Faculty propose more flexibility in block scheduling

Steven Berberich, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, and Yvette Bendeck, associate vice president of enrollment management, met with representatives from the College of Human Sciences and Humanities and College of Science and Engineering Nov. 2 to discuss the 1000/2000 level block scheduling for freshmen and sophomore students. Deans, associate deans, department chairs and program chairs for undergraduate programs were invited to the meeting.

The current lower-level schedule for block classes is Tue/Thurs (80 min) or Mon/Wed/Fri (50 min) in the morning or early afternoon. Faculty proposed incorporating a schedule similar to the one currently being used at UHCL-Pearland, which is M/W and T/TH (80 min) with some classes offered on Friday in a 3-hr block.

“It was the continuation of the conversation about how the schedule is structured at UHCL,” said Heather Kanenberg, associate professor of social work and director of the bachelor of social work program. “There was a decision to move forward with the current Monday/Wednesday/Friday and Tuesday/Thursday schedule and to allow some faculty to test out the Monday/Wednesday classes and to test out Friday three-hour block classes. The faculty left the meeting on Friday hoping that the conversation was not over, and all parties would continue to collaborate to explore the idea of a M/W, T/TH, F schedule for courses.”

Berberich, however, said that he and Bendeck are “not engaged in looking at alternative block schedules” at this time.

“The purpose of Friday’s meeting was to start working with program and department chairs to ensure the current 1000/2000 level class schedule will allow students to take a full load,” Berberich said.

The rationale for keeping Monday/Wednesday/Friday and Tuesday/Thursday classes is that this schedule will help high school students transition to college, but faculty are concerned that the current block scheduling is too confining for non-traditional students.

“One of the motivating factors of creating the alternative proposal is that faculty and staff are hearing from our students that it can be a hardship financially to drive to campus three days a week and also that it is difficult to manage work, school and family when classes are three days a week,” Kanenberg said.

Kanenberg also said the most significant difference in the proposal presented for discussion with the administration from what the university currently offers freshmen/sophomores is that the proposal does not include Monday, Wednesday, Friday classes.

“The alternative proposal has lower-level and core classes happening on a Monday/Wednesday, Tuesday/Thursday schedule with the option for some core classes to be in three-hour blocks on Fridays,” Kanenberg said. “On Fridays, those three-hour blocks could be used for some select core classes, as well as labs for the sciences, studio courses for the arts, and more. In addition, the new proposal allows for some of the core classes to happen later in the day; they happen in the late afternoon and early evening. These changes were integrated in the new proposal in an effort to increase flexibility for students while also reducing the likelihood of course conflicts. It would still be important to review the schedule, once developed, each semester to ensure that there aren’t conflicts, but we believe it would improve things for students and simplify the process.”

Kanenberg said faculty envisions Fridays as an opportunity “to do some really neat things” on campus. In addition to classes, they envision programming such as faculty speaker series, faculty/student research and lab meetings, department or program level mixers with students, and more.

“Fridays could actually become a pretty cool day to be on campus,” Kanenberg said. “The goal for the alternative was to maximize flexibility while minimizing conflicts for students.  And, of course, we want to be sure students are successful when they join the UHCL family.”

Bendeck and Berberich met with the Student Government Association (SGA) Oct. 2 to propose all first- and second-year courses be offered at the same time and day every semester to better coordinate lower-level coursework across colleges to reduce potential scheduling conflicts.

After the SGA meeting, Bendeck told The Signal, “There have been no changes in the schedule grid for 1000/2000 level courses since it was established in Fall 2014,” Bendeck said. “We embarked on a project to better coordinate lower-level coursework across colleges to reduce potential scheduling conflicts and promote timely progress towards graduation. The Provost Office is in the early stages of discussion with the colleges regarding scheduling issues and concerns, so I do not have further comments at this time.” Bendeck said there is no update to that statement at this time.

Kanenberg believes that a consistent schedule presents a challenge for students who are trying to get into a course that might only be offered once a year if it happens to conflict with a required course for their major.

“Locking classes into days and times might work well for us once we are larger and have more sections of all of the core classes, but at this size and with these offerings, it actually can create difficulty for students,” Kanenberg said. “The goal of the new proposed schedule is to be able to plan and offer courses in a manner that ensures students experience the least amount of conflict in getting the courses they need for their degrees in the semesters that they need them.  Overall, the university is working hard to help students be successful in their academic endeavors and having a consistent schedule supports that effort.”

Kanenberg stresses that it would be great to hear from the students who are taking lower-level and core classes to know what they prefer. Izuh Ikpeama, president of SGA, suggests that students attend the Student Senate meeting Thursday, Nov. 29 at 11:30 a.m. in the Forest Room and/or the SGA meeting Tuesday, Nov. 13 at 11:30 a.m. in the SSCB Lecture Hall to voice their concerns at an open forum.

“Faculty Senate leadership is working with Dr. Bendeck and the department chairs of the Colleges of Human Sciences and Humanities and Computer Science and Engineering to make sure that any changes in scheduling classes will meet the needs of both freshmen and sophomores and upper-class students,” said Mike McMullen, professor of sociology and president of the faculty senate. “While we recognize the need to introduce predictability to semester scheduling, we also acknowledge that the vast majority of our undergraduate student body is working, have family and other responsibilities, and are often driving from across the metro-Houston area to come to classes.”