Scheduling the Section Meetings

Every section of every component must be assigned a meeting pattern that indicates which days of the week the section meets and for how long, and a start time. The meeting end time will be calculated based on the length of the meeting specified in the meeting pattern. The meeting pattern and start time are specified for each section using the Meetings page of the Schedule New Course page group.

Most courses at Princeton use a standard meeting pattern that is already set with the days of the meetings and the length of each meeting. However, you are not limited to those standard meeting patterns. You can also set non-standard meeting patterns from the Meetings page.

Note: You will have to move through the Class Sections, adding the schedule information for each section. Make sure you are entering the correct schedule for the section identified in the Class Sections area of the page.

For the primary component, you can also change the Instructor. This field will be filled using the Instructor from the Catalog, but you can change the value, if necessary. You can also add an instructor for a non-primary component, if you know who will be teaching the section. However, instructors are not required for non-primary components.

Tip! The instructor entered here is used only for CAFSIS reports. The instructor name printed in the Course Offerings is set in the Course Catalog. All sections must have an instructor entered before the CAFSIS reports are generated.

This topic contains the following procedures:

To set the schedule using a standard meeting pattern:

  1. In the Schedule New Course page group, click on the Meetings tab.
  2. In the Meeting Pattern area, in the Pat field (Pattern field), use the Lookup button to display the list of meeting patterns. If the schedule will be announced later, type in TBA (To be Announced).

    3. Tip! If the schedule is TBA To Be Announced make sure the start and end times are both 1:00AM.

    Notice that the days when the section meets are shown first, followed by the length of time, in minutes, of the section meeting.

  3. Click on the desired meeting pattern or its description in the line.
  4. When you are returned to the Meetings page, notice that the checkboxes under the days of the week will be selected () to reflect the selected meeting pattern.
  5. In the Mtg Start field (Meeting Start field), enter the time when the section will start in the following format:

    hh:mmXX

    where hh:mm is the time the section starts

    hh can be a value from 1 to 12
    mm can be a value from 00 to 59

    XX is either AM or PM.

    6. For example, a section starting at 1:30 in the afternoon would be entered as 1:30PM.

    Tip! You can also enter the starting time in military notation, hhmm, where hh can be a value from 00 to 24, and mm can be a value from 00 to 59. If you enter the time in military notation, you will not have to enter the AM or PM, but the time will be translated to standard notation. For example, if you enter 13:30, the time will be shown as 1:30PM.

  6. Press the Tab key or click to the Mtg End field, which will change automatically to provide the correct end time, based on the specified start time and the length of the section defined in the meeting pattern.

    Important! Changes to the length of the meeting time for undergraduate classes are subject to approval by the Registrar. Do not change the Mtg End (Meeting End) time for a standard meeting pattern unless the Registrar has approved it. Likewise do not change the Start/End Date fields.

  7. Use the Previous and Next buttons in the Class Section header to move to the next class section.

    8. You can also click View All in the Class Section header to display all the sections of the class.

  8. Repeat Steps 3-7 until each section has been scheduled.

To set the schedule using a non-standard meeting pattern:

  1. In the Schedule New Course page group, click on the Meetings tab.
  2. Make sure you are on the section that requires a non-standard meeting pattern.
  3. In the Mtg Start field, enter the time when the section will start in the following format:

    hh:mmXX

    where hh:mm is the time the section starts

    hh can be a value from 1 to 12
    mm can be a value from 00 to 59

    XX is either AM or PM.

    4. For example, if the section will start at 1:30 in the afternoon, enter the value 1:30PM.

    Tip! You can also enter the starting time in military notation, hhmm, where hh can be a value from 00 to 24, and mm can be a value from 00 to 59. If you enter the time in military notation, you will not have to enter the AM or PM, but the time will be translated to standard notation. For example, if you enter 13:30, the time will be shown as 1:30PM.

  4. When you press the Tab button or click in the Mtg End field, the end time will be set to an hour later than the start time. If it is not correct, enter the time when the section will end in the Mtg End field.
  5. Select () the checkboxes for the days of the week that the section will meet.
  6. Do not change the Start/End Date values, even if the course meets for less than a full term. Instead, be sure the Registrar's Office knows the course's start and end dates for scheduling purposes.
  7. When the meeting pattern is correct, click the Save button.

To add or change the instructor:

  1. On the Meetings page of the Schedule New Course page group, the instructors assigned to the primary component section are listed in the Instructors For Meeting Pattern section.

    Note: The instructors listed here are used for CAFSIS, not for the Course Offerings. The instructor name printed in the Course Offerings is set in the Course Catalog.

  2. To change the instructor for this term only, click the Lookup button to the right of the ID field in the Instructors for Meeting Pattern area.
  3. On the Lookup ID page that is displayed, click the Lookup button to see the list of all active professional staff at the University, ordered by ID number. To filter the list, enter search criteria on the Lookup ID page before clicking on the Lookup button.

    4. You can filter the list by your Academic Organization, or by Last or First name. You can enter all or part of the organization's or person's name. The Search Results will display only the instructors who match your criteria.

    Note: If you can find the instructor here but could not assign the instructor in the Course Catalog, contact the Course Offerings Administrator in the Office of the Registrar.

  4. Select the desired instructor by clicking one of the links in the line that contains the instructor's name.