U of C releases Visual Schedule Builder

By Arby Seño, March 21 2017 —

The University of Calgary registrar’s office has created a new course scheduling tool called the Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to help students register for their courses.

The VSB went live on March 6, with over 5,000 students using it in the first week. It allows students to use myUCalgary to visualize their schedules for the upcoming academic year.

U of C registrar Angelique Sawezcko said that before the VSB was created, students had to plan their schedules manually. She said the new tool will help students more easily map out their course schedules.

“It [will] significantly reduce the amount of time students have to take to actually make their schedule,” Sawezcko said. “What the VSB will allow students to do is say ‘I want to take these five courses in the fall’ and then it gives them every possible scheduling option that is  available for those courses, including course components.”

Sawezcko said by next year, students should be able to use the VSB to create their schedule and simply click a button to register.

According to Sawezcko, the U of C first considered implementing the VSB based on student feedback from surveys conducted by the registrar’s office.

“The biggest complaint that we received from students was about creating their schedules,” Sawezcko said.

There is a section on the registrar’s office website called “Schedule Builder”  with instructions on how to use the VSB. Sawezcko said student feedback, suggestions and comments about the new scheduling tool are encouraged.

Sawezcko suggests students try using the system now to plan their schedules so they will be able to register as soon as the registration window opens on March 26.

A VSB workshop was held on March 9 for advising staff to orient themselves with the new tool.