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Fall 2023 - Academic Calendar Reform

As part of campus goals for student academic success as well as health & wellness, campus will be moving to a new academic calendar that has a slightly shorter semester (70 instructional days per semester rather than 73). The goals of the new calendar are to:

  1. Support student well-being and academic preparedness
  2. Facilitate equity of course content across different iterations of the same course
  3. Facilitate equitable teaching loads across faculty teaching TR and MWF schedules
  4. Support faculty, staff, and students who have children/family members in BVSD and SVVSD
  5. Support staff, students, and parents involved in residence hall moveout in spring semester
  6. It will also add a mid-semester reading day and increases the number of final exam reading days from 1 to 2 (average of 3 across AAU peers).

Two models were presented to the BFA General Assembly, the BFA Executive Committee, and the BFA Academic Affairs committee. ​​BFA Representatives were asked to share this information with their departments/units and get feedback. A Qualtrics poll was sent to representatives on Thursday, November 9, 2023 to fill out on behalf of the faculty in their specific department/unit. The poll will closed on Friday, November 17th.  Results from the poll will be shared widely with campus and considered by Academic Affairs and Strategic Resources and Support. Provost Moore and COO O’Rourke will then provide input to the Chancellor. Chancellor DiStefano will consider feedback from all campus constituents and make a decision before the start of spring semester. Changes will not be implemented until Fall 2025.  BFA representatives are asked to share the BFA Academic Calendar Poll questions with their colleagues so that they are able to answer on behalf of their constituents. Update: Results from the poll were presented at the December Assembly meeting, and forwarded to Chancellor DiStefano, Provost Moore, and COO O'Rourke on December 7, 2023. 

At the October 2nd Assembly meeting, Katherine Eggert, Sr. Vice Provost for Academic Planning & Assessment along with the University Registrar Kristi Wold-McCormick, and Erika Swain Asst. Director Compliance & Authorization presented faculty with an initial model (called model #1). Members were asked to share model #1 with their colleagues and provide feedback to the BFA or via a QR code. See the October presentation slides.

  • Reduction from 73 to 70 instructional days per semester
  • MWF & TR instructional days evened out
  • Spring break alignment with BVSD and SVVSD
  • Tuesday mid-semester reading day
  • Additional finals reading day
  • Additional time between last day of Spring finals and commencement, creating a day for residence hall move-out
  • Same semester start as current model
  • Same finals schedules (weekend start) and same Spring commencement day as current model

After receiving feedback during October from representatives, the BFA Executive Committee, the BFA Academic Affiars committee, and campus faculty, Katherine and Kristi revised an earlier model (known as model #2 - or the "early start" model), which was presented at the November 2nd Assembly meeting. See the November presentation slides. Like model #1, model #2 features: 

  • Reduction from 73 to 70 instructional days per semester
  • MWF & TR instructional days evened out
  • Spring break alignment with BVSD and SVVSD
  • Additional finals reading day
  • Thursday mid-semester reading day (rather than Tuesday). This option is at the request of ƵSG and their constituents and may work better for some faculty since many programs do not hold classes on Fridays.
  • Semester start day the Thursday prior to the current start day. This option assists Student Affairs with move-in logistics, and would promote health and safety by giving new students less unstructured free time before classes start.
  • Finals begin on a Monday instead of on the weekend. This option was at the request of BFA representatives and their colleagues, as well as staff and graduate students who are impacted by the weekend finals schedule for family care and religious practice impacts. 
  • Spring commencement might fall on Saturday immediately after finals, with no break for residence hall move-out; however, this would need additional review by the Chancellor, who determines the date of Spring commencement.

If you have questions, you can contact the BFA at bfa@colorado.edu. While the BFA welcomes feedback and comments from faculty and will pass that along, please note that we strongly encourage you to be in touch with the representative(s) from your unit. Only the listed BFA representatives or BFA officers and BFA committee chairs for your department/unit will be voting. See the list of Fall 2023 BFA voting members. 

Academic Calendar Reform FAQs

It depends on the class meeting pattern. Here are some examples for 3-credit classes:: A. TR meeting pattern: -150 minutes

B. MWF meeting pattern: -50 minutes

C. MW meeting pattern: -75 minutes

D. A once-a-week class on M or F: no change

E. A once-a-week class on T, W, or R: -150 minutes

No. A. Federal Title 34 definition of the credit hour allows for institutional interpretation of instructional class time as approved by their accrediting agency.

B. Colorado Commission of Higher Education guidelines define a base contact hour as a standard measurement of consumption of faculty resources by students. One base contact hour=a minimum of 750 minutes. However, the final examination period may be included in contact hours.

No. Our campus accrediting body, the Higher Learning Commission, makes sure we are in line with federal law but does not interfere with reasonable institutional interpretations of instructional class time. Many of our AAU peers who have 70 instructional days per semester are accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Those same institutions also have disciplinary accreditations in the same fields that we do.
The Office of the Registrar and the Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Planning & Assessment would work with departments to optimize schedules. Other large AAU peers with 70 instructional days per semester (e.g., Michigan, Minnesota, UT-Austin) could serve as models for scheduling and curricular structures.
Perhaps. A Thursday midsemester reading day would have less impact in this regard, since the campus has a lot fewer classes on Fridays. For example, the data for fall 2023:  Monday classes = 2697, Wednesday classes = 2843, Friday classes = 1901. In other words, we offer a third fewer classes on Fridays than we do on Mondays or Wednesdays.
No. both proposal options shorten the calendrical ground covered by the semester by one day. Three days of instruction are removed, and one midsemester reading day and one final exams reading day are added. Put another way: currently, the semester ends 16 weeks and 2 days after it begins. (Where "end" = the last day of final exams.) In both of the proposal options, the semester would end 16 weeks and 1 day after it begins.
No. Faculty may schedule exams and other due dates at any time.
No; the midsemester reading day would be like the final exam period reading days in this regard. However, unlike the final exam period reading days, the midsemester reading day would not be a “blackout date” for concerts, sports events, or other campus events. Departments and the Office of the Registrar would need to review scheduling of common midterm exams.
The Registrar’s team would work with the Law School to preserve the distinctive features of its calendar.
There’s no rule on this. The Chancellor would make a decision if excessive instructional days were lost to weather or other emergency circumstances.
Not yet. If these changes are approved, Ƶ Boulder administration would need to work with both school districts to align spring breaks. Ƶ Boulder and BVSD traditionally align their spring breaks (with exceptions in a few years), and BVSD hopes to align with SVVSD, but generally doesn’t. To date there has not been complete alignment. We believe that the two districts would welcome that complete alignment if we open that discussion.
The poll is designed to help administration and the BFA get a better feel for what elements are stress points across campus vs. specific academic disciplines/units and what elements have wide-spread support. This information will be shared widely so that it can be considered by the Provost, COO, and Chancellor.
The Chancellor makes this decision. He will be considering feedback from all campus constituents impacted by the academic calendar including faculty, students, and staff. The Ƶ System or the Regents do not have to approve, although we would keep them informed.
The Chancellor makes this decision. Spring commencement is a large-scale public event and thus involves many considerations, not just academic ones.

 

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