Scheduling Grids

Guidelines and process for the management of academic scheduling and the use of instructional space. These Scheduling Grids are approved for use in Summer 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, and beyond.

• Fall and Spring Scheduling Grids
• Summer Scheduling Grids (Full Session)
• Summer Scheduling Grids (Short Sessions)
• Summer Scheduling Grids (Maymester)

See the Exams page for more information about examinations that meet on non-standard times, approved by exception. This Exception Request Policy and Exception Request Form are approved for use beginning in Summer 2020.

Exception Request Policy

The Common Exam Request Form is used by staff members who are academic schedulers for the purpose of requesting a common exam for a specific course with multiple class sections in a given academic term. Authorization by the School/Unit is required as indicated by the Chair's signature. An academic scheduler must email the signed and completed form to scheduling@registrar.gatech.edu for the request to be processed.

Common Exams are a component of a scheduled lecture course that occurs only three to five times per semester such that multiple sections of a given course all may take the same exam simultaneously. Common Exams count as effort for the associated lecture course. As such, for each instance of common exam held over the course of the semester, one regular lecture must be omitted to balance the overall contact time.

Common exams are scheduled for between 50-75 minutes in duration in time blocks designated by the Office of the Registrar, adhering to approved meeting patterns.

Guidelines for Offering and Scheduling a Common Exam

• Departments must obtain advanced approval from the Office of the Registrar to hold Common Exams. Those with approval will have a designation added to the catalog for that course number indicating Common Exam.
• Common Exams must be scheduled separately from the main lecture using Linking where appropriate. After Registrar approval, a new schedule type (Common Exam) will be added to the catalog approval for that course number allowing for linking. Basic instructions on linking are available in the Schedule of Classes Training Manual and the Academic Scheduling team will provide detailed instructions on how to link exams at the time of approval, if applicable.
• The day/time slot must be chosen from the approved meeting patterns and approved by the Office of the Registrar before scheduling the common exam. The Academic Scheduling team must balance the common exam schedule to reduce the likelihood that students will have conflicts among approved common exams and retains final approval on the day/time.

Recitation is an optional session in support of a for-credit course. Recitations are non-credit and non-billable. Student attendance cannot be required. Recitations are designed to provide time for application of conceptual knowledge and extension of instruction that occurs in lecture through problem-solving or discussion.

Guidelines for Offering and Scheduling a Recitation

• Due to the optional nature of recitation, no new course content or material may be presented. Material should be supplementary in nature and used in a manner to practice concepts already learned in the corresponding required course component.
• Points toward course grades may not be offered for attendance or assignments/activities associated with recitation. This includes points that are identified as “bonus.”
  • The only instance in which points may be assigned for recitation attendance or associated activities is when an equal number of points can be earned by students for an alternative activity or assignment outside of recitation.
• Recitations must be scheduled separately from the course it supports using its own course number, designated with “R”. For example, the recitation for CS 1301 would be CS 1301R.
  • To obtain a new course number for a recitation, complete a New Course Proposal (NCP) form and provide a copy of the syllabus for the associated for-credit component and email the documents to curriculum@registrar.gatech.edu for processing.
• To minimize conflicts with other courses as well as to maximize access to classrooms for required courses, recitations cannot be scheduled during prime time. Prime time is considered 9:30 - 4:45.
• Recitations have less priority for assignment in centrally scheduled classroom space than for-credit courses.
• If the recitation prohibits a student from registering for another course, the unit offering the recitation must issue a time conflict override.

These Guiding Principles are not intended to identify the single, best answer for specific situations. Rather, they represent a shared set of beliefs, from multiple perspectives, as a reference for the entire Institute community to use in making often-difficult decisions regarding both short-term and long-term classroom and academic scheduling issues.