| Revision Responsibility: |
Vice President for Academic Affairs |
| Responsible Executive Officer: |
Vice President for Academic Affairs |
Purpose
Outlines faculty teaching loads and schedules as it relates to meeting the needs of the students.
Policy
Faculty members are employed to accommodate teaching schedules, day or evening on all campuses and teaching sites, to meet the needs of the students and the institutional goals. The faculty in each division, campus deans/directors and the academic deans should work together to prepare an equitable schedule for that Academic Division. The proper course offerings and schedule of these courses are originated and approved by the Academic Division and submitted to the vice president for Academic Affairs. Course offerings and teaching schedules should be made with consideration given to students, faculty members appropriate teaching loads, and facilities requirements.
Each semester the vice president for Academic Affairs receives from academic deans an assignment of duties for each faculty member (work load) in which the teaching load is evaluated. Weight is given to the number of teaching hours per week, size of classes, and extracurricular service undertaken. The normal teaching load is an average of 15 credit hours (equated) per semester. The regular teaching load may be adjusted by the president upon recommendation of the vice president for Academic Affairs. Supervising a laboratory, private lessons, other special types of instruction, and engagement activities that support the WSCC strategic plan are equated at various rates; the student contact maximum should not exceed 22 hours of a 37.5-hour work week each semester.
In addition to class and lab hours, a minimum of 10 office and/or student engagement hours per week should be scheduled on one or more campus(es) or teaching sites and 5 remote office and/or student engagement hours should be scheduled sufficient to bring the posted total to 15 office and/or student engagement hours. Remote office hours are not required and faculty may schedule all 15 hours in person.
Faculty shall post their schedules within the college learning management system and provide a copy of their schedule to the Academic Division office. Faculty may post a copy of their schedules on their office doors. This practice provides students the necessary information to locate faculty for consultation. These schedules should be shared no later than one week after the beginning of classes.
Remote office hours are not required but are an option for faculty to complete the minimum15 office and/or student engagement hours per week. Faculty must have access to all necessary technology at their remote location. The responsibility for acquiring this technology rests with the faculty member and not the College. Remote office hours can originate from a faculty office or off-campus location that has good internet access.
Scheduling of office and/or student engagement hours will require coordination through the department heads and/or division dean to assure there is on campus departmental coverage at all times during the course of the work week with a minimum of 2 days on campus.
Student engagement hours are defined as time faculty spends interacting with students at school-sponsored events (Renfro, 2017*).
Scheduled class meetings are an implied contract between the college and the student. Instructors are expected to meet the duration of the scheduled times except when sound educational judgment, compliance with approved college activities, or professional travel dictate otherwise. In those cases, compensatory assignments or activities should be made.
Reference Policies 06:02:01 and 06:05:00.
*Renfro, B. D. 2017. The effect of student characteristics on the frequency of faculty-student interaction in the community college. Dissertation: Iowa State University.
https://doi.org/10.2307/1980509
01/15; 05/16; 04/21; 12/22
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