Course Scheduling Process

Calendars

There are several calendars which departments may find useful when planning for upcoming terms

The detailed Academic Services Calendar is a week-by-week guidebook that outlines deadlines, registration periods, and all items related to the academic year. A new calendar is posted each July.

The TUSC Timeline Calendar (found on the TUSC Process page) is provided each semester as a way for departments to quickly review the deadlines for submission of course information as well as the availability of eTUSC.

Course Planning

Tentative Upcoming Schedule of Classes (TUSC) Process

Creating the new term
The upcoming semester courses begin with a “roll” from the previous (same) term. These classes appear just as they were when the last term ended, with whatever settings that were in place then; so they would have the maximum enrollment, instructors, meeting patterns and restrictions that were on those sections at the end of that term the year before.

eTUSC as the tool to add, modify and update your classes for the coming term
The eTUSC application provides the means to view the class sections as they are set in the Banner database; this allows  departments to work on their class sections and make whatever updates and modifications are needed for the upcoming semester.  The eTUSC application is available for two rounds of activity; any further changes need to be sent directly to classreq@nd.edu. For information on how to maneuver and work within the eTUSC application see the eTUSC User Manual.

Creating a brand new course
The New Course Form is used to add a course which does not currently exist in the Course Catalog. New courses need to be approved by the dean of the college overseeing the subject/department of the course.  After completing and submitting the New Course Form, send the form to classreq@nd.edu. In eTUSC the Add a Section of a Course that is NOT already being offered link allows you to view all of the active courses for that subject, then select one to add to your course schedule with a new section.  Looking at your submitted forms through the View Submissions tab of the New Course Form, you’ll see if they’ve been processed by being stamped (eTUSC) and finding them grayed out and no longer available for editing.  Until they’re run and processed you are able to go back into the form and make any changes and edits needed.

As eTUSC puts the section level information in place, we only need to create the course itself in the catalog and send to you to create and work active sections for the next semester during TUSC.  When we are not in the TUSC period, and eTUSC is not available to you to directly to put changes in place on your sections, you would use the new course form for creating new courses as well as for any new sections to add to the term (adding in the section level specifics on the form, such as instructor, meeting pattern, class max, restrictions, etc.).

Considerations for a new course

  • A new course needs a unique (not in use) subject/course number as its primary identification
  • Essential features of a course are the subject/course number identifier; course title (both a short title, limited to 30 characters, and a long title if needed to elaborate); credit hours as well as lecture or lab hours (whichever is applicable); if the class is repeatable or not; grade mode (default, including optional ones); course description;
  • Selecting a course number; please refer to the Course Numbering reference rules on the first and second digit of course numbers.
  • Include any “standard” restrictions, and course attributes, the course should regularly have in place.  Such as if would always be restricted to a certain major/minor (field of study); or only be offered to a certain class (freshmen); or always have a certain prerequisite, or corequisite; or always have a final exam set (the ZTST course attribute). Follow the explanation of course attributes, and glossary of codes.
    Naturally, we could modify any section of the class to have a different arrangement from the standard model of the course, but this way you’ve set the “template” of how that class would typically be offered.  Plus, any new sections created of the course will inherit the standard features that are in place on the course at the catalog level.


TUSC Tips:

  • Setting Meeting Patterns for your class sections
    The New Course Form and eTUSC list the standard class times automatically, as the “default” options for setting when your classes will meet. Placing classes within these standard arrangements avoids time conflicts, and allows a distribution of courses across the days of the week and times of day. That also aids in locating and reserving a room for the course, as colleges control the number of courses offered in the “prime-time” mid-day time blocks.  Refer to the standard University class times. The Number of Rooms Remaining and Room Utilization Report assists departments in determining what time slots are still available for selection.

  • Adding New Instructors
    Established faculty are listed in eTUSC to assign to specific sections. In the case of needing to list someone new as faculty, and be able to set as an instructor, you’ll need to contact classreq@nd.edu with the request.  Including a NetID or NDID 900# is of course best, to be able to identify and locate the individual with certainty.  Otherwise complete names and any other pertinent titles or information is of benefit.  We then confirm whether the person is listed on the Provost Appointed Faculty roster as being active and recognized; if so, we can assign them as faculty and be able to list on courses as an instructor.  To assign a TA (teaching assistant), they would need to be in the system as an active Graduate student, assuming they would not appear on the Provost Appointed Faculty list.