1. AUA Annual Conference and Exhibition 2015
405 Beyond paper: Using technology to deliver individual student timetables
and manage space at the University of York
Technology has changed (disrupted!) student and staff expectations around how they discover
information and interact with the University. Additionally, the HE sector is competing for an ever
more diverse range of students, on a more varied range of courses and with different resource
constraints to only a few years ago. The University of York launched a three-year project in 2009
to bring timetables off department noticeboards and into the 21st century, leading to the delivery
of individual student and staff timetables via in intuitive online gateway and via a Google Calendar
subscription service. Behind the scenes,work also went on to provide automatic notification of
timetable changes, a seamless link to the VLE and lecture recording software, automatically
generated attendance lists, reporting of Key Information Set data, and a range of management
information reports based on real timetable data. Timetables can be updated in almost real-time,
pushed to students' mobile devices in ways that were only just imagined as the project started.
At the same time, by centralising more recording of our ad hoc usage on to an electronic system,
we built a better picture of how the estate was being used, made it easier to book rooms for staff
and students, and have been able to make huge improvements to capital development proposals.
In this session I will explore how York have used the disruption to society caused by technological
advances as a force for good in improving student services to a ever-diversifying range of people
with many individual needs.
By the end of the session delegates will be able to…
 explain how disruptive technology changes have shaped student and staff expectations of
universities
 describe how technological advancements and lean processes can allow us to meet these
developing student needs
 explain how diverse student groups can be catered for at an individual level through the
introduction of individual student timetables
Speaker(s):
Sam Bayley, Timetabling Manager, University of York
Session format: Lecture/talk
Professional behaviours:
This session will be of interest to those working in, or with an
interest in:
Student Services
Planning
Registry
General administration
IT
Learning and Teaching
Faculty/ School/ Department
This session is aimed at:
Everyone