To give Miami University students a better idea of what their schedule will look like in fall 2009, university senate approved a motion Monday afternoon to have all evening exam and class meeting times scheduled through BannerWeb.
According to Dave Sauter, university registrar, 10 percent of students have some sort of class meeting in the evening, whether it was an exam time they were required to attend three times a semester or other instances with additional class requirements.
Sauter said many of these students didn't know about the evening meeting time until they received the syllabus on the first day of class.
"What we started seeing when we started talking with students is that they were having dual obligations," Sauter said. "Conflicts were coming up."
Sauter said that he was amazed 10 percent of students have additional class requirements in the evening and said he thinks putting these instances at scheduled times on BannerWeb would help students better organize their schedules.
"The bottom line is to put these into BannerWeb so that students are aware," Sauter said. "We're trying to let the students know in advance what their commitments will be."
Student Body President Mike Scott, however, said he initially had reservations about the idea.
"I'm concerned with the idea that students may not be able to participate in co-curricular activities," Scott said.
Sauter said putting these instances into BannerWeb so students can see the meeting times as they schedule would actually help alleviate such problems.
Physics professor William Houk said classes in his department use an evening exam time, but if students do have other commitments the department will work with the student to find a compromise.
"We do schedule two-hour evening exams in the nights," Houk said. "There are arrangements that can be made under serious circumstances and we arrange a new schedule for that exam for that student."
Beverley Taylor, physics professor at Miami University's Hamilton Campus, said she liked the idea of scheduling evening meeting times beforehand to assure students of when they would need to be in class.
"They're not going to know ahead of time if they have a Tuesday night class that you're going to be able to make those arrangements," Taylor said.
Taylor said she's heard students from the Oxford campus who take classes at regional campuses have had conflicting class times.
"I know a lot of regional campus faculty members have told me that students have said they have to miss their evening classes for an exam here in Oxford," Taylor said.
Sauter said he wanted to cover all of the bases to make sure students knew when their classes would meet to avoid conflict with other activities.
"If the meeting time doesn't work, students could opt into another section," Sauter said.
Sauter added this is mainly for classes with evening meeting or exam times that meet three or more times per semester. He said this was not meant for classes with fewer evening meeting times.
