Scheduling Policies & Procedures

Step 1: If a new course, submit a Course Catalog Change Form for course specific data, including: effective term, course number, title, credits, grade mode, pre-requisites (be sure to include connectors “and” or “or” if more than one), restrictions, and fees.

Step 2: Compare the Detailed Section Report (DSR) in Cognos to courses in CourseLeaf (CLSS) to be sure that you have attended to all sections imported from the prior like semester.

Step 3: Eliminate all courses from CourseLeaf (CLSS) that were offered prior to like semester, but will not be offered in the upcoming semester.

Step 4: Add courses to CourseLeaf (CLSS) that were not offered prior like semester, but will be offered in the upcoming semester.

Step 5:  Update all sections that were offered prior like semester, and will be offered in the upcoming semester.

Note: If you are new to scheduling, please contact the Scheduling Team for a “New Schedulers Training Session”

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• Authorized Georgetown Schedulers can view a breakdown of CourseLeaf (CLSS) fields located here in the Georgetown Scheduling Drive.
• Please pay careful attention to section numbers, especially when adding sections. In most cases, they should be two digits (using a leading 0) and no alpha characters.
• If you have section dates that do not line up with part-of-term dates provided to you by the Registrar’s Office, please provide exact section dates.
• Waitlist should be 25, except for SCS programs that should be zero.
• Whether a course has one instructor or multiple instructors, responsibility should equal 100% in total. 
• Only one instructor may be designated as primary. 
• If you are choosing a non-Registrar room from the drop down menu, please ensure that it has been properly reserved.
• If you need to submit a change that is not editable in CourseLeaf, submit a CourseLeaf Supplemental Form, located in the Georgetown Scheduling Drive. 
• Section Text is only for information that you wish to be printed in the published schedule of classes (e.g. students must attend first class, or lost their place — not for data elements available elsewhere such as pre-reqs or restrictions).
• All room assignments may be changed as needed by the Registrar’s Office. Indicate special classroom needs, special AV requirements, and other.
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• Pay close attention to the number of Friday classes scheduled and to the distribution of classes during the day.
• Review the length of each class to be sure that each one meets for fifty minutes per credit per week unless covered by one of the noted exceptions.
• Departments/Programs must use the same distribution of class times through the days and times as used in the model term (fall-fall; spring-spring; summer-summer).
  • Exception: departmental allocations should be adjusted to conform to the Main Campus Scheduling Guidelines. Please consult with the registrar before scheduling more courses during peak hours.
• Use the “Course Count by Meeting Time” Cognos report to determine the number of courses scheduled at each time last year.
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• As recommended by the Council of Associate Deans and approved by the Council of Deans, online courses are characterized by the following: 75% or more of course content is delivered using digital or differential access tools rather than face-to-face interactions.
• Courses that are not place-based, including online and modular courses, are expected to have comparable contact hours to place-based courses by alternative means; contact hours will be determined by the instructor as reflected in the documentation of all students engaged, instructor-led learning activities in the course.
  • These activities include but are not limited to synchronous instruction; online tutorial and lectures; instructor-moderated discussion (e.g. video; in-person; discussion posts); student presentations; and other methods

Please note: The contact hour does not include homework; travel time; dining/meal time; or similar social activities that are not (a) instructor-led and (b) tied to specific learning outcomes for that activity.

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• Non-standard Meeting Types
  • A minimum of two hours of science lab per week in a fifteen-week semester generally counts for one credit.
  • Course meetings that are conducted as non-science labs, oral presentations, studio sessions, rehearsals, or other course-based activities will generally be granted one credit for a minimum of 50 minutes of meeting time per week as long as they are designed as central to the course’s learning and teaching goals in the syllabus.
  • Course-related activities that are not guided by an instructor (graduate TAs may serve as instructors with appropriate supervision) will generally not count towards the calculation of credit hours. Examples include language drill sessions and language labs;  practicums and internships that are not designated to be part of specific courses, workshops, and other course-related activities that are not instructor-guided.
• Exception to 50 minute per credit rule
  • The course requires academic activity outside class meetings sufficiently in excess of the normal expectation (two hours per credit per week) to compensate for the reduced time in class
  • The rationale for the requirements is manifest in the course syllabus and clearly shown to be materially relevant to the course’s learning goals.
  • Such courses will typically be either research-intensive (where students are undertaking an independent course of research over and above assigned reading) or have a experiential or service learning component or be an approved tutorial; in any case, such courses will depend on close monitoring by the instructor of the nature, quality, and quantity of the work done outside scheduled classroom hours.
• Expectations
  • A syllabus for each course must contain a clear description of class meeting times and any approved non-classroom activities.
  • Semester courses will generally be scheduled in time slots that are multiples of 50 minutes in duration. Partial credit courses will generally be taught in half credit increments in time slots that are multiples of 25 minutes.
    • 3 credit = 150 minutes
    • 2.5 credits = 125 minutes
    • 2 credits = 100 minutes
    • 1.5 credits = 75 minutes
    • 1 credit = 50 minutes
  • Courses that grant 1.5 (or higher) credits that meet for only half the semester (e.g. modules) must meet in regular time slots as if they were for twice the stated credit.
  • As noted in the Undergraduate Bulletin under “Studying, Grades, and Credit,” [t]he academic learning of students is, in the University’s eyes, their most significant responsibility. Students should expect to study at least 30 hours per week outside of class (i.e., at least six hours per three credit course. Faculty design their courses with this expectation in mind, but evaluate students on the basis of their achievement.
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