ASSOCIATION OF REGISTRARS OF THE
UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES OF CANADA

Members Area

Committee Reports

ARUCC E-Calendar Project Committee reports to the ARUCC membership will be posted on this site.

E-Calendar Project Committee Report - July 2005

The Association of Registrars of the Universities and Colleges of Canada (ARUCC) first conducted a survey of its membership in 2003 to gain an understanding of how many member institutions were utilizing an on-line form of the academic calendar (e-calendar or web calendar) either as a stand alone document or to augment the traditional print based academic calendar and for what purpose. The survey was comprehensive and the results are available at arucc.ca.

The results of that original survey were also presented at the ARUCC 2004 conference in Ottawa in June 2004 at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier. It was then acknowledged that the issue warranted more study since members were eager to see recommended best practices emerge. As a result, a second phase E-Calendar Committee was struck to look at three themes which grew out of the original survey: legal, technological and purpose. Several people who attended the presentation stepped forward to volunteer to be on the working committee. The members are:

  • Alex Goody (University of Guelph), Chair
  • Stefanie Ivan (Grant MacEwan College)
  • Marjorie Morris (University of Alberta)
  • France Myette (Universite de Sherbrooke)
  • Kathleen Massey (University of Calgary)
  • David Johnston (University of Calgary)
  • Lynnette Laing (University of Saskatchewan)
  • David Hinton (University of New Brunswick - Fredericton)
  • Rosemary Jotcham (Acadia University)

Work on the project is being conducted through a variety of means such as teleconferences, in-person meetings, surveys, and the use of a project website which will be launched in the near future (stay tuned for the announcement!). All members of ARUCC will be asked to reprise the topic of the 2003 survey via a much shorter survey which will be distributed to see whether major advances in web calendars have been made in the last two years. A sub-set of members who reported publishing an e-Calendar in 2003 has been surveyed for further case studies and information. Further, a survey of calendar users external to the postsecondary institutions will be conducted as we work to define the current purpose of the calendar. Finally, Cathryn Heslep who is a Vice President at Grant MacEwan College and is working on her doctorate on the topic of case law in postsecondary institutions has agreed to work with the committee on identifying precedents and legal issues pertaining to the role and interpretation of the calendar.

Your participation in the surveys will be instrumental in the work of this committee, as will any additional comments, case studies and information you may be in the position to provide to its members. We encourage you to share your experiences and feedback as we work toward establishing best practices in the publication of calendar information, particularly online. Technology case studies may be forwarded to Marjorie Morris and legal and purpose of case studies should be directed to Stefanie Ivan.

This comprehensive review will culminate in a report to the membership at the ARUCC 2006 conference in Montreal.

For further updates on the progress of phase two of the project, we encourage you to visit arucc.ca and watch for information regarding the launch of our project web page, which is being hosted by the University of Alberta.