Room Booking Policy Update Project

Across the province, academic learning spaces used by the UBC Faculty of Medicine are at a premium. Booking these spaces is increasingly complicated due to users’ overlapping needs and spatial restraints that have resulted from programmatic requirements and growth. 

Additionally, the current Booking and Utilization Policy needs to be updated to reflect any changes that have happened in the last 5 years, address ongoing space needs and pressures, and provide better guidance around the booking of all UBC Faculty of Medicine academic learning spaces. 

The ongoing efficient and effective management of space occupied by the UBC Faculty of Medicine is critical and a shared responsibility. Space does not belong to an individual unit or group; it is an institutional asset that is subject to change and reallocation based on the UBC Faculty of Medicine’s strategic priorities. 

This project seeks input from the community to assess how the current Room Booking and Utilization Policy is supporting users and to gather ideas for improving it. The goal is to ensure the updated policy reflects the diverse needs of users and supports the sustainable use of space across the province. 

Yes. Any updates to the current Booking and Utilization Policy will apply to how academic learning spaces occupied by the UBC Faculty of Medicine are managed across B.C., including at UBC Okanagan, our partner universities (UNBC and UVic), and the provincial health authorities (Fraser Health, Interior Health, Island Health, Providence Health Care, Provincial Health Services Authority, Northern Health, and Vancouver Coastal Health). 

An academic learning space is a shared space used for teaching and learning. Academic learning spaces include lecture theatres, case-based learning (CBL) rooms, clinical skills/enhanced clinical skills rooms, gross anatomy/multi-purpose/teaching labs, atriums and foyers, meeting and videoconference rooms. 

Yes. Until the current Booking and Utilization Policy has been updated and approved, it still applies. 

The Faculty of Medicine is committed to listening to your feedback and reporting back on how it was used or why it was not used.

This project will focus on updating the 2021 Academic Learning Spaces Booking and Utilization Policy to reflect any changes in the past 5 years, address institutional space needs and pressures, and provide better guidance around the booking of all Faculty of Medicine academic learning spaces. 

The engagement process will seek input from internal and external audiences with responsibility for booking teaching and learning events, administrative meetings and events, including governance committees, in academic learning spaces space across Faculty of Medicine departments, schools, research centres/institutes, education programs and administrative units, as well as health authorities. At the end of the process, all space users will have the opportunity to comment on the final draft policy before it is approved.   

The process will focus on updating the existing booking and utilization policy, outlining the priorities for room bookings, and providing transparency around how decisions are made.  

As part of the engagement process:

• Participants will know how and why they are involved in the policy consultation process.   
• Those impacted or interested will be proactively contacted at the starting point and ahead of each phase.   
• The needs and concerns of internal and external audiences will be understood.   
• Methods of involvement will be chosen that match the engagement objectives.   
• Manner of engagement will reflect the diversity and needs of groups involved.   
• Two-way information will be supported for informed participation and planning.   
• Outcomes of the process and how participant input was used will be shared.   
• The process will be evaluated with participant feedback.   

The updated policy will: 

• Be equitable, fair, open, and transparent.  
• Align with existing UBC academic learning space policies and, where possible, with Health Authority guidelines.  
• Promote an understanding that space is a finite resource, subject to efficient, sustainable, and responsible use.  
• Be mindful of current and upcoming research and education challenges and trends.  
• Foster clear roles and responsibilities over room booking management of academic learning spaces.  

• Academic learning spaces assigned to the UBC Faculty of Medicine are shared institutional assets and their use needs to support Faculty of Medicine strategic pillars and goals.  
• The creation of an updated policy will not result in physical changes to existing academic learning spaces, the acquisition of more videoconference and non-videoconference rooms, or changes to Resource Scheduler and the RoomFinder booking tool.
• The updated policy will support efficient and responsible use of academic learning spaces assigned to the Faculty of Medicine at all sites across the province and acknowledge Partner University and Health Authority room booking policies and guidelines, as applicable.
• The updated policy will continue to apply to new and existing Faculty of Medicine academic learning spaces and will also reflect current and upcoming research and education challenges and trends, such as the importance of videoconference technology for distributed and hybrid learning.  
• The updated policy will continue to clearly establish roles and responsibilities for the booking, management, and use of academic learning spaces assigned to the Faculty of Medicine at all sites across the province.  
• The updated policy will continue to have a prioritization element. The prioritization section will be detailed enough to easily understand how prioritization applies to different groups and types of bookings.  
• The updated policy will continue to include a clear set of guiding principles that establish a framework for decision-making on how booking requests are assessed, and room allocations determined.  
• The updated policy will continue to articulate how competing bookings within the same priority group are dealt with; and how decisions about room booking requests will be transparently communicated to those who made the requests.  
• The updated policy will continue to clearly articulate guidelines on how advanced booking vs. general booking works, including communication expectations, booking timelines, and conflict resolution. 

The policies will be approved in compliance with the Faculty of Medicine’s administrative governance structure, involving:  

• Clinical Education Facilities Subcommittee 
• Facilities and Capital Planning Committee
• Department Heads & School Directors Committee 
• Dean’s Executive Advisory Council 
• Dean, Faculty of Medicine 

ACADEMIC LEARNING SPACES: BOOKING AND UTILIZATION POLICY