GSD Course Scheduling Guidelines
June 06, 2006
Core Studios: meet 12 hours per week, most commonly from 2-6, or as determined by dept faculty.
Option Studios: 8 hours per week. Option studios are scheduled two weekdays from 2-6 PM. A normal schedule for a local instructor is Tuesday and Thursday. A normal schedule for instructors from out of
town is two successive days. Option studios should not be scheduled on Mondays in order to keep one afternoon free for electives. The class structure, including schedule, dates when the critic will be in residence, and studio site visits, must be set and approved by the chair at the beginning of the
semester.
Lectures: 3 hours per week. Should be 2 non-consecutive days of 1.5 hours each, in normal GSD time slots (see below). Department chairs can authorize exceptions, but these should be rare, since courses cutting across multiple time slots severely limit student choice.
Seminars: 3 hours per week, either in one or two time slots. Enrollment can be limited, but generally
not to fewer than 12 students. Any exceptions to this rule require approval by both the department
chair and the dean.
Additional Information regarding scheduling:
– Any course that is 4 units requires 3 hours of instruction per week at a minimum.
– Required lecture courses should meet on two non-consecutive days.
– The meeting times for courses should generally not be changed, particularly for required courses, as this affects the scheduling of other required courses. The chair must approve class meeting time changes.
– Order of priority for scheduling is: studios and other required courses, courses meeting distribution requirements, electives.
– GSD Course Periods: For courses scheduled prior to 1 PM, efforts should be made to adhere to the following guidelines: Monday through Thursday course starting times are scheduled at 8:30, 10, and 11:30 AM. Friday starting times are flexible.
– The staff will try to honor specific room requests, but cannot guarantee them. Conflicts will be referred to the Executive Dean.
– Aimee Taberner works with the department administrators to coordinate the overall schedule and room allocation.