Guidelines for timetabling at the Faculty of Medicine

Timetabling officers are education planning officers, academic affairs coordinators or teachers who are responsible for timetabling in relation to a course/an academic year/a degree programme.

Course coordinators are responsible for timetabling related to courses. They are responsible for ensuring that the discipline submits the information required for timetabling on time to the timetabling officer or confirming the timetable plan submitted by the timetabling officer. Course coordinators confirm the final timetable before the beginning of each course.

Template for preliminary planning

The Degree Programme in Medicine and the Degree Programme in Dentistry use a template file for preliminary planning selected for each course. The file can be accessed by timetabling officers (authority to enter information), course coordinators (authority to enter information) and other teachers (authority to view information).

Here is a template file for preliminary planning (Excel).

No template file for preliminary planning is used in the degree programmes in logopedics and psychology or the Master’s Programme in Translational Medicine (TRANSMED).

Information on course teaching

A timetabling officer creates a course teaching file for courses in medicine and dentistry. Those responsible for each course enter the information required for timetabling into the file. Such information includes the title of the course or examination, the name of the teacher, the dates of teaching sessions, and the teaching methods and teaching facility to be used. Course coordinators are responsible for entering the above information, whereas course teachers supplement the information related to them. Entering information on teachers is important because doing so allows the information to be exported into Optime and ensures that teachers will receive their personal timetables.

Course teachers add their teaching-related information (e.g., their clinical days and leave days) to the file.

If necessary, the files used for preliminary planning are edited each term. The relevant timetabling officer creates the file and informs the teachers about it.

Here is a template file for information on course teaching (Excel).

In logopedics and psychology, the course information required for the teaching programme is collected from course coordinators through an electronic form. In the TRANSMED programme, teachers make the necessary changes to the timetable plan created by a timetabling officer.

All courses, examinations, specialisations and integrated teaching in the order defined for each course are taken equally into account in timetabling.

Schedule for timetabling for the autumn term

• From 1 February 20xx, a timetabling officer requests the information on courses required for the teaching programme (teaching, teachers, etc.). In the TRANSMED programme, a timetabling officer delivers a preliminary timetable plan to the course coordinators (or, in some cases, course teachers) for comments.
• By 1 March 20xx, the required course information is delivered to the planning officer.
• By 15 June 20xx, the timetable is complete.
• The final timetable must be completed at least one month before the beginning of teaching.

Schedule for timetabling for the spring term

• From 1 September 20xx, a timetabling officer requests the information on courses required for the teaching programme (teaching, teachers, etc.). In the TRANSMED programme, a planning officer delivers a preliminary timetable plan to the course teachers for comments.
• By 15 September 20xx, the required course information is delivered to the planning officer.
• By 15 October 20xx, the timetable is complete.
• The final timetable must be completed at least one month before the beginning of teaching.

If the teacher responsible for the relevant teaching has not been designated by the deadline set, timetabling will be based on the general teaching framework.

Teachers give priority to teaching in their work plans. In certain surgical specialities, on-call rotas/procedure lists are compiled late from the perspective of timetabling. Teachers cannot affect shift planning in all specialities.

The degree programmes of all faculties use the OptimeEvent software for timetabling. Only timetabling officers can access OptimeEvent.

Timetables are published electronically on all public course pages (courses.helsinki.fi), for students in the My Studies service (studies.helsinki.fi/mystudies) and for teachers on the My Teaching page (teacher.helsinki.fi). You can subscribe to the calendars in My Studies and My Teaching so that the information is added to your own Outlook calendar. All teaching for which a student has registered is displayed in the My Studies service. For each teacher, all teaching for which they are indicated as the teacher is displayed on the My Teaching page. For changes to be updated in your electronic calendar, you must subscribe to them, not import them.

University of Helsinki staff can view timetables in OptimePortal (optime.helsinki.fi), where they can also subscribe to their own timetable or the timetable connected to a specific course, group or class of students.

Helpdesk instructions for subscribing to and synchronising calendars

Instructions for using the calendar page and sharing/subscribing to a calendar in OptimePortal

When a teacher has been indicated as such for their own courses and examinations, statistics on the hours of teaching provided by the teacher can be obtained from Optime.

Changes to published timetables can only be made in Optime. As a rule, students are informed about changes through Moodle, for example, via Moodle news (forced email subscription in Moodle) or Moodle groups.

Students are not separately informed about timetable changes (published timetable) made before the beginning of a course. Students are advised to follow the electronic calendar.

Students are informed about timetable changes made after the beginning of a course, as follows:

• A planning officer informs students of long-term timetable changes (more than a week).
• The relevant teacher and/or the course coordinator informs students of short-term timetable changes (0–7 days) made for reasons related to the teacher. The new date, time and place of teaching, if applicable, are agreed with the timetabling officer.

If a teacher must cancel planned teaching:

• Primary option: the teacher finds a substitute for the agreed date and time of teaching.
• Secondary option: the teacher submits a replacement assignment to the students, or a new date, time and place is agreed. The teacher discusses replacement options with the course coordinator, taking into account what is in the students’ interest and the overall course situation.

If the teacher falls ill, the course coordinator and/or the course teaching team is responsible for the required rearrangements.