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Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Review fall 2016 final exam schedule

The fall 2016 final exam schedule for general purpose classrooms is available for review in Astra Schedule. Common Exam room assignments are available to review in this Google spreadsheet. Please note that Final Exam Change Requests are still being processed and will be reflected accurately in Astra Schedule soon.

Be sure to look through your department's courses for accuracy. Forward room locations to instructors to ensure they know the location of their final exam.

To review your department's final exams, please follow the steps below:
  1. Sign in to Astra Schedule with your University internet ID and password in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
  2. Click on the “Academics” tab located in the top navigation menu. 
  3. Click on the “Sections” link at the top of the page. 
  4. Update the filters in the left column as follows:
    1. Is Exam = Yes
    2. Term = Fall 2016
    3. Subject = Select the subject(s) you schedule
    4. Campus = Mpls/St Paul
  5. Click “Search” at the bottom of the filters.
  6. To save your filter selections for future use, click on the save button on the bottom left hand side of the page.
  7. Export the list to Excel by using the icon at the bottom of the page. 
If you notice any of the following, email the Scheduling Unit at ocmsched@umn.edu as soon as possible:
  • An exam scheduled for a class that does not require a room 
  • An exam missing for a class that should have had one scheduled
  • An exam scheduled at a time or place you did not expect
Want a few extra tips and tricks for getting around in Astra Academics? Check out the Astra Schedule resources available on the ASR system support website.

Additional final exam policy and resources:
If you still have questions on how to review your final exams, contact ocmsched@umn.edu.

Spring break 2017 (1173)

OCM Scheduling has an automated process to cancel class meetings during Spring Break in Astra Schedule by campus. This process removes class sections from the Scheduling and Activity Calendars to eliminate conflicts when scheduling events.

If you schedule a class that plans to meet in-person, on-campus during Spring Break next semester (1173), you must fill out this google form by Tuesday, December 8, 2016 to ensure that a room assignment is retained during Spring Break (March 13-17, 2017).

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 2017. Unless the form is filled out, class section meetings during Spring Break (March 13-17, 2017) will then lose their room assignments in Astra Schedule. Submit Spring Break 2017 Class Meeting form >>

Confirm room assignments for spring semester (1173)

Room assignments for spring 2017 (1173) are available on the Class Search. Please review assignments for your department to ensure all classes requiring a general purpose classroom have been assigned. If a class does not need a classroom assignment, please notify ocmsched@umn.edu.

OCM only finds a general purpose classroom for classes with a blank Facility ID in CCS. If the Facility ID field is populated, OCM will not actively look for a classroom for your class. This includes being populated with a virtual space, such as ROOM000TBA, LAB0000TBA, ONLINEONLY, or AHCROOMTBA.

Room assignments are subject to change prior to the start of the term. While this usually only affects a small number of classes, OCM encourages departments and instructors to verify their classroom assignment before the first class meeting.

Don’t miss Scheduling U workshops

Scheduling U, the annual workshop series designed to provide department schedulers with the information and tools they need to schedule classes for the upcoming year, is off to a great start. It continues to take place through Friday, November 18. Session dates, times, and descriptions may be found on the OCM blog.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Workshop series: Scheduling U

All schedulers should plan to attend the annual scheduling workshop series, Scheduling U. This year Scheduling U takes place November 14-18, 2016. Whether you are new to class scheduling or are a pro, there is a session for you. Workshops are open to any University staff member.

Workshop Sessions

Scheduling Update Live
Presenter: Sarah Kussow
An annual update on everything scheduling: policy, classroom renovations, timelines, upgrade impacts, how to get the room you need, and more.
  • Wednesday, November 16 - 9:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m., CSOM 2-233 (West Bank)
  • Wednesday, November 16 - 2:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Borlaug 365 (St Paul)
  • Thursday, November 17 - 2:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Peik Gym G55 (East Bank)

Astra iCop November 2016 - Advanced Astra Schedule
Presenters: Renae Faunce & Christine Mounts
Astra has many features that can take scheduling from assigning a room to managing what is happening in that room. Please join our online discussion. Academic schedulers can learn about the new final exam exemption form and techniques for finding and exporting the final exam schedule. Event schedulers can learn about tracking event attendees, editing multiple meeting events, adding event pre- and post- time, and managing private events.

The Big Picture
Presenters: Renaue Faunce & Sally Gutierrez
Do you ever feel a bit confused by all of the system acronyms, what each system does, or how these systems interact? Join the ASR Training and Support Team as we take a step back and look at the "big picture." This session will give you a basic understanding of our student records systems (including APAS, CCS, ECAS, PCAS, and others), how these systems interact with each other and PeopleSoft, and who uses them. We will close the session with a demonstration of where to find these applications on the new ASR website.

Building Your Class Schedule (interactive session)
Presenter: Bob Quinney
This session will be a group activity exploring the path from "course idea" to a section being scheduled and open for enrollment. We will consider the steps, systems, and governing policies involved. Come try your hand at filling in the blanks along the way.
  • Tuesday, November 15 - 2:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Bruininks 312 (East Bank)

CCS Deep Dive
Presenters: Heather Micek & Jennifer Selander
You've been through CCS training. Now, with some scheduling experience under your belt, let's take a deeper dive into some CCS functionality. Please join the ASR Training and Support Team to talk about Combined Sections, Session Codes, Wait Listing, and Special Use Pages. We will have plenty of time for questions and answers.
  • Friday, November 18 - 9:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m., Bruininks 512A (East Bank)

Events for Academic Schedulers
Presenters: Phil Hunter & Christine Mounts
Would you like to learn more about the differences between scheduling for Academics and Events in Astra? We will be discussing event scheduling best practices, policies, and handling external vs. internal events. We will also be discussing scheduling computer classrooms and video conferencing, and giving a calendar demo.

Where to find final exam information

In the last two months, new, redesigned websites launched for both One Stop and ASR. The new One Stop site has resources for students, whereas the ASR site has resources for faculty and staff. Due to this delineation, you will notice that some resources have moved or shifted. Specifically, final exam schedules and regulations have new URLs and navigation paths to note: