TERM PLANNING ROLL-FORWARD notes - myUNSW

Memo
Date 6 August 2007
To NSS-student email list
From Sarah Thomson, Head, Scheduling and Academic Requirements
Reference Launch of 2008 Term Planning
This memo is to advise staff of the availability of, and procedures for using, the myUNSW Term Planning service for 2008
course planning. Impacts of the academic calendar reforms on the term planning process are also outlined.
myUNSW TERM PLANNING ROLL-FORWARD
Term Planning records for Semester One and Two 2008 have been rolled forward from the corresponding sessions in 2007.
The intention is to reduce amount of data entry required of schools by providing a basis from which to update records. It is
important to note that while we are rolling forward term planning records we are not rolling over the actual timetable [some
of you may be breathing a sigh of relief about now!].
Term planning records for non-standard teaching periods have not been rolled forward [see Summer Term below].
It is essential that all intended offerings for a teaching period are term planned in myUNSW by the relevant deadlines [see
Dates and Deadlines below]. This data is used to ensure compliance with legislative course reporting and publication
deadlines. Data regarding the courses should be accurate and stable at this point i.e. units of credit etc should not later be
varied.
Please note that after the relevant deadlines the myUNSW Term Planning pages will become read-only. Exceptions are the
Staff Contact and Course Notes fields which will remain editable [these are displayed on the Class Timetable site]. The
“Does [the course] have a formal examination” field can also be updated until the relevant deadline [set by the Exams Unit].
Please see Term Planning Roll-forward notes distributed with this memo.
ACADEMIC CALENDAR REFORMS
It is important to consider how the academic calendar reforms to be implemented in 2008 may impact upon your term
planning records. Week patterns have been rolled forward and mapped to the new teaching periods, but should be
carefully checked. In the case of Summer Term courses and some “flexible delivery” courses (e.g. intensive, online,
distance delivery) you may also need to term plan your courses against the new teaching period codes; these are in the
process of being approved. We will provide advice when they are configured on the system].
Please note, Winter Session is not a defined teaching period from 2008.
Some changes will also be introduced to support undergraduate Medicine as well as AGSM [now part of the Australian
School of Business at UNSW]. These changes will be negotiated directly with these faculties.
Full information regarding the academic calendar reforms and changes to teaching periods will be distributed separately, An
email will be sent to staff shortly confirming some of the changes and describing the arrangements for Summer Term
2007/8. The academic calendar reforms website will be updated with full details in early September:
https://my.unsw.edu.au/unsw/Calendar.html
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myUNSW Term Planning Launch 2008

SUMMER TERM
[previously known as Summer Session!]
Term Planning records for Summer Term will not be rolled forward for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Summer Tern classes
are not centrally timetabled and therefore there is little to be gained in rolling forward the records; they don’t have complex
data recorded regarding activity structures, resource requirements etc. Secondly, there can be quite a degree of variation
between offerings in Summer Term from one year to the next.
For Summer Term you will need to:
1. Term Plan the relevant courses by 21 September. Indicate them as Offered ‘Yes’; Centrally timetabled ‘No’. This
will ensure compliance with the DEST legislative deadline [see Dates and Deadlines]. It will also allow Summer
offerings to be advised to students via the Class Timetable site in early October.
2. Schedule the classes through the myUNSW Class Maintenance service. You will need to do this after the Term
Planning deadline [21 Sept]. If possible Summer Term classes should be scheduled by Friday 28 September so
that details can be published to students on the Class Timetable site when it is released [scheduled for 1 October].
Summer Term enrolments are scheduled to open on Wednesday 10 October.
3. Room bookings for Summer Term classes should be organised directly with CATS.
Important! - new teaching period codes for Summer Term
With the implementation of reforms to the academic calendar for 2008, the teaching period codes used for Summer Term
will change. XA, XB and XC are no more –X1, X1A and X1B take their place! The new teaching period codes are currently
being configured on the system. Please hold off on term planning your Summer courses until you receive this advice. We
should be able to give the go ahead on Thursday 9 August.
“FLEXIBLE DELIVERY” COURSES AND COURSE OFFERING PERIODS
“Flexible delivery” mode courses include intensive, online and distance delivery offerings.
Under the new academic calendar, all courses, including flexible delivery courses, must be offered within one of the defined
teaching periods. The format, delivery and duration of each course offering must be such that it satisfies the census date set
for the teaching period (The Higher Education Support Act requires that the census date must be no earlier than 20% of the
way through the offering period.) In addition, the course offering period needs to include allowance for reflective learning.
At its September meeting, the Academic Board will be asked to adopt a principle that defines course offering periods and
the need for all courses to comply. These are the proposed key features:
• All courses, including flexible delivery courses, must be offered within one of the defined teaching periods.
• The offering period of a course is to be measured from the commencement of structured learning and teaching activities
(eg classroom, online activities, residential) to the last date of student assessment.
• For all courses offered in a teaching period other than main 12 week periods (14 weeks at ADFA), it is assumed that
assessment is completed by the last day of the teaching period.
• The offering period must include allowance for “reflective learning” and comply with the census date provision for the
relevant teaching period.
This means that the learning and delivery arrangements of some flexible courses may need to be revised, for example
through the use of early online learning activities or later assessment deadlines.
Please ensure “flexible delivery” courses are term planned and, if non-centrally timetabled, scheduled in the correct teaching
period. In the case of many of these courses, such as intensives, it may be more appropriate for them to be term planned
and scheduled in a non-standard teaching period. These include S1A and S1B, new six week teaching periods which fit
within the envelope of Semester One, and S2A and S2B in Semester Two.
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Further advice will be distributed, and the new teaching periods established on the system, in the near future. Please hold
off on term planning such courses until this advice is received.
Further information regarding teaching periods for 2008 will be published on the Academic Calendar web page and the
academic calendar reforms web page:
https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/resources/AcademicCalendar.html
https://my.unsw.edu.au/unsw/Calendar.htm
If you are unsure as to whether it is appropriate for your “flexible delivery” courses to be centrally timetabled, please contact
SARU [see contacts below] for advice. Note, Summer Term courses are not centrally timetabled.
SEMESTER TWO 2008 COURSES
Why term plan my Semester Two courses now
We don’t require you to update timetabling requirements for Semester Two courses now. The deadline for entering
timetabling requirements isn’t until February 2008. However, we do recommend that schools enter their intended offerings
for Semester Two through the term planning service as soon as practicable. The 2008 Class Timetable site is scheduled for
release on 1 October. Intended offerings for all 2008 teaching periods will be visible to students and will help students to
plan their enrolment.
RESEARCH COURSES
We will roll forward both term planning data and classes for courses under the research career. This is so that research
thesis courses are available for the Graduate Research School to enrol students.
COMBINED ACTIVITIES
Many courses have activities which are “combined”. These include courses which are “double-badged” [“alias” courses] and
courses which may share some common content. Combined relationships are defined in the course catalogue and
individual activities can be combined in term planning.
It is extremely important that you understand how to term plan your combined courses correctly. This is the most complex
aspect of the term planning process. You especially need to understand the distinction between “streamed” and
“unstreamed” activities. Errors in term planning combined courses can lead to problems in the timetabling of these classes,
including incorrect class quotas and the wrong number of classes for the course.
Information regarding combined classes can be found at
https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/Staff/CombinedClassMiniGuide.pdf
.
Otherwise contact one of the timetabling team for assistance [see Contacts below].
CLASS SCHEDULING
Non-centrally timetabled classes, including Summer Term classes, may be scheduled in Class Maintenance after the
relevant Term Planning deadline [i.e. after 21 September for Summer Term and Semester One]. The new teaching periods
should be considered at the Class Scheduling as well as at the Term Planning stage. The teaching period for a course in
Class Maintenance should align with that entered in Term Planning.
Given the majority of courses are now centrally timetabled, class records are no longer rolled forward [special arrangements
may be negotiated in some cases e.g. distance delivery courses]
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COFA AND ADFA CAMPUSES
We will liaise directly with these campuses over arrangements, which may differ from the Kensington campus.
DATES AND DEADLINES
Date
Monday 6 August
Tuesday 14 August
Friday 31 August
Friday 21 Sept
Friday 28 Sept
Event
Term Planning starts
Deadline for Course Catalogue updates for inclusion in the 2008 Online Handbook
release
[Individual changes can be made after this date but will miss the main release]
2008 Online Handbook published
Term Planning deadline - Summer Term [intended offerings] and Semester One
[intended offerings and timetabling requirements]
Deadline to schedule Summer Term classes using myUNSW Class Maintenance
Monday 1 Oct DEST reporting/publication deadline for courses with a census date between 1
January and 30 June 2008
[ie Summer Term 2007/8 and Semester One courses]
2008 Class Timetable site released
[Summer Term: class details; Semester One and Two: course offerings and
census dates; Semester One class details released 26 November]
Wed 10 October
Friday 16 Nov
Monday 26 Nov
Monday 10 Dec
Sun 17 Feb 2008 [TBC]
Summer Term enrolment commences
Provisional Semester 1 2008 timetable released [for staff review]
Final Semester 1 2008 timetable published [released to students]
Semester 1 2008 enrolments commence [progressive; staggered by enrolment
appointment]
Term Planning deadline for Semester Two [and Summer Term courses to be
offered in the teaching period before Christmas 2008]
Tuesday 1 April 2008 DEST reporting/publication deadline for courses with a census date between 1
July and 31 December 2008
[ie Semester Two courses and Summer Term 2008/9 courses offered in the
teaching period before Christmas]
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CONTACTS
Have a question Need some training Contact the following staff for assistance:
Term Planning,Timetabling and Course/Class Management:
Timetabling@unsw.edu.au or Rosia Hui [r.hui@unsw.edu.au ext. 58741], Maggie O’Keeffe [maggie.okeeffe@unsw.edu.au
ext. 58782], Lester Mata [lesterm@unsw.edu.au ext. 58040], Nicola Plume [n.plume@unsw.edu.au ext. 58056], Sarah
Thomson [s.thomson@unsw.edu.au ext. 58757]
Resources may be found at:
https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/Staff/UNSWideTimetabling.html
Academic Calendar Reforms: Gordon Chow [gordon.chow@unsw.edu.au or ext 53864]
Online Handbook: email handbook.editor@unsw.edu.au or call Miria on ext. 53881 [Mon to Wed] or Elisabeth on ext.
58224 [Thur & Fri].
Enrolment Planning: Grant Walter, STAR [g.walter@unsw.edu.au]
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TERM PLANNING ROLL-FORWARD notes
Availability of Offering fields
The first thing you will notice when you go to term planning for Semester One and Two 2008 is that the following Availability
of Offering fields have all been reset to “Undecided”:
- Is [the course] offered this term [ie semester]
-Are classes to be centrally timetabled
- Does [the course] have a formal examination
At the very least, even if none of your requirements have changed, you will need to accurately update these values. Note,
the examination field has a later deadline than the term planning deadline [the Exams Unit will provide advice about their
deadlines in due course].
Course Notes and Special Requests – action required
You will also notice that any notes entered on last years term planning records [both Course Notes and Special Requests]
have been prefixed with the text **UNCONFIRMED**. If the note is still applicable you should delete the
**UNCONFIRMED** text and save the record. If the previous note is no longer applicable, update or delete it as appropriate
[deleting the **UNCONFIRMED** text in these cases also]. This is our way of knowing that the data has been checked, and
updated as appropriate.
Planned size
For centrally timetabled courses, you should also carefully check the planned size on the initial term planning page [rolled
forward from figure entered previously]. If this has changed, in addition to updating the data here you will also need to
update it on the Activity Structure and Streamed Activity Planning pages. Note, the validation on this field now allows for a
20% increase on the highest figure over the previous 4 teaching periods. Please consider your estimate here carefully and
try to provide a reliable estimate of anticipated enrolment numbers. As previously, if the planned size needs to be increased
beyond the 20% due to a trend of increasing enrolments or curriculum changes etc please contact SARU.
Week patterns
We’ve rolled week patterns forward using our best guess at mapping the previous 14 week patterns onto the new 12 week
teaching periods. For example, activities with Week 1-14 week patterns have been mapped to Week 1-12; Week 2-14 to
Week 2 -12. In many cases the mapped values will be accurate and no action will be required, but please check these week
patterns carefully and update them where necessary.
Other points to note regarding the Term Planning roll:
• Records for courses which have been inactivated won’t be rolled
• Courses which are no longer combined [in Course Relationships in the Course Catalogue] will have their combined
flag reset [unchecked] on the Activity Stream page
• Inactive staff records are taken into account i.e. if inactive they are removed from the Staff Contact field, from
Activity meeting events, and from staff pools. Staff pools containing all inactive staff will be removed.
What if a rolled-forward record is not offered this semester
You don’t need to delete all the underlying details and requirements if not offered. Simply update to offered ‘no’.
What if everything has changed or I got it wrong last time and I want to start all over again
On the Activity Structure page you can delete the existing activities and start again.
What if the semester of offering has changed for a particular course
If you don’t wish to re-enter the term planning data from scratch, it is possible for us to roll a term planning record from one
teaching period to another e.g. Semester 2 2007 to Semester 1 2008. Contact SARU with your request.
It may also be desirable to request that some “flexible delivery” course records are rolled from the main teaching periods to
the new non-standard teaching periods.
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myUNSW Term Planning Launch 2008