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Friday, August 26, 2016

Welcome to fall 2016!

Summer classroom renovations and updates
Several general purpose classrooms received environment or technology updates during the summer, including the following:

  • Major renovations in Mondale 3, 5, and 7 including new furnishings and technology features. 
  • The Blegen auditoriums, rooms 5 and 10, received new acoustical wall panels for improved audio performance.
  • New chairs were placed in a variety of classrooms as part of a planned lifecycle renewal update.
  • Technology feature upgrades were completed in more than 70 rooms.  Room features can be found on the room inventory page.
    • Improvements included: wide-screen video projectors, HDMI input cables, and document cameras. Instructor microphones and class capture cameras were also added to select classrooms.
  • Four more Computer lab classrooms were added to the inventory and are supported in partnership with the Office of Information Technology.


Tate Laboratory of Physics on the East Bank remains offline for renovation and the classes that would have met in Tate have been shifted to other locations. The majority of Physics and Astronomy department classes were moved to the West Bank during construction and this continues to have a ripple effect, impacting course sections across the entire Minneapolis campus classroom inventory. The newly renovated John T. Tate Hall is expected to return to full use by fall semester 2017.

Remember to locate your classroom assignment

Room assignments for fall 2016 are available on the Class Schedule. Please note: room assignments are subject to change prior to the start of term. While this usually only affects a small number of classes, verify your classroom assignment before the first class meeting. If you have specific questions about your room assignment, contact your department scheduling coordinator.

Resource for classroom searches

The General Purpose Classroom Search allows you to view the classroom inventory. You can filter by campus, building, capacity, and/or feature. You can also view room details, including capacities, layout, photo, links to campus maps, and room schedule.
Classroom technology instructions and videos

The classroom technology instructions for each building provide a list of equipment and additional features, as well as a representative image of the instructor station in each classroom. Orientation is available upon request for those who want to learn more about the technology features. For any questions, contact OCM Classroom Support.

ADA table and chairs

All OCM classrooms are equipped with ADA compliant tables and chairs as a standard feature. We work with Disability Resource Center to accommodate student needs and ask for your help in assuring its proper use.

Contact us 

OCM is available to help with any questions, concerns, or comments regarding general purpose classrooms or central student study spaces. Contact us via the Classroom Support Hotline at 612-625-1086 or classrm@umn.edu.

OCM staff are available for classroom and scheduling-related calls Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Messages left at the hotline are monitored by an on-call manager after hours.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

New Community-Engaged Learning course attribute

A new Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) course attribute is now available. It identifies courses that incorporate community-engaged learning pedagogies. An initial list of courses was identified by the Office for Public Engagement to use the attribute. In the future, these courses will be approved and identified in ECAS.
You will be able to add the attribute to any course that contains community-based learning experiences and meets the CEL attribute standards that have been approved by the Senate Committee on Educational Policy. The attribute was developed in response to students’ growing interest in academic courses that contain community-based learning experiences. In addition, the CEL attribute provides a means to systematically collect data on the number and frequency of community-engaged learning offerings across the five campuses.
To learn more about the attribute, and to view definitions of the attribute values, visit the CEL Attribute website.

Fall 2016 class cancellations

Remember to cancel classes with no enrollment for fall 2016 (1169). This will ensure the room assignment is released and the class is accurately displayed on the Class Schedule.

Room assignments for fall (1169)

Room assignments for fall 2016 are available on the Class Schedule. Please review assignments for your department to ensure all classes requiring a general purpose classroom have been assigned. Remind instructors to verify their classroom assignment before the first class, as room assignments are subject to change prior to the start of the term.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Releasing reserved seats

If reserved group seats have not been released by departments, Academic Support Resources (ASR) will do so for fall 2016 (1169) on Friday, September 2. Reserved group seats are always released the Friday before the first day of class each semester.

You may choose to release reserved seats prior to September 2 to increase enrollment. Guidelines for the management of reserved group seats are available to help department schedulers determine the appropriate release date. For questions on how to release reserved seats, contact the Student Records Training & Support Team.

Confirm room assignments for fall semester

All room assignments for fall 2016 (1169) have been made. Review and confirm assignments for your department on the Class Search to ensure all classes requiring a general purpose classroom have been assigned. Contact Scheduling with any questions about general purpose classroom assignments.

Reminders:

  • The Office of Classroom Management (OCM) only finds general purpose classrooms for classes with a blank Facility ID in CCS. If the Facility ID field is populated (including a virtual space such as ROOM000TBA), OCM is not actively looking for a classroom for your class. 
  • Changes to room assignments do not generate automated emails. If you change a room assignment, you must notify instructors and students directly.
  • Classes that will not be offered should be cancelled directly in CCS.
  • Room assignments are subject to change prior to the start of the term. While this usually only impacts a small number of classes, instructors should be encouraged to verify their classroom assignment before the first class meeting.