Room Scheduling Questions and Answers #1
(aka Accusations and Excuses #1)
Why do I have to submit the same request over and over and I still don’t hear from you?
Actually you only need to submit a request one time. When I receive room requests I put them in a folder and deal with them in the order in which they arrive.
The reason you don’t hear from me has many layers of complexity. I receive, on average, 60-80 emails a day. First I have to offer condolences to all the people in Third World countries who have lost a loved one and want to use my bank account to stash their millions of dollars. Then I have to weed through all the emails asking me about dysfunctional parts that I don’t even possess. Then I decline a dozen meetings, answer grading questions, print off anything I can use in my weekly office newsletter, and forward anything I can possibly get out of doing to my secretary. THEN I start working on the room change emails. At this point I have the option of actually working on making the requested room change OR writing back to the requestor to say I received the mail and am working on it (by now having NO TIME to work on it, which would make me a liar).
Fast forward—I have now made the requested room change. If I write back and tell you what the new room number is, I have made a commitment to that room. I don’t want to do this because during the course of opening new sections, solving mobility issues, processing cancellations, adjusting over/under enrolled classes, helping professors with last minute section switches that undo all the room requests of a month ago, meeting the needs of new hires etc., I may have to change that room two or three more times before classes start. I can’t possibly keep writing and telling people I moved their room. I have to keep track of millions of room assignments and you have to keep track of 5. I think you have the better deal, except for the fact you actually have to teach the course and I don’t!
If I successfully move you to the type of room you asked for (smart, computer lab, lecture hall, non-lecture hall, non-smelly, moveable chairs, close to your office because you are on crutches, ) I will not move you out of that type of room. I may very well move you to another room that meets your requirements. I may even do that three or four times during the room assignment process. If I can’t meet your classroom needs THEN you will hear from me. So hearing from me is actually a bad thing.
That is why it is important to keep checking your 1F5 screen right up to the first day of classes. I do work over the Labor Day weekend making final adjustments. I promise to stop moving things at midnight on 9/6 if you promise to check your 1F5 screen before you go to class on Tuesday! And I promise NOT to call you at midnight to tell you I moved your class if you promise not to expect to hear from me…EVER!
Deborah Benjamin
Registration and Records
09/01/2005 |