Academic Scheduling Policies

Downloadable PDF of Academic Scheduling Policies

Below is a list of important polices related to academic scheduling. These policies and practices should have been enacted by the University Scheduling Committee and the Provost's office with the approval of University Senate. If you have any questions, please email scheduling@rowan.edu.

Slots

There are 42 valid slots in a given room:

Monday – Thursday: Slots 1 – 9 (8am – 9:15pm)
Friday: Slots 1 – 4 (8am – 1:45pm); Slots 6 & 7 (3:30pm – 6:15pm)

Other slots may be used as needed by departments with the exception of slot 5 on Fridays which is the Open Period and NO CLASSES are to be offered at that time.

Room Changes

In order to comply with Clery Act reporting; ALL CHANGES to room, campus, day, or time MUST be filed with Scheduling and updated in Section Tally prior to the class meeting in a different room.

For more information about Rowan University’s Compliance with the Clery Act please see Public Safety's Clery Act Reporting Overview.

General Policies

Each department, in coordination with the Dean’s office, should complete their schedule using the proof document only. It is expected that colleges will be meeting on a regular basis to review scheduling needs.

If any slots have been swapped by departments, please note that in the Notes section on the spreadsheet.

All documents should be collected by the appropriate scheduling designee in the Dean’s office. Once all documents are collected and reviewed, documents should then be forwarded to scheduling@rowan.edu. This email will be electronic approval of the proofs for your college.

Documents should not be scanned and emailed. Only the Excel spreadsheets should be sent to scheduling@rowan.edu.

Classes must start (preferred) or end on a slot time unless provided permission by the Office of University Scheduling.

Conference Room

Starting the fall 2014 semester, if a department wishes to use a conference room for classes:

The room must meet pedagogical needs with how it is set up as of today. No new technology will be added to the conference room. Room capacities will be strictly enforced.
Conference rooms will not be provided tech support, furniture support as it relates to classes, or any other additional accommodations that regular classrooms are provided.
Conference rooms are not assigned as classrooms to the department in their bank of classes for a given semester. So we cannot tell you what the availability of a conference room is. An individual will need to either check 25Live for availability or if the department is not using 25Live to schedule their conference room then an individual will need to check whatever scheduling system is being used by that department.

If a department is using a conference room to host a course, that room number should be conveyed to University Scheduling in the planning document and future SCAFs.

The review process in the Dean’s office should include checks for:

Completeness of scheduled courses and sections. Are all courses and sections offered included in the schedule?
Inclusion of assigned instructors’ names to ensure that all courses are properly staffed. If a professor has not been identified at this time please indicate this by inputting STAFF as the professor.
Time conflicts for instructors, courses, and sections.
Ensure that courses are offered for the correct number of credits.
Ensure courses are meeting for the correct number of contact hours (information provided in initial proof document).
Check to make sure caps on all course sections are correct.
Check to make sure the correct course title is provided.
Confirm courses are either starting (preferred) or ending at a grid time to prevent registration conflicts.
Ensure no courses are assigned from 2:00pm to 3:15pm on Fridays. This is the AFT Open Period and no courses can be scheduled at this time. If you have classes scheduled at this time, please move them to an appropriate open slot.

Double Period Policy

All traditional 3 s.h. courses that meet once a week as a double-period class at the Glassboro and Camden Campuses will be scheduled as two discrete time slots plus a 15-minute interval in between. For example, a double period course beginning at 8 a.m. would be scheduled from 8 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. and would resume from 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. A break is built in through the 15-minute interval. Instructors have the academic freedom to execute the break any time from the beginning of the first period to the end of the second period as long as the policy is delineated to students in the syllabus.

Double period, 3 s.h. courses offered back-to-back starting at 5:00pm will be addressed on a case-by case basis between the Office of University Scheduling and the impacted department(s).

Final Exam Week Policies

Faculty are required to use Final Exam Week for instructional purposes in a fashion that is equivalent to the scheduled exam period. This does not necessarily involve a final exam or a formal meeting, but it must be meaningful within the context of the course. Per the University Academic Calendar policy, Final Exam Week is counted as part of the statutorily required length of instructional time corresponding to the definition of a semester credit hour (and NJ Admin Code 9A:1-2.1 General program standards). Use of this time or the equivalent is not optional. Although not prohibited by policy at this time, early finals can be disruptive to instructional activities in other classes. Students with early finals may feel they are being deprived of the intended advantage of Reading and Review Day preparation.

Reading and Review Day is a day preceding Final Exam Week of each semester in which no classes, exams, nor mandatory instructional activities may be scheduled. The purpose is to provide a period of time where students may prepare for final exams. Faculty may use this day to hold optional review sessions with their students. However, this day is not to be used by faculty to introduce new course material, serve as an assignment deadline, or deliver a final exam.

Flexible Time Day is an additional day following Final Exam Week in the fall semester. This day provides an alternative final exam day available to students with scheduling conflicts or for accommodations requiring scheduling at an off-campus test-site, or for rescheduling in the event of a campus closing due to inclement weather or other emergencies where a remote option is not appropriate.

Contact Hours

Downloadable PDF of Contact Hours Chart