Course-Related Tasks

Department staff members must enter course-related information into a variety of University reporting systems.

• Course-Instructor Survey Requests
• Course Description Database Entry
• Event Room Scheduling
• FaSET
• Final Exam Scheduling Requests
• Individual Instruction Grade Reporting
• HB 2504 Reporting
• Prerequisite Check System
• Registration Waitlist System

Final Exam Requests

The final exam request system is administered by the Registrar's Office and used to assign general purpose classrooms for final exams. For authorization to access the system, please email: scheduling@austin.utexas.edu. For more information on final exam scheduling policies, please see: http://registrar.utexas.edu/staff/exams. For more information on final exam academic policies, please see: http://www.utexas.edu/provost/policies/class_exams/

Important info:

• If your instructors do not respond by the deadline as to whether a class will have an exam, you should report that no exam will be given until you learn otherwise and you should keep your department chair (or dean) informed regarding these matters.
• When the final exam is a paper or project submission, select Yes to Final Exam and request the instructor’s office or the departmental office as the exam location.
• Prior to exam schedules being published, you can predict the exam date by referring to the Index of Final Exams or Index of Uniform Final Exams published in each Course Schedule.
• Departments which offer uniform exams must also administer make-ups for students who have exam scheduling conflicts as a result of the departmental exam and are provided a list of choices of approved uniform exam periods and their make-ups about three weeks prior to the beginning of the semester.
• For cross-listed classes, the home department is responsible for reporting exam information. Other classes in the group will be updated automatically if there will be an exam, but if there will NOT be an exam, each cross-listed department must report no exam for their section.
• If an exemption policy has been announced to the students (such as,”students making an A are exempt from the final”) please let them know that you will have fewer students taking the exam than the total number enrolled. Otherwise, leave this value blank so that we can use the actual number enrolled during our scheduling activities. Only enter a value if it is LESS than the total enrollment.
  

Helpful Tip: Many staff members utilize a template, specifically designed for Final Exam & CIS requests, available in SurveyStation to gather request information from faculty members. For more information and to access the template, please contact Lisa Vera, lisav@austin.utexas.edu. If you'd like to design your own survey, a Quick Start Guide and help screens are available through the site.

Course-Instructor Survey Requests

The Course-Instructor Survey (CIS) request system is administered by the Center for Teaching and Learning. For authorization to access the system, please email: ctl-cis@utlists.utexas.edu. For information on survey options, policies, key dates, CIS results, and frequently asked questions, please see: http://www.ctl.utexas.edu/programs-and-services/CIS/course-instructor-survey-for-faculty-and-staff/

Helpful Tip: Many staff members utilize a template available in SurveyStation to gather request information from faculty members. For more information and to access the template, please contact Lisa Vera, lisav@austin.utexas.edu.

Course Description Database Entry

The course description database is administered by LAITS using the college's web content management server. For authorization to access Courses in the database, please make sure your staff admin assigns you the role of Scheduler. If the tab does not appear, please contact: Lisa Vera, lisav@austin.utexas.edu and la-web-support@utlists.utexas.edu. For more information on the system and the various screens, please see: CoLA Database Guide

Helpful Tip: Due to the navigation structure of the system, many staff members use the right-click or Control-click to open a new window for each course and a new tab for each section. If you are using Firefox, I suggest downloading the Colorful Tabs add-on to help differentiate between the different courses and/or sections. 

Event Room Scheduling Requests 

The room scheduling system is administered by the Registrar's Office for all single-, multi-day or semester-long room reservations. To gain access to their system, attend a one-hour training session by signing up for TxClass RG 400. Requests for rooms may be submitted as early as the user can identify them to scheduling @austin.utexas.edu, but they are only processed within a couple of weeks of the beginning of a semester in order to allow for maximum flexibility in offering courses. For more information, please see: http://registrar.utexas.edu/staff/rooms  

Helpful Tip: Check room specifications before submitting a request.

• Liberal Arts: http://classroom.laits.utexas.edu/
• Business: http://new.mccombs.utexas.edu/Tech/Media-Services/Classroom-Technology.aspx
• Fairly comprehensive: https://apps.engr.utexas.edu/classrooms/

FaSET Reporting

FaSET (Faculty and Student Electronic Tracking) is a system that allows departmental users to enter and review course, instructor, and enrollment information related to two census date snapshots: The Day 12* snapshot and the End of Semester snapshot. This information is used to provide accurate and consistent reports for both internal and external constituents of the University.

Important Info:

• Authorizations can only be requested by staff members who are already authorized for your unit. If nobody in your unit is authorized, please contact Lisa Vera, lisav@austin.utexas.edu.
• Undergraduate course instructors must either have a teaching title appointment* , an approved accepted PAR** in a teaching title, or an assistant instructor appointment in order for their eids to pass audits. If you receive an error message, please consult with your departmental Human Resources contact.
• Graduate instructors must have both GSC approval for the department  -AND- have a teaching title appointment * or an approved accepted PAR** in a teaching title in order for their eids to pass audits for organized courses. If you receive an error message, please consult with your departmental Human Resources contact.
• Instructors who will not pass the audits must be marked as “Unknown” through the instructor update screen. On the Instructor update page, leave the eid field blank or empty, submit, and then select the box or radio button next to "Unknown".
• Organized classes must have a timeline or a valid reason marked why no timeline is entered (web-based, meets off-campus or out of the country, etc.). If the class meets off-campus, please be sure to mark the appropriate Off-campus reason (e.g. Texas, in US, or Abroad) and detail the location next to the reason. We need the actual location for any off-campus classes in order to correctly report to the Coordinating Board.
• If using FaSET to access the HB 2504 upload system, users will only need ZFAC authorization. Please include this information in the authorization request email.

HB 2504 Reporting

As required for HB 2504, undergraduate course syllabi and CVs of the instructors-of-record for these courses must be made available online.  The legislature is requiring 100% compliance.  Please work with your faculty and staff to upload the required documents by the deadlines. For further information regarding HB 2504 compliance, including instructions for uploading documents, legislation information, and implementation policies and procedures, visit the Provost's Office site at http://www.utexas.edu/provost/planning/accountability/hb_2504/.

Important Info:

• Graduate course syllabi should NOT be uploaded.
• There are two systems that can be used to upload documents, FaSET (ZFAC or Update authorization required) or Class Manager. 
• Faculty upload url: https://utdirect.utexas.edu/apps/student/coursedocs/syup/
• Syllabi (Uploaded each semester)
  • Must be a PDF file with a specific name convention that lists: Course Abbreviation, Course Number, Year (4-digit) + Semester # (2=spring, 6=summer, 9=fall), and Unique Number
    • Example for a section of HIS 315K taught in Fall 2011 with unique #48335: HIS315K2011948335.pdf
• CV (Uploaded once every three years)
  • Must be a PDF file with a specific name convention that lists: Faculty Member LName, FName, MI, School/College Initials (Liberal Arts=COLA), and Year (4-digit) + Semester # (2=spring, 6=summer, 9=fall)
    • Example for Richard Flores in Fall 2011: FloresRichardRCOLA20119.pdf

Helpful Tip: Since neither of the systems are able to check compliance, I do the following: I open two browser windows, one to display the field of study listing in the course schedule and the other to display the search results for the field of study on the public site. If the course does not appear on the public site, I know the syllabus hasn't been submitted. If the course appears but the instructor name is not highlighted as a link, I know the cv hasn't been submitted.