The course schedule is the main pillar of the Department of Biology. It consists of theoretical and practical courses for the Bachelor of Biology programs; recommendation (37) at the University College headquarter (Boys section),  (61) as a certified department of biology and its code (2307), and the girls section (64) as a supporting department for the mathematics program.

These courses are distributed throughout the week to be registered by the students, and distributed on the faculty members according to the specialization and the approved hours for each member.

The schedule is then uploaded to the Oracle system in the Department of Biology within the specified dates by the Deanship of Admission and Registration. This is in the fourth week to the eighth week of each semester before the new one.

Owing to the importance of the course schedule, the Biology Department has developed a distinct strategy to prepare it in a manner consistent with the regulations of the Deanship of Admission and Registration.

 

Strategies for Preparing the Semester Schedule:

The preparation of the semester course schedule in the Department of Biology depends on several pivots, they are:

1- Pre-registration statistics

It is approved and sent by the Deanship of Admission and Registration to the Oracle system in order to authorize the departments to prepare the schedule for the next semester during the period of the fourth- eighth week.

This statistic contains the teaching courses, the number of students expected to be enrolled and the maximum number of students.

 

Template of the Statistic:

 

2- Rules of the Course Schedule

 

The rules of the course schedule are sent by the Deanship of Admissions and Registration on which the Department of Biology is depending in the strategy of preparing the semester schedule. Attached are the rules.

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3 - Classrooms and the Maximum Number of Students Allowed

 

They are approved by the college, and they include 2 types of halls:

1- Theoretical hall: 213B and 214B. The maximum number of students (30)

2- Practical: they are labs for the Department of Biology. They are 4: 101B, 102B, 109B and 110B. The maximum number of students allowed in small labs (15), and the big ones (20).

The theoretical and practical courses are distributed on them. Attached is the file of halls distributions.

 

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1. Distribution of Lectures on the Faculty Members and their Specialties

The strategy of preparing the schedules for the Department of Biology is based on the distribution of lectures on the department's faculty members and their specialties, whereby they know the total number of lectures for the faculty members (i.e. the number of teaching lectures that the department can assume), as follows:

• Teaching assistant= 16 hours
• Lecturer= 16 hours
• Assistant professor= 14 hours
• Associate professor= 12 hours
• Professor= 10 hours
• The number of teaching hours is taken into account when the member is assigned to do administrative work. For example, the number of hours is reduced to 6 hours for the department head, and so on.

 

 

The distribution of specialized courses on the professors is according to their specialization, such as:

• Plant classification course........ by a professor in plant classification specialization.
• Genetics course….. by a professor in genetics
• Animal physiology course........ by a professor in animal physiology specialization.

 

1- Courses of the Bachelor Program

The Bachelor of Biology program- recommendation (37)- is consisted of courses with total (137) hours, on 8 levels. Each course has a special classification with a number of accredited hours that could be known by the course code, such as the general biology course (23071101-4), and the last number refers to the course hours, 4 hours. Also, the course may have only theoretical hours, or theoretical and practical hours, according to what have been approved for the program and to be taken into consideration while preparing the schedule. For example:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Course code	Course	Accredited  hours	Actual hours	Activity	Remarks
23071101-4	General biology 2	3	3	Theoretical	Actual theoretical hours= accredited hours
23071101-4	General biology 2	1.8	3	Practical	Actual practical hours=0.6 accredited hours
23072261-3	Invertebrates 3	2	2	Theoretical	Actual theoretical hours= accredited hours
23072261-3	Invertebrates 3	1.8	3	Practical	Actual practical hours=0.6 accredited hours
23072206-2	Biological Statistics 3	1	1	Theoretical	Actual theoretical hours= accredited hours
23072206-2	Biological Statistics 3	1.8	3	Practical	Actual practical hours=0.6 accredited hours

 

 

Attached is the Bachelor of Biology Program

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1. Preparation of the Draft of the Department’s Semester Schedule

Based on the previous five pivots, the Department of Biology prepares a draft for the semester schedule; whereas the schedule is reviewed more than once to ensure its accuracy. After approving it, the scheduled is entered on the Oracle system. This process includes the following steps:

 

• Creating a semester schedule by Excel program

The schedule consists of courses. The theoretical and practical lectures are determined according to the number of students expected to be enrolled and the allowed number for the classroom.  For example:

• General Biology Course: The number of students expected to enroll is 160 students and the number allowed for the theoretical lecture is 30 and for the practical lecture is 20 students.

 

 

 

Course code	Course name	Hours	Activity	Division	Remarks
23071101-4	General biology 2	3	Theoretical	1	6 theoretical divisions are opened and multiplied by maximum number of 30 students = 180 maximum capacity that allow to have the number of students expected to enroll, 160 ones.
23071101-4	General biology 2	3	Theoretical	2
23071101-4	General biology 2	3	Theoretical	3
23071101-4	General biology 2	3	Theoretical	4
23071101-4	General biology 2	3	Theoretical	5
23071101-4	General biology 2	3	Theoretical	6
23071101-4	General biology 2	1.8	Practical	1	6 practical divisions are opened and multiplied by the maximum number of 20 students = 160 maximum capacity that allow to have the number of students expected to enroll, 160 ones.
23071101-4	General biology 2	1.8	Practical	2
23071101-4	General biology 2	1.8	Practical	3
23071101-4	General biology 2	1.8	Practical	4
23071101-4	General biology 2	1.8	Practical	5
23071101-4	General biology 2	1.8	Practical	6
23071101-4	General biology 2	1.8	Practical	7
23071101-4	General biology 2	1.8	Practical	8

 

 

 

After that, the schedule of the course is distributed on the days of the week and to the faculty members based on the previous five pivots. Attached is a form of the study schedule.

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•Drafting a Schedule for the Faculty Members by (Word) program.

 

A draft schedule for each faculty member will be prepared in conjunction with the preparation of the academic schedule in Excel program; whereas the allowed number of lectures and the specialized courses are to be specified. Moreover, it has to take into account the start of scheduling the specialized courses, and then the general courses, in case that the distribution of lectures allows this according to the previous pivots. For example:

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• Distributing the Theoretical and Practical Courses on the halls by using (Word) program.

 

A schedule for distributing the theoretical and practical courses on the classrooms throughout the week is prepared in conjunction with the academic schedule on Excel program, in addition to preparing the schedule of the faculty member.

It should be taken into account when distributing the dates of divisions that there should be no conflict in the one-level courses and to be distributed at weekly intervals; as this schedule is be used to know the classroom that has been distributed in order not to use the classroom for more than one courses. Attached is a form.

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After the completion of the draft of the semester schedule, it is reviewed more than once, so as to take into account all the previous pivots. After approving it, it will be entered on the Oracle system within the period specified.