As you are aware, in my opening address I requested that the Faculty Senate act as soon as possible to create a University course-scheduling policy. Such a policy has existed since at least the time of Chancellor Robinson, but it has not been enforced in recent years. Rather than simply reinstating an old policy, it seems most appropriate to open the issue and to have a full and frank discussion of it. A number of faculty also have asked me why I am so concerned regarding course scheduling. Several wanted to know how big the issue is and wanted further discussion of what problems our schedules really create. Therefore, it seems appropriate that much of this first Chancellor's Update address these issues.

Sources for the issue

There are three sources for this issue: your comments and concerns, data analyses prepared by University Planning, and comments leading to a recommendation by the SACS Reaffirmation Committee and a suggestion by the NCAA Peer-Review Team. Attached is a report from University Planning that summarizes our current situation with regard to scheduling. This analysis focuses only on "lecture courses." This category excludes laboratories, internships, and other "non-standard" course formats. However, the vast majority of our course offerings are categorized as "lecture courses" (using state category definitions). More than 73 percent of our total lecture-course offerings are between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Even within this relatively limited time slot, there is a strong bias for 9 or 9:30 a.m. start times. The 8 a.m. hour is almost unused, and there is reduced usage of the noon hour M-W-F. Likewise, there is a drop-off in the number of courses offered even during this time period on Friday compared to Monday. Preliminary analysis suggests, further, that if it were not for general education courses the drop-off would be even greater.

This pattern of course offerings raises several significant educational issues:

If our pattern of course offerings promotes the practice of students taking class after class with no break, is it reasonable for them to be expected to perform at their best in all courses? College classes are difficult. Can students really be expected to be fresh and alert after three or four hours of concentration?

Teaching is hard work, and good teaching is wearing work. Teaching two or three courses in a row just adds to the stress.

Some of the most important time that a faculty member and student can have together is the few minutes before and after class while everything is fresh. When students take courses back to back they lose this special opportunity. Likewise, exciting discussions and informal learning are curtailed if students have to run off to the next class.

Use scheduling to promote learning

There are many other of these types of issues that could be raised, and faculty have raised each of them with me over the last year. The general theme, however, is that we need to use our scheduling of classes to promote individual learning.

A second set of issues involves the message that we are giving students. Many, many faculty have spoken with me of their concerns regarding students leaving Cullowhee for the weekend. At the same time, however, we promote this pattern by reducing the number of classes offered on Friday. Thus, we make it easier for students to select a schedule that lets them leave on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. This, of course, becomes a tautological problem. Students make commitments at home for the weekend and then press faculty not to have Friday classes. On the other hand, if we had a strong schedule of Friday classes, we might well be able to affect students' willingness to reduce commitments at home for the benefit of their education.

Third, we are sending a message to students and others regarding how important we think learning is at Western. This contributes to the "myths" about Western.

Fourth, when we stack courses within a few hours of the day we make it difficult for students to get their required courses in a sequence that promotes their learning and makes it possible for them to graduate in a timely manner. The Board of Governors and the Legislature are pressing to have students complete degrees within four years. And, faculty and staff who spend a great deal of time advising students tell me that scheduling is one of the key problems they deal with when trying to help a student finish a program.

At least one of the SACS Reaffirmation Committee recommendations has a relationship to the scheduling concern. The committee, in commenting on institutional effectiveness, recommended that "the institution develop and implement procedures to evaluate the extent to which educational goals are being achieved, and use the results of these evaluations to improve educational programs, services, and operations." The NCAA Peer-Review Team entered its comment on scheduling as a "suggestion" (rather than an action-required recommendation) that "the faculty athletics committee review the schedule of afternoon classes, giving consideration to spreading upper-level classes across the day."

The four-day week is spreading

What has been most interesting to me as I have looked into this issue on your behalf is that other areas of the University also have moved to a four-day week. For example, some student activities and programming offered during the week are not offered on Friday or on the weekend. The argument, of course, is that the students are not here so there is no way to have strong programs on the weekend. On the other hand, I think that a strong case could be made that if we changed our scheduling pattern and our student support pattern we could have some significant effect on student learning.

A final point. I fully understand the competing demands that we put on faculty. We expect faculty to teach, serve, research, and be active in a whole array of voluntary activities. We expect some faculty to run internships off-campus and to teach a tough schedule on-campus, and we expect all of our colleagues to keep up in their fields. These are difficult assignments. I also know, however, that we are a very strong faculty whose creative energies can find ways of scheduling these other activities and assignments around a teaching schedule that strongly promotes student learning.

I look forward to working with you as we continue to take Western to its next level of excellence.

The following graphics are provided by the Office of University Planning.