Winter Session

Course and Classroom Scheduling Services (CCSS) activates the online Winter Session scheduling in Student Information System (SIS). Departments enter Winter Session 2026 (term = 2512) information and delete Winter Session 2025 (term = 2412) information in SIS. Each department has an authorized scheduling officer designated for this access. Questions or change requests involving room assignments and course information (title, credits, days and times, grading methods) go directly to Course and Classroom Scheduling Services at 4-8243 or schedule@umd.edu.

• Online courses may be offered synchronously or asynchronously. A synchronous course has specific lecture and/or discussion times and this information must post to Testudo within the section note. An asynchronous course cannot have any undisclosed meeting times.
• Requests for technology-equipped classrooms should be made early in the course scheduling process as classrooms may not be available later on.
• Additional information on the deadline for departments to enter changes to course offerings in the online scheduling system may be found on the Winter Session Calendar. After the deadline, departments must email course additions, deletions, or changes to winter-sched@umd.edu.
• Departments will be able to continue to make online changes to instructor information via the Teacher Collect screen in SIS. Additional information on that deadline may also be found on the Winter Session Calendar; departments must email all instructor changes to winter-sched@umd.edu.

The Winter Session Schedule of Classes (Testudo) contains course descriptions that are pulled from the master file of approved courses. If the course is a special studies course, departments must provide a specified subtitle and description of the specific work intended. If the course has a special fee, indicate this request on the separate screen for Course Notes. The University’s Finance Committee must approve all special fees.

Courses are listed for the approved course credit which is normally associated with the course. Enter the standard credit customarily given for the course. A fixed credit amount is preferable. The amount of credit affects the instructor’s salary. For variable credit courses, the lower end of the range will be applied for salary determination. Departments must adhere to the Graduate School guidelines for the award of credit in planning Winter Session courses. When a deviation from these guidelines is needed, departments must submit their proposal for special approval to the Graduate School, via email: gradschool@umd.edu.

UMD follows the Maryland Higher Education Commission's (MHEC) policies on "contact hours," a shorthand term referring to the amount of time required in various forms of education to earn credit. Credit-bearing courses are divided into three types based on MHEC contact hour requirements: lectures, laboratories, and internships. (Seminars and discussions are classed as "lecture" in the MHEC scheme.) Online courses must be comparable. Contact hour requirements apply to both undergraduate and graduate courses. For complete policy information, view the Course Policies and Practices via the Office of the Provost.

One credit equals:

• 12.5 - 15 hours of actual class time 
• 30 hours of supervised laboratory or studio time 
• 45 hours of instructional situations such as practica, internships, and cooperative education placements

Contact hours for courses will be confirmed by EXST. Departments needing further recalculations will be contacted. Face-to-face courses with an online component (Blended/blended learning) must have a scheduled online lecture, discussion or lab component or a section note that clarifies that an online component will account for the remainder of the contact hours not accommodated in class.

The chart below provides Student Information System (SIS) Role, SIS Code, ELMS Role, and ELMS access information. Each person listed in SIS/ELMS must also have an evaluation code: Y=Yes Evaluation; N=No Evaluation.

Note: ELMS-Canvas spaces are created for the Instructor of Record listed in SIS. When this role is updated in SIS to a new faculty/staff member a new ELMS-Canvas space is created. The content from the original course space (i.e., announcements, assignments, pages, files, grades, students, etc.) will not automatically move to the new course space.

If the Instructor of Record is changed after the semester has begun and needs this historic content, the new instructor should email itsupport@umd.edu (Attention: ELMS-Canvas Staff) and request the content be migrated. Whenever possible the original instructor should provide approval to migrate the content to the new instructor. If the previous instructor is no longer with the institution, a note to this effect from leadership in the department should be included in the request to IT Support.

ELMS course spaces are not automatically created for experiential or independent study courses (x89- or x99-level courses). To create an ELMS course space for these types of courses, see the ELMS Management Tool. (Select the Create Single Section Courses tab). Student enrollments are loaded after 11:30 p.m. of the day that the course space is created.

Combining: For instructors teaching more than one course or section that wish to merge the ELMS spaces, see How to Combine Sections and Courses in ELMS.

• Note: The instructor must be an instructor in all merged courses/sections in order for this action to work. It can take up to an hour for the enrollments associated with the unique course/sections to appear in the new, combined space.
• Links to the unique course/section spaces will cease to be visible to the members once the new space has been created by the merging activity.

Splitting: For instructors teaching more than one section of a course whose ELMS spaces were combined by default and wish to create individual ELMS spaces for each section, see Create ELMS Single Section Course Space.

• Note: Only one single-section course space can be created at a time. The instructor/requester will have immediate access to the course space. Student enrollment(s) will be imported from UMEG within two hours.

Once a course is scheduled and registration begins, any changes to meeting times or course location must be sent to EXST via email to winter-sched@umd.edu. In the case of meeting times, EXST informs registered students of such a change. Prior to the start of a given session, EXST directs all registered students to review Testudo to access updated information.

Should an academic unit request a change in delivery method (face-to-face, online, and blended) after registration has begun, this is treated as an entirely new request for the course/section. EXST will create a new section and cancel the former section. EXST will drop all registered students and send an email informing them of the delivery format change and drop. Students will be directed to register for the new section should they so choose. In addition, the academic unit will need to update the newly created course/section budget.

Once a session begins, an instructor may not modify the meeting time or change the course location without first discussing such a request with both the academic unit and EXST. An instructor may not alter the delivery format of any course. There are serious academic and financial implications for such actions. At all times, Testudo and SIS must accurately reflect all aspects of the scheduled course/section. It is the academic unit’s responsibility to inform an instructor of the above.

Contact Anne Baum, Associate Director for Summer, Winter, and Undergraduate Programs, at abaum@umd.edu for assistance in the planning and delivery of special programs. Special programs are offered contingently, based on enrollment revenue generated to cover expenses. Tuition for special programs generally follows the standard University rate. Waiver requests from this standard rate must be pre-approved by the Campus Finance Committee.

Note: Mandatory fees will not be waived.