Change requests
What is the guidance in case student numbers during enrolment exceed predictions?
Exercising appropriate controls at enrolment is always important in order to avoid class sizes exceeding the capacity of the allocated room.
This year, in particular, the work done to room teaching events efficiently and in the most appropriate space means that there will be very limited (if any) scope to change room allocations to accommodate larger class sizes. Over-enrolment may, therefore, require an additional class group to be created and scheduled.
In some cases, the allocated room capacity may be larger than the class size currently predicted. This 'surplus' capacity could be used to accommodate a larger number of students if:
- All rooms allocated to the class (e.g. for each lecture group meeting in each week of the semester) have surplus capacity, and
- Additional enrolments do not exceed the capacity of the smallest room allocated, and
- The additional numbers can also be accommodated within the room capacities allocated to other subgroups (seminars, tutorials, labs, etc); or
- Approval is given for the creation of an additional sub-group, space is available to accommodate this (and a suitable room identified), and staff resource is available.
For change requests that require approval and evidence, what information should I include under “supporting” documents?
Please include an email from the agreed contact for the change request escalation process. Contacts have been defined for each College and School, as detailed here under Change Request College Resources.
The email should contain the agreement to the requested change, and needs to be included on the change request, in the ‘Supporting documents’ box.
We have an event that was timetabled as online last year for SEM1. The course co-ordinator would like a space to be timetabled. Does this fall within the essential change requests reasons?
A change request can be raised under CR ‘Challenge with the original equipment and features allocated’. Supporting documentation will need to be attached to confirm that the L&T team are aware of this change. You should also use the availability checker to see if a room is available at the day/time the course is scheduled, and if not you will need to check with the School/subject team if it can be moved, to find a “physical” room before going any further.
We have a few changes to submit, which require to change the subgroup names (bulk updating and creating new events meant they forgot to change the subgroups). These events are roomed, just require a change of group name. Under which Change Request reason should these changes be submitted?
This request relates to a data quality issue, and we are currently considering whether a new Change request reason should be introduced for these cases. In the meantime, you can submit the Change Request under the closest matching Change Request reason that requires evidence, in order to confirm that the L&T team are aware of this change.
How do I submit approval for an essential change that impacts a number of events?
Where an essential change is required for a course and this will impact a number of events (e.g. an accessibility requirement impacting both lecture and seminar groups) a single approval from the designated person will be sufficient evidence to support the request.
Individual change requests will still need to be submitted for each event with a copy or details of this evidence supplied in each case.
What are the latest updates regarding Lecture recording?
There are currently 78 centrally-managed teaching spaces with a capacity of 40 or greater. Of these, 67 are equipped for audio and/or video recording. A further 36 rooms with a capacity below 40, are also equipped for audio and/or video recording. There are various significant infrastructure issues contributing to lack of equipment in the remaining 11 large teaching spaces.
When a recording has been requested on an event for any sub-group type, this will be part of factors determining the allocation process in May.
Once room allocations have been processed, any event with a lecture (LEC) subgroup allocated a room which supports lecture recording, will automatically be tagged to be recorded and the Subject/School needs to opt out of recording if the event is not to be recorded, as per the policy.
Requests for recording capacity can be made for other kinds of events, e.g. seminars or tutorials, but this will not be applied automatically as these events are often unsuitable for recording (e.g. it is more of a group discussion and permission to record by participants has not been granted). A list of rooms and recording equipment will also be made available online from 5th June - see: www.glasgow.ac.uk/timetabling
Any required changes to facilitate an 'opt out' will need to be processed as change requests.
To resolve an un-roomed event, can I make a change request to move it to online delivery?
Online delivery is not supported as a resolution to un-roomed events, all options for finding a room (e.g. changing day, time, size) need to be explored instead. If all options for finding a room have been exhausted, exceptions for moving to online teaching will be considered on a case-by-case basis for special circumstances.
After release of the timetable, we’ve noticed some teach break events that have not been roomed. Should we raise change requests to room these events?
Please check the size of the events before raising change requests. Only events of size 8 or more are roomed centrally in line with the agreed policy for AY23/24, smaller events will need to be roomed locally. If your Teachbreak event is larger than 8 and has not been roomed, the process for resolving unroomed events should be followed.
Where do I see the rooming status of courses with EXT codes?
Courses with EXT codes are excluded from central rooming as by definition of EXT they are not being taught on campus, and will not appear on the list of unroomed events. If there is a reason why an EXT course should be taught on campus and it is unroomed, please raise this as a change request after 11th July using the reason “New course/event introduced”.
What can we do if we notice a mistake in how an event was created at School level, for example missing subgroups?
Rectifying mistakes in the timetable will not be addressed during the unroomed events period in June, but can be raised through the change request process that will open in July using the appropriate reason code.
Who can update Lecturer details in CMIS?
Only Lead STTs can update teaching staff details for events that have been roomed. These changes should be processed now for any known teaching staff. New functionality is in development that will allow all School Timetablers to update this information, communications will follow when this update will be available.
We have unroomed events that would run beyond 6pm. Can they can be roomed in their current timeslots?
Given specific space challenges beyond 6pm we may not be able to support depending on the particular requirements associated with any request. Availability will need to be investigated on a case-by-case basis and you should liaise with SMTT to explore further.