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Recast | Fall Class Scheduling 2021

by · April 26, 2021

From: “Speller, Trevor” <spellert@evergreen.edu>
Date: Monday, April 26, 2021 at 12:13 PM

Dear Faculty Colleagues –

Thank you for providing information about your hybrid and remote fall offerings. The catalog is now updated! About 70% of our undergraduate fall offerings will be on a hybrid footing, and the other 30% will be remote. Our next task is to publish schedules by Academic Fair.

Current COVID-19 restrictions will leave Evergreen with significantly reduced room capacity and cohort sizes in fall. In-person classes will be conducted in groups of no more than 25 students. Full-time offerings should be able to hold in-person class meetings up to 8 hours per week, in two 4-hour blocks. To accommodate these restrictions, we have developed a set of “schedule footprints” built of morning, afternoon, and evening blocks. More information is below.

  • Graduate, Tacoma, and NPP faculty should discuss their scheduling requests with their Director or Dean, who can work directly with Susan Keefe and the scheduling office before May 5.

I invite you to join me and the scheduling team at our upcoming brownbag information sessions, where you can ask more detailed questions:


We recognize that this is a very different way of scheduling classes. We face a difficult challenge that calls for flexibility. Thank you for that flexibility and your understanding. I look forward to talking soon.

Sincerely –

Trevor 

Trevor Speller, PhD –- he/him 

Interim Vice-Provost

Zoom ID: 886-621-3404

Library 2013 – 360-867-6063

The Evergreen State College 
2700 Evergreen Parkway NW – Olympia, WA 98505

Further details: Schedule Footprints

Where are we? When you submitted your revised catalog information, scheduling was unresolved. We lacked good information and we needed a plan, so we deferred our decision-making. Since then, we have not received any more definite information about social distancing or budget-related building closures. Good news: we now have a scheduling plan, thanks to a dedicated team of faculty and staff. 

What are we doing? Students need schedule information in time for general registration. We have devised a collection of pre-set weekly schedules to give clarity to students, faculty, and staff about the general outline of our classes. This scheduling plan allows us to allocate times now and allocate spaces later. Collections of time blocks called “schedule footprints” will give students enough information to plan their lives even as we await information about specific room assignments and spacing.  

How does it work?  

·         The week has been broken into morning, afternoon, and evening blocks.   

·         Each academic offering will select a preset “schedule footprint” of morning, afternoon, or evening time blocks across the week.  

·         Scheduling footprints offer you more time than you need. You can then put your synchronous class times anywhere within these blocks.  

·         All rooms will be subject to 6-foot social distance space occupancy limits. Gatherings larger than 25 students should be held online. 

·         The plan will allow every student in a hybrid program to attend in-person classes at least twice a week, or up to half of the instructional time.  

·         We will ask which days you want to teach in person. Each faculty member in a full-time offering will get at least two blocks per week for in-person instruction. That should allow students in hybrid offerings to get about half their instruction in person.Courses and 8-credit programs will be allocated enough blocks to meet the same ratio.    

·         We will allocate faculty classrooms (or sets of rooms) big enough to hold 25 students safely.  

·         Labs and studios will hold variable numbers of students and will be allocated separately from other instructional spaces. 

·         Please don’t schedule in-person and remote classes on the same day. This minimizes travel disruptions, and minimizes students doing remote work on campus.

What’s the timeline? By providing information by May 5, Evergreen will be able to provide students with schedules for fall registration. We should also be able to assign in-person blocks (but not rooms) before the end of the academic year.  

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