Student Initiated Schedule Change Form - Faculty/Staff Walkthrough

To Initiate the form, the student will click the link to the Schedule Change Form, which can be found in AccessPlus --> Student Tab --> Registrar Forms. Once the student has access to the form, they will enter their schedule change information, as well as their instructor and advisor emails for routing. Once the student has everything filled out, they will hit submit, which initiates the start of the approval process. 

If the student enters an invalid email address, the form will be canceled. The student will receive an email indicating they need to review the emails used for routing, and to resubmit the form again.

 

Schedule Change Routing- Approval Options

Routing and approval of the schedule change form can be done in three ways.

 

Option 1: A student-initiated schedule change form submitted to you may be approved through your Outlook email (both the desktop app and web browser version work).

While signed in to your Microsoft Outlook inbox, you will see a new email to approve or reject the student's schedule change request. Once an action has taken place, the student information contents of the email will disappear and the request will route to the next individual in the approval process. 

If you are using an older version of Outlook, you may need to approve the form on the Office 365 - Power Automate Approvals webpage. When you select the approve or reject button within your Outlook email, you should automatically be taken to the approvals webpage (if an outdated version of outlook) where you will log in with your Iowa State email (which doubles as a Microsoft account), and finish the login process via OKTA. Once you are on the approvals webpage, you can find your request to submit. Usually, the request will automatically pop up once you are logged in. 

 

 

Option 2: A student-initiated schedule change form submitted to you may be approved through Microsft Teams, using the Approvals tab. The Approvals tab is an area built into Microsoft Teams that allow approvals to be acted upon when using Microsoft Forms / Power Automate, which is the platform the schedule change form is built upon.

You will receive a notification to act upon the request (see images below). Once you click the notification, it will take you to the Approvals area within Microsoft Teams, where you can approve, deny, or reassign the schedule change form. (Note: You can also see your history of approvals in this area.) Once an action has taken place, the window will disappear and the request will go to the next individual in the approval process. 

 

 

Approvers in the Schedule change process

 

1. Athletic advisor 

If the schedule change form is for a student-athlete, the form will first route to the athletic advisor for approval. If the schedule change request has been approved, it will move on to the next approver. If the schedule change is denied, the student will receive an email indicating their schedule change has been denied and which approver should be contacted for more information.

Athletic advisors will have 5 days to respond to schedule change requests before they time out. If the request times out, the student will be notified to contact their athletic advisor or fill out another request.

 

2. Instructor (or department)

If the student is not an athlete, the instructor will be the first approval level for the requested schedule change.  The student will enter the email address for the instructor of the course.  If a department chooses to have schedule change requests reviewed by someone other than the assigned instructor (such as a department chair, etc) than the instructor may communicate that information to the student.  A comments section is available at each step of the approval routing process for comments to be added. In the case of a denied form, the student will be able to view these comments.

  • Pass/Not Pass does not require instructor approval and will route directly to the academic advisor.
  • While there are occasions when an instructor's approval is not necessary per ISU policy, (for example, when adding a course that has not yet begun and there is available seating capacity and no enrollment restrictions) these schedule change requests will still route to the instructor for review and approval. 
  • A student-initiated schedule change Add request will not be completed until the designated instructor or department contact provides their approval to these Add requests.

The instructor can then approve or deny the schedule change request. If the schedule change request has been approved, it will route to the next approver. If the schedule change is denied, the student will receive an email indicating their schedule change has been denied and which approver should be contacted for more information.

Instructors will have:

  • 5 days to respond to Add, Section change, Restriction Waiver, or Credit change requests before they time out. If the request times out, the student will be notified to contact their instructor or fill out another request.
  • 4 days to respond to a schedule change Drop request. After 4 days, the request will bypass the instructor and route to the advisor for final acknowledgment.

 

3. Academic Advisor (major professor or program staff)

The academic advisor will be the final approver for the student-initiated schedule change (If performing a section change, only the instructor is required).

If the schedule change request has been approved, it will route to the Office of the Registrar for final review and processing. If the schedule change is denied, the student will receive an email indicating their schedule change has been denied and which approver should be contacted for more information.

Academic advisors will have 5 days to respond to schedule change requests before they time out. If the request times out, the student will be notified to contact their academic advisor or fill out another request.

 

 

If the schedule change form was successfully approved by all approvers, the student will receive an email from the Office of the Registrar indicating their schedule change will be available to view in AccessPlus Class Schedule.

 

If the schedule change was denied at any of the approval levels, the student will receive an email from the Office of the Registrar indicating their schedule change has been denied, and which approver to contact for further information.