After last semester's unsuccessful attempt to overhaul the block schedule, an ad hoc committee on scheduling has modified its initial plans and will begin testing a new timetable later this month.
The plan presented to departments' scheduling coordinators (usually department chairs) proposes minor adjustments to the current block schedule. Dean of the College for Undergraduate Education Charles Inouye, who is heading up the initiative, hopes that better alignment of blocks will free up classroom space and reduce conflicts.
Scheduling coordinators will test the new plan on paper by adapting existing classes and rooms to the new blocks to make sure that high-demand and required classes do not overlap. If departments decide that the proposal would work, the committee will test the new plan against students with particularly complex schedules.
If the new timetable still satisfies administrators, it will be implemented in the fall of 2002 at the earliest.
The current timetable incorporates extended and seminar blocks which run for more than 50 minutes and often overlap slightly with other blocks - often by just 15 minutes - and limit students' enrollment choices. If the blocks were coordinated, students would have more course options and fewer classrooms would be left unoccupied for just partial time blocks.
Inouye published an open letter to the community in yesterday's Daily to explain the failure of the initial proposal and to outline the new, less ambitious plan.
Originally, the administration wanted a more traditional schedule with classes held three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But this plan provided too few opportunities for classes to meet three times a week.
The existing schedule provides 15 opportunities for one-hour morning classes, whereas last year's proposal only provided nine, according to Economics Chair David Garman, who has scheduled classes for seven years.
Inouye said the University will also work with departments so that they use up more of the academic day to increase the course offerings available to students and make better use of classroom space. At the moment, many courses are scheduled in the late morning and afternoon, in accordance with student and faculty preferences, while few courses are available at other times.
"If I could have the students use more of the day, the students would have a better choice of classes," Inouye said. In the current system, each class conflicts with an average of 65 others.
Administrators also plan to enforce the current block schedule more strictly in the future. Between 200 and 250 classes are now taught during arranged time blocks. According to Associate Dean Jeanne Dillon, administrators cannot effectively use classroom space when accommodating classes outside of the block schedule.
The economics department has already made accommodations. The department does not offer classes in the 5* block because it conflicts with too many other classes and makes inefficient use of classroom space.
