Instructional Workload

The normal instructional load in L&S departments is two courses per semester per faculty FTE on the instructional budget, although for various reasons there is some variation around this norm. By Regent policy, each department develops its own detailed policy to govern individual responsibilities and submits it to the Dean's office for approval. The policy should be reviewed from time to time, and any changes should also be submitted. Contact your academic Associate Dean for further information or to discuss questions in this area.

The instructional responsibilities of a faculty member go well beyond the number of courses taught or students supervised, however. All faculty share in the department's responsibility to see that its courses are offered as needed. A willingness to teach various types and levels of courses is an important element of departmental and University citizenship, as is the availability of faculty for regular office hours, committee service, and other out-of-class participation in the life of the department.

Lecturers ordinarily have a heavier teaching load than faculty members, since their appointments do not involve an expectation of research, supervision of graduate students, or service on faculty committees.

Team Teaching

Team-teaching of courses is allowed and encouraged where appropriate. Counting an individual's participation in a team-taught or cross-listed course is ordinarily calculated on the basis of what the course would involve if it were taught by only one faculty member in one department. That is, if a team-taught course involves three faculty members, it should be credited as one-third of a course for each, or the equivalent. However, team-teaching assignments may also be considered in light of an instructor's overall teaching load, with special attention paid to how the instructors' contributions serve specific departmental goals. The following examples might be considered cases in which the "other course" in the typical two-course load meets a goal that may warrant consideration of the team-taught course as credit for one course:

• teaching an Honors section that increases access to seats for students in the Honors program or seeking Honors in the major
• teaching an undergraduate research course that creates opportunities for direct, intensive work with a professor

In both of these cases, the additional work required of and access provided by these courses "balance" the workload for the team-taught course. (Please note that this balancing of workload should occur within the same term: additional work contributions are not intended to carry over from one term to another.)

Chairs should check with their counterparts in other departments to be sure that faculty members with joint appointments who teach cross-listed courses are receiving appropriate teaching credit for the course.

Class meeting times

The scheduled class meeting time is also important; the needs of students--not merely the convenience of the faculty member--must be considered in the scheduling and rescheduling of classes. Such concern underlies the campus policy calling for scheduling of classes in standard time blocks that restrict Monday/Wednesday (or Wednesday/Friday) 75-minute classes. To obtain permission to hold 75-minute Monday/Wednesday or Wednesday/Friday classes outside of the allowed time periods, send the request (with a justification for the request) to Associate Dean Nancy Westphal-Johnson, who will forward these materials to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Teaching and Learning. For more information, please see http://www.fpm.wisc.edu/smo/classrmschedpolicy.htm.

It is important to remember that, once a class meeting time is established in the timetable, students rely on published materials and plan their schedules accordingly. These documents represent a binding contract with students and should not be altered lightly; however, extraordinary circumstances may require that a schedule be changed after students have enrolled. If the need to change a scheduled class meeting should arise, the instructor must ensure that the new time and venue is convenient and acceptable for all students in the class. The instructor must be mindful of quiet, reserved or shy students who may feel intimidated by his or her request to change a class schedule. Students who are reluctant to contradict an authority figure, or who feel pressured to conform to the will of other students in the class, may not feel able to convey the fact that the suggested alternative does not work for them. The instructor needs to be sure that these students, in particular, feel free to express their honest opinions as to whether the change will work for them.

Furthermore, the instructor must ensure that the proposed change will not affect classes scheduled to meet in the same space after his or her class meets. Timetable and Classroom Scheduling (http://registrar.wisc.edu/faculty/tacs/) coordinates requests for classroom assignments in communication with designated academic department representatives, who should be informed if any changes are made to the published class meeting schedule.

Finally, instructors are reminded that faculty legislation governs limits the ability to change summary block periods (final exams), which may only be changed with the prior approval of the Dean of Student Academic Affairs. For more information, please see Chapter VI.14 Mid-term Exams, Summary Blocks, and Final Exams.

Absences from Campus

While professional activities are an important part of a faculty member's responsibilities, absences from campus should be planned for times and in ways that do not put an undue burden on students or other colleagues. (For more information, see Chapter IV concerning leaves of absence and absences from Madison.)

Reviewed 1/16/07 (Orig EMK & NWJ; add'l w/MH)