Course combinations - Carleton University · Course Combinations It is important to capture the program ... are required to be conflict free with each other ... 9CRCJ CRCJ1000 FC

Course Combinations

October 25, 2016

Course Combinations

� A course combination is a set of courses that are

required to be scheduled conflict free for a

specific number of students in a program.

60 students in program X

will be taking BUSI 1004,

ECON 1000 and BUSI 1800

in the Fall term

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Course Combinations

�Course combinations are entered into the

DCU by departmental timetabling

coordinators.

�Course combinations are used by the TPHi-

Assigner module to automatically create the

required academic blocks which are then

used in the timetabling process.

�An academic block is a set of course sections

(CRNs) that need to be scheduled conflict

free.

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Course Combinations

Academic block:

BUSI 1004 A

BUSI 1800 A

BUSI 1800 A01

ECON 1000 A

ECON 1000 A01.4

Course Combination:BUSI 1004ECON 1000BUSI 1800

� Academic blocks are built based on course

combinations and course offerings

information:

Course Combinations

This process can best be described with a simple

example:

60 students in program X are expected to be

taking BUSI 1004, ECON 1000 and BUSI 1800 in

the Fall term.

The department submits a course combination

containing the 3 courses with a student count of 60.

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Course Combinations

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� In a separate process, the department determineshow they will offer each of these courses:

Courses Offering Capacity

BUSI 1004 LEC 270

BUSI 1800

LEC 270

TUT1,

TUT2…TUT9 30

ECON 1000

LEC 330

GRP1,

GRP2…GRP1130

Course Combinations

� The size of the academic blocks is determined by the

capacity of the smallest course offering (BUSI1800

TUT and ECON 1000 GRP have capacity 30)

� Therefore, the system will create 2 academic to fulfill

the demand (60 students)

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Academic Block 1

(30 students)

Academic Block 2

(30 students)

BUSI 1004 A LEC BUSI 1004 A LEC

BUSI 1800 A LEC BUSI 1800 A LEC

BUSI 1800 A1 TUT (capacity 30) BUSI 1800 A2 TUT (capacity 30)

ECON 1000 A LEC ECON 1000 A LEC

ECON 1000 A01 GRP (capacity 30) ECON 1000 A02 GRP (capacity 30)

How to create a new course

combination

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Course Combinations

� It is important to capture the program

requirements in all their variety to make sure

that students in the program get a conflict free

timetable.

� Do you have a new program? Have there been

changes for one of your old programs? Do you

wish to restructure an existing course

combination?

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Add a New Course Combination

� When constructing a course combination, the

best starting point is the undergraduate and

graduate calendars.

� Identify the core/elective/optional courses that

are required to be conflict free with each other

so that students in a program can take them in

the same term to fulfill the program

requirements.

� It is not recommended to include more than 6

courses in a course combination. Students rarely

take more than 6 courses in a given term.

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� Course Combinations are term specific. Fall term

courses are listed in one block and winter term

courses are listed separately in another block.

� Note that you need to know which term (fall or

winter) the courses are offered in so that you can

include them in the appropriate course

combination.

� Please note that only one section from a cross-

list needs to be recorded.

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Add a New Course Combination• Start with the program requirements in the

calendar:

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Add a New Course Combination� What required/elective courses are students

expected to take in the Fall and Winter terms?

� How many students will take this path?

� Are the courses going to be offered in the term?

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� To add a new course combination use the

template located on the shared drive to create a

new course combination.

� Then enter the course combination in DCU

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Course Combinations Template

� Course Combination ID: Start with the name of

your department (e.g. PADM or BUSI); followed

by the block number (the number does not have

to be consecutive, however it must be unique).

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� Program and level: The program and level for

which the course combination is intended (e.g.

Religion, 1st year). One program and one level

per course combination.

� If you need to create a new program, email

[email protected]

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Course Combinations TemplateStudent count:

Number of

students expected

to register in this

course

combination

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� Is the course core, elective or optional? Often a

course is marked as core, when it is actually an

elective or optional. Course category has to be

accurate as it impacts the course schedule.

� When you change the category from C (core) to E

(elective) or O (optional) you decrease the

burden on the timetable.

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Course Combinations Template� If a specific section of the course is required, add

a comment (to be entered in the DCU). In the

example below the departmental administrator

flags that only ANTH4500 A should be used for

the students in the program.

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In DCU: if you wish to use a specific course offering, e.g. AFRI

2003 A:

� Place the component under a separate section

� Specify the course section for the course under the course

combination

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� If there is no need to use a specific course

offering OR

� If there is only one section of the course,

LEAVE THE SECTION FIELD BLANK

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Program Registration Report

� SCH_PROGRAM_REGISTRATION_XLS report

displays student registration in a selected term.

� Run the report to see courses in which students

in your department were registered in the

previous academic term.

� Filter the report by Major Description and (for

undergraduate programs only) by Class (U1,

U2…).

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Program Registration Report� You can run the report by Department or Major

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Program Registration Report� Filter the report by major and/or class (year of

study) to review courses taken by students in the

program in the selected term

�Identify popular electives

�Identify common paths

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� If a section is entered, it means is that only

components under this section will be considered

for academic block building.

� If for CRCJ 1000 F preferred section is A; it means is

that only lecture CRCJ 1000 A will conflict free

with the rest of the courses in the course

combination

� Lecture C will not be used in academic blocks for

this course combination and, as a result, may be

scheduled in conflict with the rest of the courses in

the course combination.

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How to review existing course

combinations

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Review: How to Start

� 2015-16 Course combinations have been posted on

the shared drive

� V:\SES_Departmental_Reports\TIMETABLING\2017-

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Review: How to Start

� Course Combinations ID starts with the department

name

� Copy your course combinations and save in a file on

your computer

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Review: Delete a Course

Combination� Analyze existing course combinations to identify

the ones that are redundant or repetitive. These

course combinations need to be deleted.

� Pay special attention to course combinations

with smaller student count (e.g. 1). Is the course

combination still needed? If this is an “older”

program, are there still students in this program?

Run SCH_PROGRAM_REGISTRATION_XLS report

to verify.

� Identify course combinations to delete and

delete them later in DCU (when it opens)

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How to estimate student

count

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Student Count

� Review student count for your course

combinations

� Student count must be as realistic as possible,

although it is still a guess. Use the SZACOMB form

in Banner to realistically estimate the student

count for a course combination.

� Use REG_ENRPROG report for information on

enrolment by program (undergraduate programs

only). For example, if you have only 50 students in

the program, you should not set the student count

to 100!

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Student Count� Use SZACOMB form in Banner to check how

many students were enrolled

� in each course of a course combination in the

previous like term and

� in all courses of a course combination at the

same time in the previous like term

� SZACOMB counts do not include students who

registered in the course initially but dropped the

course later.

� CUOL courses are excluded from the count.

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Student Count

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Student Count

• Enter the term, the department, select a major code

from the Major pick list and a class (year of study)

code from the Class pick list.

• Enter the courses that form the course combination.

Note that the Number of students enrolled in course

column displays the number of students in the

selected major and class enrolled in each entered

course in the selected term.

• Click on the Calculate total per Combination button

to see the number of students enrolled in all courses

of the course combination in the selected term.

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Balance Demand�When DCU is closed, student counts are

summed up and compared to the section

max enrollment. This process is call

Balance Demand.

�Two reports are posted for departments

on the shared drive: Max enrollment vs

Demand and Course Combinations

tapping into courses.

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Balance Demand

� A good starting point for your review is the 2016-

17 Max enrollment vs Demand report posted on

the shared drive.

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Balance Demand

� The Demand column displays the projected

demand from the course combinations/academic

blocks.

� The Max Enrollment column displays the section’s

max enrollment entered in the DCU.

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Balance Demand

� Coefficient = Demand/Max Enrollment, where

Demand is the sum of student counts of all course

combinations that tap into the course.

� Use the Coefficient column as a guide in

pinpointing the discrepancies quickly. The perfect

coefficient is 1.1

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Balance Demand

� Check course combinations that tap into the

course with the high coefficient (Filter the Course

combinations tapping into courses report).

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Balance Demand

� Was the student count over-estimated for one or

more of the combinations?

� Or, perhaps the course combination includes

courses that will not be taken by all these

students? In this case you may want to restructure

the course combination

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Balance Demand� Is the coefficient too low (less then 1)?

�Should the course be part of other course

combinations?

�Is there a preferred section?

�CRCJ 1000 A was selected as the preferred section for

the course combinations.

�By selecting preferred section A, you are telling the

system to use lecture A but not lecture C in the

academic blocks built for this course combination

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Faculty ID

Departmen

t ID Course ID

Componen

t ID

Scheduling

Enrollment Demand Disabled

Session

Code Coefficient

9CRCJ CRCJ1000 F A 270 528 D 2.0

9CRCJ CRCJ1000 F C 300 88 D 0.3

How restructure a course

combination

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Restructuring a Course Combination

Example 1� Note two language courses in this course combination

� This course combination claims 30 seats in SPAN1110 and

ITAL1010 for first year BUSI BIB students.

� Most likely students will not be taking both language

courses in the same term.

� It is likely that the students will be taking either SPAN1110

or ITAL1010 in the Fall term to satisfy their language

requirement.

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Course

Combination Program ID Level

Faculty

ID

Department

ID

Faculty

ID

Depart

ment ID Course ID

Catego

ry ID

Studen

t Count

Comme

nt

BUSI BIB Block 1- BUSI BIB 1 1 7BUSI 7BUSI BUSI1004 F C 30


BUSI BIB Block 1- BUSI BIB 1 1 7BUSI 8LALS SPAN1110 F C 30

BUSI BIB Block 1- BUSI BIB 1 1 7BUSI 9ECON ECON1000 F C 30

BUSI BIB Block 1- BUSI BIB 1 1 7BUSI 8LALS ITAL1010 F C 30

Restructuring a Course Combination Example 1� To reflect student demand more accurately, it is

recommended to divide the student original combination

into two smaller combination with only one language

course.

� Student count for each new course combination is

assigned proportionally (10 students are expected to take

ITAL1010, 20 students – SPAN 1110).

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Course Combination Program ID Level Faculty ID

Department

ID Faculty ID Department ID Course ID

Category

ID

Student

Count Comment

BUSI BIB Block 1- BUSI BIB 1 1 7 BUSI 7 BUSI BUSI1004 F C 10


BUSI BIB Block 1- BUSI BIB 1 1 7 BUSI 9 ECON ECON1000 F C 10

BUSI BIB Block 1- BUSI BIB 1 1 7 BUSI 8 LALS ITAL1010 F C 10

Course Combination Program ID Level Faculty ID

Department

ID Faculty ID Department ID Course ID

Category

ID

Student

Count Comment



BUSI BIB Block 2- BUSI BIB 1 1 7 BUSI 8 LALS SPAN1110 F C 20


Restructuring a Course CombinationExample 2� Note that there are two electives in this course

combination.

� If you know that students will not likely be taking both

electives at the same time it will be better to divide the

course combination into two combinations and have one

elective per course combination.

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Course

CombinationProgram ID Level Faculty ID

Department

IDFaculty ID

Departmen

t IDCourse ID

Category

ID

Student

Count




BUSI BIB Block 1- BUSI BIB 1 1 7 BUSI 8 WOMN WGST1808 E 50

BUSI BIB Block 1- BUSI BIB 1 1 7 BUSI 9 CRCJ CRCJ1000 E 50

Restructuring a Course Combination Example 2

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Course

Combina

tion

Program

IDLevel

Faculty

ID

Departm

ent ID

Faculty

ID

Departm

ent IDCourse ID

Categor

y ID

Student

Count

BUSI BIB

Block 1-

BUSI BIB

11 7 BUSI 7 BUSI BUSI1004 F C 20

BUSI BIB

Block 1-

BUSI BIB


BUSI BIB

Block 1-

BUSI BIB

11 7 BUSI 9 ECON ECON1000 F C 20

BUSI BIB

Block 1-

BUSI BIB

11 7 BUSI 8 WOMN WGST1808 E 20

Course

Combinat

ion

Program

IDLevel Faculty ID

Departme

nt ID

Faculty

ID

Departm

ent IDCourse ID

Category

ID

Student

Count

BUSI BIB

Block 2-

BUSI BIB


BUSI BIB

Block 2-

BUSI BIB


BUSI BIB

Block 2-

BUSI BIB

11 7 BUSI 9 ECON ECON1000 F C 30

BUSI BIB

Block 2-

BUSI BIB

11 7 BUSI 9 CRCJ CRCJ1000 E 30

Restructuring a Course Combination� Restructure course combinations with more than

6 courses, if possible!

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Course

Combination Program ID

Lev

el

Facu

lty

ID

Depart

ment

ID

Faculty

ID

Depart

ment

ID Course ID

Categ

ory ID

Studen

t Count

BUSI BIB Block 29- BUSI BIB 29 2 7BUSI 3MATH STAT2606 F C 10

BUSI BIB Block 29- BUSI BIB 29 2 7BUSI 8FREN FREN3701 F C 10

BUSI BIB Block 29- BUSI BIB 29 2 7BUSI 8FREN FYSM1408 F C 10

BUSI BIB Block 29- BUSI BIB 29 2 7BUSI 3MATH MATH1119 F C 10





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Course combinations - Carleton University · Course Combinations It is important to capture the program ... are required to be conflict free with each other ... 9CRCJ CRCJ1000 FC