Your Monthly Guide to Smarter Scheduling
April 2026
Welcome to April!
As we enter the calm before the end-of-semester storm, campus is buzzing with warm‑weather energy and plenty of scheduling activity. April brings key deadlines for summer and fall course planning, continued coordination for events and exams, and important updates to help you navigate this season with clarity and confidence. We’re excited to share timely reminders and helpful tools to support your work across University Classrooms.
If you are not receiving the newsletter by email but would like to, please contact classrooms@uiowa.edu to be added.
Highlights
- Dates and Deadlines
- Updates to TILE
- Change Requests During/After Early Registration
- UCR Search Tool
- Classroom Assistance
- University Classroom - Enroll vs Capacity Report
- TILE Laptops
Upcoming Dates and Deadlines
Refer to the Classroom Scheduling Task List for more dates and details on monthly recurring tasks, organized according to the course and event scheduling timeline, along with helpful resources to support your work.
Spring 2026
- 5/8/26
Last day of classes - 5/11-5/15/26
Final exam week
Summer 2026
- 4/15/26-5/1/26
Final exam submission period - 5/18/26
First day of classes: 4 week, 6 week I, and 12 week 5/18/26
Final exam schedule published
Fall 2026
- 2/10/26-4/3/26
Evening Midterm Exam Needs Submission Period for Early Registration - 4/13/26-5/1/26
Early registration
Winter 2026/27
- 4/6/26-6/5/26
Planner open to departments
Spring 2027
- 2/2/26-6/22/26
Planner open to departments
Policy and Procedure Spotlight
Updates to TILE
A recent review of TILE aimed to standardize how TILE spaces are referenced and to simplify the technology used in TILE classrooms. These changes ensure consistent terminology and a more streamlined user experience. This collaborative effort involved the Office of Teaching, Learning, and Technology; the Office of the Registrar; the Office of the Provost; and other campus stakeholders.
Updating TILE Naming
To simplify terminology, TILE, TILE Flex, and TILE Flex-Plus spaces will now be referred to as TILE. These technology-enhanced classrooms offer additional monitors, equipment to project students’ devices in the room, and multiple seating configurations.
TILE-Lite spaces will be re-categorized as multipurpose rooms. These rooms offer flexible seating using movable tablet-arm chairs, but don’t provide the additional technology offered in TILE rooms.
What does this mean for department administrators?
Department administrators can still request TILE classrooms when submitting course offerings. They may either request a specific TILE room or indicate the preferred group size:
- 4–7 seats per group (formerly TILE Flex or TILE Flex-Plus)
- 9 seats per group (formerly TILE)
TILE-Lite classrooms may continue to be requested by room number.
Laptop Availability
All laptop computers are being removed from TILE classrooms after the end of summer 2026 classes.
Additional information and answers to frequently asked questions are available on the Center for Teaching website.
Scheduling Insights
Requesting Changes During and After Early Registration
Before requesting a larger University Classroom, please check that enrollment for that offering is close to or maxed out for the currently assigned room capacity. Submit a workflow request in MAUI Planner and include how many more seats you expect to fill.
Before making changes to time/day, please check to see if students are enrolled and work with them to see if they can move to the new time/day without conflicts. If you need to change the location, and if the new location is outside of the building currently assigned to, be sure enrolled students will not have issues with the location change and getting to their classes before and after the class being modified. On the MAUI workflow request, please comment that you have worked with students for the change and/or checked student schedules.
Always be mindful of allocations and standardized meeting times for UCRs.
Tips and Tricks
University Classroom Search Tool
Did you know the Classroom Scheduling website has a handy tool that lets you explore all 325 University Classroom spaces managed by the Office of the Registrar? The Find a University Classroom tool gives you a searchable directory of every university classroom on campus, with each room featuring its own page complete with photos, room type and capacity, furniture and technology details, accessibility notes, today’s schedule, and a campus map to help you find your way.
It’s a great resource for instructors who want to check out their assigned classrooms before the semester begins or quickly see what spaces are available on a given day.
Classroom Assistance and Issues
With 325 university classroom spaces managed by a team of eight, we rely heavily on the assistance of instructors, staff, and students to help us maintain the integrity of our instructional spaces. If you come across any issues in a UCR, please reach out to our office immediately so that we can start the remediation process. We truly appreciate every note regarding temperatures, broken or missing furniture, locked doors, special needs, technology issues, and safety concerns.
Reports and Reminders
REPORTS:0101
For a specific session, this report shows how well a chosen subject has filled the University Classrooms that it has been assigned, as well as how many rooms it has been assigned to in each respective building.
There is a table below the bar charts that provides a quick view the opt enrollment totals for each section offering, the location and room capacity, and the current enrollment, as well as percentages for current/opt enrollment and enrollment/capacity.
Facilities & Tech Updates
TILE Laptops
Use of TILE laptops has declined as students regularly use personal laptops for course work. Due to this, all laptop computers are being removed from TILE classrooms after the end of summer 2026 classes. a Students will still have access to software through the Azure Virtual Desktop.
Students may check out laptops from several locations on campus, including the UI Main Libraries and the Hardin Library for Health Sciences.
The Dean's List
Pet of the Month
Meet Frankie, honorary Classroom Scheduling assistant and Mary Kay's bestest boy. He prefers classes in the field, with breaks for snacks and pheasant retrieval.
Do you have topic requests for future newsletters?
We would love to hear your suggestions!