Room Booking Policy 2024-25

3.1  Teaching Times

3.1.1 The standard teaching day is from 09:00 to 18:00, Monday to Friday. Teaching may be scheduled outside these hours and/or at weekends, if required. UG and PG evening provision is normally scheduled until 21:00.

3.1.2 There will be no teaching on Wednesdays from 13:00 to allow students to participate in sports activities, volunteering, work experience, and civic engagements. Any exceptions will need to be approved by UEB.

3.1.3 Where possible, students and staff will not make more than one journey between sites in a day to attend teaching events.

3.1.4 All teaching and other booked events will start on the hour or half past the hour to align with the Engagement and Attendance process.

3.1.5 All teaching and other booked events will vacate the room 10 mins before the allotted teaching time is completed to ensure staff and students can “get out” and “get in”.

3.1.6 If attendance monitoring is required, the event must last a minimum of one hour.

3.1.7 Teaching will be managed in blocks and condensed to as fewer days as possible, so students have a more efficient timetable. If a timetable can’t fit within the required blocks, permission will need to be sought from the Director of Education & Experience or Dean of School.

• Block 1 – Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Morning (until 13.00).
• Block 2 – Wednesday Morning (until 13.00), Thursday and Friday.

3.1.8    Where possible, time will be allocated between teaching events to allow for set-up time.

3.2  Timetabling

3.2.1 Teaching activities take precedence over any other activities that require teaching rooms. If a non-teaching activity requires rooms that are booked for teaching, permission will need to be sought from UEB. Disruption to student timetables must be kept to an absolute minimum.

3.2.2 All teaching and room bookings are made via the Timetabling Office to avoid room clashes, create effective space utilisation and for the accuracy of statistical data.

3.2.3 Once a module is made available to students for enrolment, it cannot be cancelled.

3.2.4 Teaching events delivered over a period of weeks will have priority over sporadic teaching events or non-teaching events.

3.2.5 If a room is not available at a requested time slot, an alternative will be offered for the same day, where possible.

3.2.6 Core activities associated with each module are given first priority when allocating rooms. Breakout sessions and tutorials are scheduled around these events.

3.2.7 Rooms are allocated to closely match the number of students in each class to maximise space utilisation or where they contain required facilities and/or equipment.

3.2.8 Where, possible timetables will be confirmed and released to students within the first week of August.  

3.2.9 Timetables for Distance Learning will be produced outside of CELCAT and communicated to students via the relevant school academic team.

3.3 Timetable changes and room allocation adjustments

3.3.1 Once timetables are published to students, changes must be approved by the Dean of School or Director of Education and Experience. The only exceptions are room accessibility issues, Insufficient room capacity due to student numbers increasing (normally in the first two weeks of term) and cancellations due to staff sickness.

3.3.2 The timetable may be subject to room changes in the first two weeks of term due to the late enrolment / registration of some students. Also noted in 3.3.1 above.

3.3.3 Where a change to the timetable is required, students and staff will be notified by the agreed communication channels.

3.4 Ad hoc Room Bookings

3.4.1 All requests for one-off room bookings should be sent to the Timetabling Office using the agreed process.

3.4.2 One-off room booking requests of a large scale will be considered by the Timetabling Office, once teaching timetables are complete. Any events such as Open Days, Taster Days, Summer Schools and Conferences that need confirmation of rooms earlier before timetables are complete should be approved by UEB before being submitted to the Timetabling Office. 

3.4.3 The Timetabling Office confirms or declines all one-off room booking requests. If the request is declined for any reason, an email will be sent explaining why.

3.4.4 All bookings must adhere to the Health and Safety regulations. Any required risk assessments should be completed by the person(s) coordinating the event and to follow up with Health and Safety if there are any concerns. Please see point 5.1.4. 

3.4.5 Requests for access rights to the timetabling system are considered and approved by the Timetabling Office.

3.5 Teaching Rooms

3.5.1 The Timetabling Office schedules teaching and non-teaching events into pooled rooms. The Registry School Service Teams schedule teaching and non-teaching events into school specialist rooms.

3.5.2 All bookings associated with teaching will be linked to the correct module(s) and group(s).

3.5.3 Room details are on the Timetabling intranet pages.

3.5.4 Room layouts will be in their default set up and should be returned to this layout on completion of a teaching or other event.

3.6 Technology Enhanced Active Learning (TEAL)

3.6.1 Students will spend their timetabled contact hours on campus and have access to a wide range of additional learning and career development opportunities. Link to details on Technology Enhanced Active Learning (TEAL) (sharepoint.com).

3.6.2 MS Teams will be used as the source for engaging with online classes that have been approved.

3.6.3 Module Leaders must create the necessary channels in the Teams pages so students can navigate to register attendance and join classes relevant to them.

3.6.4 Any updates on TEAL will be advised by UEB in consultation with the Dean’s and Directors of Education and Experience.

3.7 Room Usage

3.7.1 The room(s) booked for the event on the timetable should be the only room(s) used. Bookings can be checked at https://ueltt.uel.ac.uk/calendar/.

3.7.2 Any problems or access issues with rooms should be reported to the relevant departments (Estates, IT Services, Timetabling, Security etc.) through the contact details provided in all teaching rooms.

3.7.3    Reports and audits on room usage will take place at agreed times in the academic year.