Expanded weekend classroom hours during finals week

Finals week begins Thursday, December 17. The last day of exams is Wednesday, December 23. General purpose classroom hours will be extended on Saturday, December 19, and Sunday, December 20, to meet the needs of students and faculty during finals week. Weekday hours remain unchanged during finals week and after finals exams week, we will return to our standard operating hours.

Saturday, December 19: All general purpose classrooms will be open from 7 a.m.- 10:00 p.m. to accommodate scheduled final exams and student study.

Sunday, December 20: All classrooms in weekend buildings will be open from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. to accommodate students for official University study days. Weekend buildings include the following:

• East Bank: Bruininks Hall, Folwell Hall, Keller Hall, Nicholson Hall, Rapson Hall
• West Bank: Blegen Hall, CSOM, Hanson Hall, Humphrey Center
• Saint Paul: McNeal Hall, Peters Hall, Ruttan Hall

Please note building hours may vary from standard classroom hours. Be sure to carry your U Card with you at all times. For more information about specific building hours, visit the individual building details page via the Campus Maps website.

Calculating required instructional time per course credit

Each semester hour of credit requires 15 hours of class time. An hour of class time refers to the 50-minute block of scheduled instructional time. Some classes may have more instructional time based on the content and/ or mode of instruction but classes cannot have less instructional time.

For example, the expectation for instructional time for a 2-credit class during the typical 15-week semester would be 1,500 minutes (2 credits x 15 weeks x 50 minutes).  The class could meet two times per week for one class hour, or once per week for back-to-back class hours. See chart below for further variations using University standard class time blocks.

Time outside of class will always be expected, but formal instructional time must meet  Instructional Time per Course Credit policy and should be differentiated from Expected Student Academic Work per Credit. The Class Scheduling policy outlines standard time options by number of credits offered (section B9).

Classes not meeting the instructional time per course credit policy are currently being reviewed and will be asked to increase the instructional time for the class, adjust the credits the class is being offered at, or (as a last resort) cancel the class. Ideally we can work out a solution for these classes!

The expectation for total instructional time for a class applies to all academic terms. Classes scheduled during A-term, B-term, summer session or any other special terms have the same expectation for total instructional time per credit. A 2-credit course would always be expected to have 1,500 minutes of total scheduled instructional time, regardless of session.

For a standard 15-week semester, see the chart below to calculate the class time required for a class.

	1-credit  (15 hours)	2 credits  (30 hours)	3 credits  (45 hours)	4 credits  (60 hours)	5 credits  (75 hours)
	Meet one time per week for standard 50-minute time block.	Meet two times per week for standard 50-minute time blocks.	Meet three times per week for standard 50-minute time blocks.	Meet four times per week for standard 50-minute time blocks.	Meet five times per week for standard 50-minute time blocks.
		Meet one time per week for two back-to-back, standard 50-minute time blocks.	Meet two times per week for two, standard 75-minute time blocks.	Meet two times per week for two back-to-back, standard 50-minute time blocks.
			Meet one time per week for three back-to-back, standard 50-minute time blocks (Fridays or evenings only).
Standard calculation	1 credit x 15 weeks x 50 minutes	2 credits x 15 weeks x 50 minutes	3 credits x 15 weeks x 50 minutes	4 credits x 15 weeks x 50 minutes	5 credits x 15 weeks x 50 minutes

Review fall 2015 final exam schedule

The fall 2015 final exam schedule for general purpose classrooms continues to be available for review in Astra Schedule. If you have not already, please confirm your department’s exam schedule and forward room locations to instructors to ensure they know the location of their final exam. Find out more about what you can do to ensure the greatest accuracy »

Will any of your classes meet during spring break week (1163)?

If you schedule a class that plans to meet in-person, on-campus during Spring Break next semester (1163), you must notify OCM Software Help (OCMSoftwareHelp@umn.edu) by Tuesday, December 1, 2015, to ensure that a room assignment is retained during Spring Break (March 14-18, 2016).

Without notification, we will assume that a holiday break is a holiday break and that none of your classes have in-person, on-campus meetings during Spring Break 2016.  All class section meetings during that timeframe will then lose their room assignments in Astra Schedule.

Grade entry deadlines and reminders

Fall 2015 grades (full semester) are due on Wednesday, December 30. A complete list of grading due dates is available online. How-to guides and grade entry best practices may be found on the One Stop’s Final Grade Reporting web page.