Bates College: Proposals for New Class Schedules

We have heard from many people that the current class schedule lacks flexibility, does not allow faculty to pursue some new pedagogies, and offers students insufficient time to move between classes. We have also heard that many departments find the "grid," or class scheduling requirements, difficult to meet while also satisfying their faculty members' pedagogical needs. We therefore present for discussion two possible new class schedules. We hope that these schedules will offer faculty and students greater flexibility, longer time periods for courses which need more in-class time, the opportunity to suit class schedules to pedagogical needs, more time between classes, and a time everyone has free for campus wide events. These grids also propose moving many 2 day a week classes from a Tuesday-Thursday meeting schedule to a Monday-Thursday or Tuesday-Friday schedule. This change makes possible more 2 day a week slots, and increases the amount of time students have to prepare for the second class meeting.
We also make the following proposal to accompany both of these new class schedules. We propose the abolition of the need for each department to complete a grid. Instead, departmental chairs would request course times which best suited their faculty members, keeping in mind the need to avoid conflicts. Departments would be expected to consider which courses students would be likely to take simultaneously, and place those courses in non-competing time slots. Department chairs would meet with the other chairs in their division (four divisions?) to ensure that each division's courses, taken together, are spread proportionally through all available class times. At those times when this proportional representation did not occur naturally, the chairs would make appropriate changes to maximize student access and reduce conflicts at registration.

[view Grid I graphic, 66K]

Flexibility is the strong suit of this grid. Its characteristics are:

50-minute class slots on M, W, F at 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 (circled numbers 1, 3, 5, 6, and 8).
80-minute classes on M & Th or T & Fri. at 1:00 and 2:30 (circled numbers 9, 10, 11, 12) or T & Th at 8:00, 9:30 and 11:00 (circled numbers 2, 4, and 7).
Wednesday afternoons are reserved for the optional scheduling of discussion sections at 1:00, 2:00 or 3:00. Discussion sections may also be scheduled at 8:00 am on M, W, F.
8:00 slot on M, W, F used both for a regular class and can be scheduled for discussion sections connected to other courses.
Various combinations of schedules are possible. For example, class could be scheduled M, W, F at 9:00 am or a course could be scheduled M, T, W, Th, F at 9:00 am. Alternately, classes could be scheduled T & Th at 9:30.
Variability exists in the afternoon in the opportunity to schedule a M, Th, or T, F 80-minute sequence with a discussion section at 8:00 am on M, W, or F or at 1:00, 2:00 or 3:00 on Wednesday afternoon.
Classes would continue to be scheduled through the noon hour.
Tuesday evening would be available for seminars or labs. 80-minutes classes may be scheduled T-Th, 7:30 to 8:50.
Seminars or labs can be scheduled on M, T, Th or F afternoons. Also, seminars can be scheduled on Wednesday afternoons.
There are 13 slots plus Tuesday evenings.
The advantages include flexibility, addition of slots designated preferentially for seminars and discussion sections, and the opportunity for 50 or 80-minute class times.
A disadvantage might be a reduction in student accessibility because courses in the mornings meeting more than 3 times each week may conflict with T-Th classes.

[view Grid II graphic, 26K]

This grid offers instructors the option of extra meeting times and creates 50 minutes of all-campus meeting time. It's characteristics are:

60-minute class periods on M, W, Th, F at 8 (circled number 1).
60-minute class periods M and Th (circled numbers 2a and 2c) OR Tu and F (3a and 3c) at 9:10, with a 50-minute period on Wednesday at 8 (2b, for M-Th) or 9 (3b, for Tu-F).
60-minute class periods M and Th (4a and 4c) OR Tu and F (5a and 5c) at 10:20, with a 50-minute period on Wednesday at 10 (4b, for M-Th) or 11 (5b, for Tu-F).
80-minute class periods M and Th, 11:30 (6a and 6b).
80-minute class period T and Fri (7a and 7c) 11:30, with an optional 50-minute period on Wednesday (7b).
80-minute period M and Th (8a and 8c) OR T and Fri (9a and 9c) at 1:00 with an optional 50-minute period on Wednesday at 2:00 (8b, for M-Th) or at 3:00 (9b, for T-Fri).
80-minute periods M and Th (10a and 10b) at OR T and Fri (11a and 11b) at 2:30 with no optional periods.
Three-hour period on Tuesday evening 7:30-10:30 (12a).
80-minute class periods on T and Th evening 7:30-8:50 (12a and 12b)
All-College Meeting Time for Campus-Wide Events: 50 minute period with no classes scheduled Wednesday 12:00 to 12:50.