsheet provided by SARU which will be used to set up combinations for each program.
If you have suggestions or concerns about particular CFCCs please let us know asap.
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It's all too confusing? Got more important things to do with your time?
At least drop into the Student Office and have a 5 minute conversation with Cassandra or Colin. We've already set the courses up the way we think you will want to run them, but just in case... Some of the problems [there weren't many!] experienced since term planning commenced could have been avoided if a conversation had taken place at the appropriate time. These problems, identified by the LiC as late as the day of the first class, included:
- Why doesn't my class room have internet access? how do you expect me to teach without it...?
- I need to change my LAB and TUT [scheduled on separate days] to a TLB [one scheduled after the other on the same day]!!
- Oops, I wanted my tutorial to be on the same day as the lecture.
- My class is scheduled on the same day as its co-requisite :-(
- But I can't teach on Mondays because [insert confidential reason that needs to be approved by HoS, Dean, DVC Academic].
- My room only fits 100 students, I was expecting over 150!
- What do you mean there are no bigger rooms available in this timeslot?
- Um, where are my LABs?
- Why is my class running at 3pm? It's always run at 6pm.
For all of the above, the longer you leave it the harder it will be for us to make the necessary changes. As semester draws near, rooms become a very scarce resource and you may just get stuck with what you have been allocated.
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