Dynamic Dating

NAU has a number of different sessions that fall under the umbrella of a term. For a regular term, there are 13 sessions, two of which are dynamically dated in order to correspond with grade posting cycles (classes ending before midterm grading are associated with the DD1 session; classes ending after, with the DD2 session).

Non-dynamically dated sessions begin and end on a specific date and follow standard deadlines within that session that are defined on the academic calendar. All the classes offered in that session follow the same deadline.

Dynamically dated classes are much more flexible. They can begin and end on any date within the term and can be any length, e.g.., one weekend, 13 weeks, anything in between, etc.  Due to this fluidity of begin date, end date, and length of the class, a standard setup of deadlines, e.g. add, drop, W-grades, grading deadlines, etc., is not sufficient. That is where dynamically dated sessions come in.

NAU has defined a number of dynamic dating rules, based on the length of the class, that are used to define these class calendar dates. The system uses the class begin date and the dynamic dating rule to determine the deadlines specific to that class.  Any class that is scheduled outside the normal sessions (16 week, two 8-week, three 5-week for Flag-Mountain or the Statewide standard sessions) should be dynamically dated. For every class section that is in a dynamically dated session, a dynamic date rule must be associated with the class and the pro-rated class dates calculated.

There are exceptions. These DD session classes start and end outside the official term dates, though the classes remain associated with the term. There are some limits on how early these classes can start and/or end due to financial aid restrictions and grading processes that need to be run (academic standing, honors and awards, etc.)..

In regards to when we use Dynamic Dating versus standard sessions, any class not fitting into the standard session should be dynamically dated. Academic departments will use starting and ending weeks of class to determine if the class fits into a standard session or if a class needs to be dynamically dated. For example, if a class starts during the week of the standard session start date and ends during the week of the standard session end date, use that standard session. If not, use a dynamically dated session.

Schedulers will attach the dynamic dating rule to the class so the appropriate add, drop, withdraw, etc. rules will be enforced. The responsibility also falls on the academic department to ensure students are aware of the prorated deadlines by way of attaching the dynamic date rule class notes on the notes page of schedule of classes.