As a timetable rep and/or department decision-maker, you will need to determine what courses your department will offer in a given semester. There are different sources for information to help inform these decisions, including timetable information from previous semesters, student demand, faculty availability, funding, etc.

Use the information and tools on this page to determine what courses to offer in a given semester and assure the course information is complete, accurate, and complies with campus requirements.

Consider types of courses to offer
Gather/review data and information to decide which courses should be offered
Finalize course offerings
Planning for the next timetable cycle - submitting new course proposals and course changes for Divisional Committee approval

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Consider types of courses to offer

The types of courses your department might offer include:

• Required courses - courses that fulfill major requirements for students in your department
• Service courses - courses that fulfill requirements in other majors
• Elective courses - courses that are not required, but available to students in the major
• Special initiative courses - courses that receive special funding (for example extended day, credit outreach, grant funded, special program by visiting faculty, etc.)
• Experimental courses - potential new courses; some departments use their special topics courses as a way to pilot experimental courses before submitting them as new courses to divisional committee.

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Gather/Review information to decide which courses should be offered

Every department will approach their decision-making in a different manner; however you will most likely collaborate with your chairperson or other departmental decision-makers as you gather information and make decisions for your course listings.

The information and tools below may help you as you plan the courses you will offer for a given semester.

Review previous semesters' offerings

• Review your timetable offerings from past semesters; this can help you determine what to offer in any given semester. Note that many of the same courses are offered from spring to spring and fall to fall semesters.
  • Timetables from the three most recent semesters
  • Query Library - Timetable Audit (New to Query Library? Click here)
    Query Tip: Select "Master" report
• Review your canceled sections from the previous like semester; this may help you plan for which courses and how many sections to offer.
  • Query Library - Enrollments (New to Query Library? Click here)
    Query Tip: Select "Cancelled Sections" Report

Review current curriculum

• Review your All Course Report (a report you can request from TACS), the Course Catalog (through ISIS Self-Service Class Search/Browse Catalog), and Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs for your department. These will help you see all courses in your curriculum, prerequisite, title, credit and other information. The Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs also provide information about required and elective courses for your majors.
  
  
  • Undergraduate Catalog
  • Graduate Catalog

Analyze potential student course needs

• Consult with advisors and other departmental personnel about student course needs; they may have information they learned during conversations with students, perhaps for courses students are having trouble getting into, or courses that are required for their major but which have not been offered recently (or have conflicted with other courses). Also consult with the department liaison for freshman courses and special initiative courses (i.e., FIG, residence halls sections, etc.)
• Establish enrollment estimates and amount of flexibility needed
  • Query Library - Enrollments (New to Query Library? Click here)
    Query Tip: Select last like semester for term
• Course enrollment trends - what are the patterns of student enrollment, have students been closed out of courses.

Communicate with faculty

• Review faculty availability to determine any new faculty who are available to teach, faculty retirements or sabbaticals.
• Collect faculty teaching preferences; connect with your faculty to determine what courses they prefer to teach
  • Instructor preference form (MSWord)
  • Example from Sociology: Two Year Plan forms (MSWord | PDF)
  • Example from School of Nursing: Three Year Plan forms (MSWord | PDF)

Communicate with other offices

• ISIS class search can be used to view the current, future, or past course offerings of other departments.
• Communicate/collaborate with other departmental timetable reps regarding crosslisted/meets with courses that will be offered
  • Departmental Timetable Rep List (PDF | MSWord)
• Consult research offices, Deans offices, student services offices and others for curricular information that may impact your timetable course offerings. These may include grants or other administrative sources that support course offerings (extended timetable, credit outreach, learning communities, visiting faculty, online courses, etc.).
• Collaborate with deans, department administrators and possibly others to review the budget process for instructional support of TAs, lecturers and short term staff.

Other internal planning

• Decide special offerings, to include:
  • Honors
  • Academic Service-Learning
  • First Year Interest Group (FIGs) sections
  • Learning Communities sections
  • L&S Writing Intensive Courses
• Review changes in degree requirements for majors and programs to determine any changes in course requirements that will impact course offerings
• Review changes that may impact service course offerings; for example, are there new majors that will require the course, or a course no longer required for a major?
• Review course sequencing by planning for courses that have multi-semester format or specific prerequisites, co-requisites or other special considerations
• Review curriculum committee or faculty decisions approving new courses or course changes. Examples of sources include curriculum committee minutes, minutes from Executive Committee or Academic Planning Committee, and other departmental policies and procedures that may impact Timetable
• Verify that required Divisional Committee actions have been implemented; you can do this by verifying approval on forms returned following the Divisional Committee meeting, by checking ISIS for course updates, or by contacting TACS.
  • Divisional Committee forms, meeting dates

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Finalize course offerings

After collecting information to help with your decision-making, you may wish to collaborate with your chair or others in your department or school/college to establish your final course offering list. Once your courses offerings are finalized, you will also need to adjust credits on variable credit courses, update honors information, update topic title information for topic title approved courses, and update footnotes to include information that students need to know about when enrolling.

• Establish your final course list, including time/day and locations when possible (for more details, see When Offered and Where Taught tabs); at this point some of your courses may not have faculty assigned
  • Example from Sociology: Establish Course List (PDF)
• Enter, update and check your courses in ISIS; ensure all courses are entered and that you have deleted all courses that will not be offered. Review your independent studies courses; add and delete instructor sections as appropriate. Check your courses and data entry by running the Timetable Audit Query
  • Timetable Audit Queries
  • Timetable Audit - various reports
  • Timetable Audit: Class Associations
  • Timetable Audit: Class Overlaps
  • Timetable e-Grading Audit
• Verify with other departments that timetable entry is consistent across programs for crosslisted/meets with courses
• Update footnotes, honors, credits and topic titles for courses. Also review and update your departmental pre & post verbiage, as needed.
  • Example from Sociology: Review/revise footnotes topic titles (PDF)
• Review your courses that have special fees; ensure they have approval and footnotes informing students of the fees. Information regarding special fees courses and special course fees can be found in the Timetable call memos.
  • UW System Financial and Aministrative policies - Special Course Fees
• Update and make final changes in ISIS. Check your courses and data entry by running the Timetable Audit Query
  • Query Library - Timetable Audit (New to Query Library? Click here)

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Planning for the next timetable cycle - submitting new course proposals and course changes for Divisional Committee approval

It is advisable to review your curriculum on a regular basis to plan for any course additions or changes that may be necessary. The review and approval process can take several months. By doing advanced planning, you can ensure that your courses are ready when you plan to offer them for enrollment.

Before submitting course proposals to the Divisional Committee, they must be approved at the departmental level, then passed on to your school or college approving committee; once those approvals have been obtained, the proposals can be submitted for Divisional Committee review and approval. After approval by the Divisional Committee, the forms are forwarded to the Timetable and Classroom Scheduling Office, where the information is updated in the ISIS database. If you have submitted course changes or adds to Divisional Committee for approval for the current or upcoming term, you may wish to contact TACS. You will be notified when the update has been made in ISIS.

Secretary of the Faculty Office website has course proposal forms, meeting dates and other information to assist you with this process.

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