Analysis of Classroom
Utilization and Scheduling
Office of the Registrar
Research Team
Chris Temple
Dawn Templeton
Amika Micou
Stephen Schreiber
February 2004
By direction of the Provost's Office, an analysis of the class scheduling practices
currently utilized at the University was conducted by the Office of the Registrar. This
project was undertaken to obtain a better understanding of the distribution of classes at
Notre Dame. The Analysis of Classroom Utilization and Scheduling was conducted with
the following goals:
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Determine the current classroom utilization rate
Evaluate potential reduction in the number of classrooms
Share data and analysis with the Provost’s Office and Deans
Develop strategies that encourage better use of the available resource base
Provide added space to departments for research, offices, etc
Help students avoid scheduling conflicts
Improve space utilization on campus
Use this data on an ongoing basis to assist in planning and investment decisions
Explanation of Report Criteria
The data used for the Analysis of Classroom Utilization and Scheduling was extracted
from corporate academic data, which is managed by the Office of the Registrar. The
information for the report was selected using the following criteria:
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Data is for the Fall 2003 semester
Only courses taught on campus in General Purpose Classrooms were considered
Only courses with assigned meeting times were considered. (If a course had
multiple meeting times, each meeting time was counted separately with the same
weight.)
Cross-listed “children” classes were excluded
The Physical Education Department classes were excluded
Law School data was excluded
“Prime time” hour counts consisted of classes that started at or after 9 a.m. and
concluded at or before 3:30 p.m.
The times listed on the table below were used to count the number of classes that were in
session at a specific moment. These particular times were selected in such a manner that
classes, which conformed to the standard meeting times, would not be counted more than
once. *Please note prime time hours are in the shaded section of the table.
Selected
Time
Standard Times
8:35 a.m.
MWF
8:30 - 9:20
TH
8:00 - 9:15
9:40 a.m.
MWF
9:35 - 10:25
TH
9:30 - 10:45
10:50 a.m.
MWF
10:40-11:30
11:50 a.m.
MWF
11:45- 12:35
TH
11:00 - 12:15
1:05 p.m.
MWF
12:50-1:40
TH
12:30 - 1:45
2:10 p.m.
MWF
1:55- 2:45
TH
2:00- 3:15
MW 1:30-2:45
3:35 p.m.
MWF
3:00- 3:50
TH
3:30- 4:45
MW 3:00-4:15
4:50 p.m.
MWF
4:05 - 4:55
--
--
MW 8:00 -9:15
--MW 11:45-1:00
--
MW 4:30-5:45
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For example, checking to see if a class was in session at 10:50 a.m. during the week
would count all Monday/Wednesday/Friday 10:40-11:30 classes while simultaneously
avoiding counting any Tuesday/Thursday classes since the standard times on those days
include 9:30-10:45 and 11:00-12:15.
Utilization Issues
The analysis’ initial conclusion was that the current process of creating the schedule of
classes each semester does not adequately distribute classes throughout the day. The
overall classroom utilization rate is 44% (appendix pg I). However, during prime time
hours the utilization rate increases to nearly 80% for the Tuesday/Thursday schedule (see
table below).
The Totals for all Buildings Table (appendix pg I) illustrates that classes are not spread
evenly throughout the day. There is high utilization during the prime time hours while
the remainder of the day has low utilization rates. This is clear evidence of inefficient
use of classroom resources.
In the Fall 2003 semester there were 171 general-purpose classrooms. During prime
time hours as much as 87% of general purpose classrooms were being utilized. Below
are counts of the classrooms occupied during prime time periods in Fall 2003.
Day
Tuesday
Tuesday
Thursday
Thursday
Friday
Time
9:30-10:45
11:00-12:15
9:30-10:45
11:00-12:15
10:40-11:35
Classrooms Occupied
149
137
141
135
150
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High utilization rates during prime time hours result in scheduling difficulties for students
and the Registrar’s Office due to class time overlaps and compression.
Reduction in Number of Classrooms
The overall classroom utilization rate of 44% suggests it may be feasible to reduce the
number of classrooms. If classes were redistributed evenly during the day, the number of
General Purpose classrooms required for course scheduling could be reduced by as many
as twenty-four classrooms. The reduction in the number of classrooms would offer
departments additional space for offices and research.
In order for the reduction of classrooms to be considered, a number of classes must be
redistributed to less densely populated standard class time periods. The chart below
suggests the number of classes at prime time hours that need to be redistributed to other
less used standard times.
Prime Time Hours
Reduction
of Classes
Tuesday 9:30-10:45
11:00-12:15
2:00-3:15
-20
-7
-5
Thursday 9:30-10:45
-20
Friday 10:40–11:30
-12
Available Standard Class
Times
MWF
MWF
MWF
MWF
TH
MW
MW
MW
MW
8:30-9:20
12:50-1:40
1:55-2:45
3:00-3:50
3:30-4:45
8:00-9:15
1:30-2:45
3:00-4:15
4:30-5:45
Potential Problems
The Office of the Registrar recognizes there are several potential problems that may
occur with the reduction of classroom resources. The research team reviewed the
following potential problems:
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Classrooms with technology shortage
Instructors requesting back-to-back class times
Instructors requesting classrooms in a specific building
Classes offered at non-standard class times
In Fall 2003 there were sixty technology classrooms. Technology classrooms were
defined as classrooms with PC’s. Multi-station labs and SUN rooms were not considered
technology classrooms. The primetime utilization rate for technology classrooms was
84.5% (appendix pg III). Due to the increasingly high demand for technology rooms, the
research committee determined that technology rooms would not be considered as
potential classroom reduction spaces. In addition, the team suggests that to keep up with
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faculty demand the University should make a commitment to increase the number of
technology classrooms each year.
Instructors teaching back-to-back classes often request to conduct their classes in the
same classroom. When one or more of the class times are during prime-time hours, the
Office of the Registrar will attempt to accommodate requests for two back-to-back
classes in the same classroom. However, if the class size and classroom needs are
similar, instructors who teach three or more classes back-to back may be required to
teach at least one of their courses during non-primetime hours and/or be willing to move
to a different room.
Each semester, instructors complete room preference forms for the subsequent semester.
Frequently instructors request specific buildings and classrooms. The reduction of the
number of classroom resources will result in fewer of these requests being
accommodated. The Office of the Registrar’s will need support from deans and
department chairs when faculty request are not accommodated.
Non-standard class times create problems in scheduling for both students and the
Registrar’s Office. Non-standard class times often overlap two or more standard class
time periods. Whenever possible non-standard class times should be eliminated. When
conditions require a non-standard time for a class, it should be scheduled outside of
primetime hours.
Non-General Purpose Classrooms
The research team is aware of a number of non-general purpose classrooms throughout
the University. Departments and /or colleges maintain control of these classrooms, which
are often associated with department suites. Commonly, the Office of the Registrar is not
notified of class locations when they are held in these classrooms. This confuses students
since the location of their classes do not display on their Irishlink schedules. And in
cases of emergencies, the location of the class is unknown to the Registrar.
Departments may be unaware of availability in their departmentally owned classrooms
which could result in classroom resource space being under utilized. Currently the Office
of the Registrar does not have enough data on departmentally owned classrooms to
suggest a utilization strategy.
Recommendations
The Analysis of Classroom Utilization and Scheduling illustrates prime time clustering of
classes. Distributing classes more evenly throughout the day and week would benefit
students with scheduling, provide for a more efficient use of existing resources, and
create a potential savings of up to 14% in classroom assets.
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The research team made the following recommendations.
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Reduce the number of general-purpose classrooms to 147
Redistribute the required classes in prime-time hours
Open Monday/Wednesday schedule to all levels at the following standard class
times:
8:00 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.
1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
3:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.
4:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.
Departments will maintain control of departmentally owned rooms, but will be
required to use AdAstra classroom scheduling software for room scheduling
Departments will work with the Office of the Registrar to monitor utilization of
departmentally owned classrooms and to ensure efficient utilization of these
classrooms
Implement General Purpose Classroom Scheduling Guidelines for faculty and
departments
General Purpose Classroom Scheduling Guidelines
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Classes that conform to the standard class time periods will be given priority
M/W and T/TH classes longer than 75 minutes will be scheduled after 3:00 p.m.
MWF classes longer than 50 minutes will be scheduled before 10:00 a.m. and
after 1:30 p.m.
Classes offered for an upcoming semester should have a maximum class size less
than 10% above the actual enrollment maximum when averaged over the last
three semesters
Classes which meet one day a week will be scheduled outside of prime time hours
The prime time hours are from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Colleges must not
exceed a calculated percentage of classrooms during prime time hours (see
following table).
College
Number of
Courses
Fall 2003
Maximum
Percentage
Of General
Purpose
Classrooms
(At a given Class
Time Period)
Maximum
Number Of
General Purpose
Classrooms (At a
given Class Time
Period)
Arts & Letters
1090
62%
87
Business
189
11%
15
Engineering
134
8%
11
Science
315
18%
25
University
39
2%
2
Total
1767
100%
140
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Other Actions Explored but not Recommended
Currently the standard class time periods allow for a fifteen-minute break between
classes; the research team explored adjusting standard class time periods to allow for tenminute breaks. The ten-minute break would result in an extra standard class time period.
The team benchmarked peer universities concerning standard class times. Of universities
sampled, most with ten-minute breaks noted that there were complaints from faculty
because of not having enough travel and setup time (appendix pgs XI-XII).
Implementation
The research team established a plan for implementation of the redistribution of
classrooms. The major points in this plan include:
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Up to twenty-four classrooms will be distributed to colleges for their use
Redistribution of all twenty-four classrooms will begin Spring 2005
Courses will be redistributed more evenly throughout the available times
Back-to-back classes will be spread throughout the day
Implementation of General Purpose Classroom Scheduling Guidelines
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