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[oatmeal]

I am sure this has been discussed before. I was wondering if anyone had advice on putting together teaching schedules in a relatively small department. Any tips on how to come up with a schedule that works for everyone? I do not want to go into too many specific details but handling the teaching schedule is a lot of work and rather difficult at times. As Chair, it seems to me that some people are less open to modifying their proposed schedule. One senior colleague is very hard to persuade on changes. Any thoughts and suggestions would be helpful. Thank you.

[sibyl]

In the first place, know that assembling the schedule is hard for everyone, so you are not alone.

In the second place, there are a lot of strategies you can try but they depend on the particular problems you are having and the institutional culture.

In the third place, the thing that is a huge problem for Colleague A (getting up early in the morning) is totally different from the huge problem for Colleague B (working around daycare) which is totally different from Colleague C (hates to teach more than 100 feet from her office).

The third item also holds the path to salvation.  Try to find a way to get your colleagues to trade off different problems.  If Colleague B will take the 8:00 section, Colleague A can have the 2:30 section that screws up daycare.  Convince them that cooperation is in their interest.  ("If you make the new guy teach the 8:00 class, you'll have to observe him a lot at that time.")

Consider having a "draft" where everyone takes turns picking their one favorite time slot (or course, or room, or whatever).  That way no one person gets everything they want while another gets nothing.

Also, don't be afraid to use the dean or registrar to "triangulate" your problem.  "Look, gang, I don't like 8:00 classes any more than you do but the registrar is making us."

Good luck.

[barred_owl]

I would add to sibyl's suggestion by saying don't try to reinvent the wheel.  If there is an existing template for the schedule as it's been offered in the past, use that as a starting point--chances are that some of the issues that complicate scheduling have already been worked out.

[cgfunmathguy]

I'm going to second both Sibyl and Barred_owl. I used to use the previous year's schedule as a baseline and make any modifications from there. Sometimes, we needed to add sections, and other times, we needed to drop some. Let everyone have input with their preferences, and try to work within those. No one will get everything they want, but everyone will get most of what they want. Last-minute adjustments may change the original draft, but the faculty usually understand these changes, especially when enrollment surges (in either direction) occur unpredictably.

Good luck.

[svenc]

I'm not a chair, just a worker bee who may have some useful insight because of recent comparative experiences.  Specifically:

My current chair lets everyone pick their own times each semester, within reason, and only gets involved to resolve conflicts.

My last chair (at a different institution) stuck to a "whatever we did last year is what we're doing this year" rule.  He only deviated from it to resolve conflicts, or to accommodate courses that had major changes (in size or format, or when somebody was going on sabbatical).

Both seem to work even though they are vastly different approaches, because they were based on clearly articulated principles. 

I suspect if you can define a key principle and stick to it as much as possible, you will get much further than if you're currently in a "some changes need to be made" mode, but can't convincingly explain why some people must give in more than others.

[vardahilwen]

I'm not a chair either (just a non-traditional Ph.D. student who has had to make schedules such as this in prior jobs) but here's what we do:

We are asked to rank our preferences in order of importance, with the understanding that everyone may not get their first choices.

If there's a time slot in which we absolutely cannot teach (as opposed to simply preferring not to, i.e., those 8:00 classes), we're asked to provide a reason (i.e., I have to get my kid on the bus, I sit on a committee that meets at that time, etc.)  While this might seem intrusive, it helps the scheduler distinguish between preferences and true time conflicts.

We are reminded that the scheduler does their best to accommodate everyone's preferences, and will do their best to spread things around - for example, not making the same person teach the 8:00 classes or the Friday classes every term.  There's an attitude in our department that everybody has to take the "dud" classes or time slots once in a while, but your turn will also come around for the good stuff.

[oatmeal]

Thank you to everyone for your useful and supportive comments. I am sure this will make a difference as I begin to work with colleagues on their respective teaching schedules. Thanks, again.

[subsavant]

Try this - appoint an Associate Dept Chair, and let THEM do the schedule...

[prytania3]

Try this - appoint an Associate Dept Chair, and let THEM do the schedule...

Right, like someone is going to be *that* stupid to do a lot of extra work for a bogus title with no monetary benefit.

[archman]

Try this - appoint an Associate Dept Chair, and let THEM do the schedule...

Right, like someone is going to be *that* stupid to do a lot of extra work for a bogus title with no monetary benefit.

Ha, in two large departments I've worked at, having the associate chair handle the teaching schedule is the norm. It's the primary duty of the job assignment, near as I can tell.

Associate chairs at my schools get significant release time for their service, so I'm not understanding the bogus title/no monetary benefit remarks. Your school must be very different, or maybe have teeny departments.

[ucprof]

I just did the schedule for my subarea - graduate courses - around 15 of them.  I emailed everyone and asked for their preferences.  Turns out there were virtually no intersections, but some gaps - due to recent retirements.  So I drafted one or two adjuncts for the gaps. Seems we are done modulo a possible sabbatical.

Just find out what they want and also if time or material is more important to them.  Try to give everyone at least one of their first choices - time or material for example and see how it goes.  Tell them the approximate algorithm you are using so they won't feel slighted.

Full disclosure is always a good thing and they will likely respect you for it.

[thundering_m]

Has there been any feedback regarding scheduling difficulties, from both students and faculty, including adjuncts?

The first priority must be the students. What is the likely sequence and combination of courses, and are they offered at times that accommodate the students' logistics (e.g. commuting, field experiences). The next concern is matching the course activities with the physical space, and when that space is available. If you have autonomous control of your classrooms, you have less to worry about. Everyone else, though, must often provide a rationale for a particular classroom in a particular buildling. It is so much easier for advising if a course is offered at a routine time, and then staffed, rather than the reverse in which a course is offered ideosyncratically.

Regarding the staffing of a particular course, if there is compelling interest in a course by a professor with a scholarly agenda related to it, that professor should probalby be given priority in teaching it. Ideally, there is a professional attitude about serving the needs of the students and the department, e.g. a policy that expects senior faculty to have at least one intro/large enrollment course; a policy to assign junior faculty at least one course related to their research agenda which then supports investigation and writing. Also, an eye for an evenly distributed total number of students, not just number of credits.

Based on student surveys and on evidence of student achievement, the staffing may be in question. If any decisions seem to be related to competence or disposition, the supervising admininstrator should be the one responsible for communication with the faculty in question.

[eddean]

The schedule is for the students.  We always ask faculty what their first choice would be but then the entire schedule has to be fit together like a puzzle. The goals of the schedule include allowing the students to progress towards graduation with limited delay, organizing leaning communities, supporting retention, maximizing use of the campus and so on. As this is done we do consider faculty needs- health issues, family issues, service obligations- but if we responded to first choice requests then all classes would be between 12-2 pm on TTh.