UFF-FGCU WORKLOAD SURVEY RESULTS Nov 3 2010

UFF-FGCU WORKLOAD SURVEY RESULTS Nov 3, 2010

82 of the 376 current faculty respond (more than a fifth of our colleagues responded. ) There were responses from all units (except Library).

FINAL IDEAS These are CORE activities to the University’s mission, and to faculty’s responsibility for curriculum oversight. They are critical to the growth and development of the University. How did we get here and how do we proceed? Strategies:

FINAL IDEAS These results indicate that the status quo seems to be undermining the University mission Administration is challenged to meet the needs (get the work done) With so much unrecorded work, we are not clear on what the actual staffing needs are

Half reported thesis or dissertation work was part of their load the largest single number reporting it is as part of service and research load as part of an assignment exchange between terms, and using some “other” form of recognition. No one got release time or overload pay for this work.

Graduate thesis/dissertation mentoring assignment Most indicated it was not calculated as a specific portion of their loads A few indicated the calculations ranged from 120%

Graduate Thesis/Dissertation comments no credit, release time, or other recognition is given for mentoring research on the graduate or undergraduate levels not counted toward load at all (though it might contribute to getting an exceeds in service if one supervises a sufficient number of them) which is not considered as fair Takes a great deal of time and contributes toward building the program but get absolutely nothing for it in return

Graduate Thesis/Dissertation comments Not the norm at other SUS institutions (to work and promote graduate programs with no recognition or credit). An exchange of hours after so many thesis or committee supervisions then a course release has been promised.

Graduate Thesis/Dissertation comments Thesis is being handled like directed readings and independent study so there is no load credit or recognition. Becoming a burden in some programs. I donate my time to these projects above and beyond being an advisor and it is a standard problem/issue. Yet, these are labor intensive issues.

Graduate Thesis/Dissertation Strategies: ? Contributes to higher rating in terms of T/S/R stool Look at promotion and evaluation documents in light of these changes in workload so recognition can be appropriate Push evalators to credit in written evaluation Look at other SUS old chancellors’ memorandum has a calculation, over time they have been set aside

Graduate Thesis/Dissertation Strategies cont: Needs to be part of actual teaching load Perhaps accumulate credit towards a course release May need to distinguish between chair and other committee members Recognize mentors need more time for scholarship too! Co-authorship with mentees may help Group efforts to serve scholarship and service

Undergraduate capstone and mentored research projects ? ? reported it as part of teaching load About a quarter indicated it is part of service/research Over a third indicated it is handled in some other way. For those who received load credit, almost a third said it had no specific calculation the majority of the rest said between 1 and 25% a very few indicated more than 25%.

Undergraduate capstone and mentored research Several indicate that their department has a graduation and/or capstone requirement for all graduates, but does not consider time spent mentoring or working with these students and their projects as an explicit part of workload. For one faculty member this uncompensated activity takes a full day a week. Some do get a course credit (3 credits) for the course however for some others who get course credit, it often requires off-campus travel with no vicinity mileage paid.

Undergraduate capstone and mentored research Many indicated they work with several students a term and it is nowhere in their assignment nor their PDP nor their evaluations.

Undergraduate capstone and mentored research projects Strategies: Calculate portion of load by number of students mentored Realize these may take more work than a typical class Travel to sites needs to be compensated Perhaps need to reduce service load ANY release to account for thesis work- may count toward service?

Undergraduate capstone and mentored research projects Strategies cont’ Stipend for effort to show recognition and respect Release from future terms work could be problematic – need to be more comprehensive in application for long-term success of institution Careful with maintaining important role of service in shared governance of institution Some get 0. 5 contact hours per student Be creative in having projects overlap

Directed independent study The majority report it is not specifically calculated For those who do have specific load calculation; most are less than 10%. It is often a part of teaching load or the service and research load. One person received overload pay a quarter dealt with it in some other way.

If you teach directed independent study, what percent of your load is it? While some saw this as varying by semester, others have it assigned with no recognition or other help. Many indicated they do this pretty consistently with no compensation, recognition, assistance or other accommodation to account for the time it takes them.

Directed independent study Strategies: See thesis/undergraduate research comments Address equitability among units at FGCU to see sense of fairness and respect STIPENDSlook across SUS for ideas. How is the U income allocated? (realize tuition does not cover cost) No one should work for free Mutual consent may be different than those needing for graduation requirement Compensation by evaluation and work toward promotion

Clinical/Internships/Field Supervisions Many reported it is a part of teaching load a few who have this as part of their service and research load. Most seem to be receiving a course equivalent of 25% for these activities The service portion seemed to be more about coordinating and managing the process than actual supervision of students. The administrative portion of this varies widely among some programs where there actual coordinators who get load credit or a stipend it is yet another activity to put into the bottomless pit of service/research.

Clinical/Internships/Field Supervisions Comments noted that this used to be unpaid overload. This year first year as part of assignment - much difficulty getting it this way. Now only adjuncts are "allowed" to be assigned internship/field experiences, for which they have 100 each term One faculty member noted that he/she coordinates a large field experience section which counts for half of the teaching load. Another indicated the workload credit given is fluid based on both how many students there are AND how many credits were needed to fill out the load.

Clinical/Internships/Field Supervisions In one department the person who teaches class gets load while others who monitor and visit do not and thus these are un-compensated activities. All mentored research projects have been uncompensated and have not been calculated as part of normal responsibilities. Internships are an integral part of the study of XX at both the undergraduate and graduate level, but again there is no compensation for supervising internships, and this does not count as part of a formal class load. There is no incentive of either release time or an exchange of hours to entice people into field supervision.

Clinical/Internships/Field Supervisions Capstone course is included (added) to clinical supervision. Those who teach courses with field experience requirements do so without any recognition of the extra work outside of being assigned the class for 25% of our workload. One faculty member teaches multiple sections of internship per year with groups each term ranging in size from 2 to 10 for which gets one course load recognized for the entire year. People who serve as clinical coordinators do get a 3 hour course credit as part of the 3/3 load in one program.

Clinical/Internships/Field Supervisions Strategies: Need to have ‘equivalents’ for ‘equitability’- (not just equal ‘sharing’ in PDP among unit faculty)- need a common definition for ‘equitable’ among admin and faculty at least within colleges Look at the documents for evaluation (Accreditation number juggling always far more than credit allocated) Need better allocation for travel to sites for time and wear and tear Create a formula taking into account differences among disciplines Make yet another committee to address Find models to accommodate our special situations

Program planning and evaluation (assessment and accreditation effort) Most respondents indicate this is a part of service/research load (yet two thirds of these say it is not given specific weight) several others noted “other” and one indicated it was recognized as part of teaching. Some noted they get less that 10% of their load for this activity.

Program planning and evaluation (assessment and accreditation effort) Generally considered unspecified service and takes up more time every year and leaves very little time for scholarship. Faculty have been assigned the task with release time. Development of assessment tools and rubrics and organizing faculty assessment of learning goals is expected but not compensated. I assume the work is considered part of course prep, however, the documentation required is timeconsuming; generally we are just expected to do it. The works varies from year to year. Some faculty get a stipend while others who are program coordinators or leaders find this task gets them one course release per year for all of it.

Program planning and evaluation (assessment and accreditation effort) Programs with multiple accreditations (college and program or college and University) find it takes up a great deal of our time, more than 1/3 and leaves less than 1/3 of time for scholarship or teaching, respectively. This takes a huge amount of time, but it appears that it is unrecognized. Service altogether is supposed to be 12. 5% of our load. Typically I have 3 -6 hours a week of service obligations, depending on the week and the time of year. What percentage of that is about evaluation or program varies wildly. Many identified this as a burdensome task but uncompensated part of our workload.

Program planning and evaluation (assessment and accreditation effort) Some faculty do an entire study or accreditation prep by themselves in small departments and get no release nor workload recognition. Our work toward accreditation has lasted for many years. We are expected to work on this, and I have been encouraged to not even include it in my PDP this year. When I insisted, I was allowed to keep it in my service section, under meets expectations. Have variously gotten no payment, some payment, or release time over the years with no rationale as to the variation.

Program planning and evaluation (assessment and accreditation effort) Strategies: Take into consideration different efforts taken Please be consistent and offer some kind of recognition Goes beyond regular load at certain times- PDP at times should exceed expectations- should record in PDP Try to calculate time being consumed in all these activities Need better data for conversation to occur Perhaps get actual hours being spent by folks- ironicmore time needed for this – Is Admin. willing?

Course-Based Service Learning 22%, Part of teaching load 6%, Part of service and research load 63%, Not Applicable

Course-Based Service Learning The vast majority of faculty do not get any particular course load percentage for service learning as part of their coursework. Generally they find that all of these additions to service is leaving them with little time for scholarship and thus for career advancement. This true for Collegium and for many other courses, especially in programs where there not sufficient faculty – the work gets done which provides no incentive for administration to add faculty or provide relief.

Course-Based Service Learning Strategies: (How (or do) we transition to course-based? ) Embedded into course Reframe volunteerism by hours separate from actual service learning – acknowledge the continuum. Have more continuing Ed sessions to help achieve- (how to get faculty buy-in? ) Recognize true SL in teaching load assignment Institutional leadership –careful- faculty role needs to remain focus incentivize with promotional criteria- embed in documents Find a mechanism to implement course based- this must be admin-led Nov 23 GLISTEN MODEL at FGCU (Holmes Hall Lounge fourth floor)please RSVP to M. Forrest

Cross-listing (graduate and undergraduate and other) Extra work for cross-listed courses in somewhat different areas is part of teaching but not separated out as anything above or beyond. Over a quarter get credit as part of their teaching load

Cross-listing (graduate and undergraduate and other) I have had cross-listed courses in the past, and the expectation was that I would teach two different courses simultaneously. This is a lot of extra work and not good for the students or the professor. I understand the fiscal issue, but that doesn't help make it any better in the classroom. We often cross-list graduate and undergraduate classes to create extra spaces and opportunities for our graduate students. However, the credit is received only for the undergraduate class, and the 3 -5 graduate students are simply an uncompensated addition. This creates resistance to cross-listing from faculty.

Cross-listing (graduate and undergraduate and other) A cross-listed course counts only as the one course. In such instances two classes are taught, however, credit is given only to the undergraduate course. In spite of having to construct an expanded syllabus and have additional meetings with graduate students, there is no compensation, financial or otherwise. Without the cross-listed courses, however, we would have trouble offering an M. A. program. Generally it looks like any other course in terms of load or credit. Is mostly part of teaching load with a few who have gotten service/research load credit. The work involved in these new preps is generally not separately identified within the teaching assignment.

Cross-listing (graduate and undergraduate and other) Strategies: (Acknowledge difference between cross-listing that does not require extra work compared to those that are actually two separate courses) Consider accreditation issues when addressing Separate undergraduate from graduate and get credit for both in assignment Greater support for allowing smaller classes to move forward to grow and develop these desired graduate programs Balance accessibility with credibility of course offerings Develop basic principles that are adopted and maintained effectively- academically sound Be sure(as the instructor) that you are qualified

New course development For 54% it is part of teaching Consider these uncompensated overloads. I have never received release for this but have been told that others may have. Have had new course development nearly every semester I have taught since 2003. I get 1 credit course credit for this work. I fantasize about having a course release now and then to develop courses and forge new learning experiences.

New course development Each semester I have worked at FGCU I have to re-create a course or make an online course without additional pay. I need to make three answers. I currently have one course release to develop a very large, high-stakes and high impact online course for my department. I am concurrently creating and teaching another new course outside my subject area for which I got a small Gen Ed innovation grant but no release time. Courses have been developed outside of individual areas of expertise and no recognition nor compensation. Maybe this counts favorably for promotion.

New course development I have designed and taught many brand new courses since at FGCU and this was not recognized as an important contribution in my promotion portfolio (the strong implication I got from every portfolio/promotion workshop I attended was that designing courses is not as important as "improving" existing ones in demonstrating teaching excellence. ) Other members of my department are unwilling to do this kind of labor free, and so teach the same four or five courses on constant rotation, undermining the dynanism and innovativeness of our program. If we value an up-to-date curriculum then we MUST provide some kind of compensated support for course development work.

New course development We have developed courses as part of the expectation of having them ready for the next semester, which has been recognized as part of service in the annual reviews. There have been some times when some money is available for faculty to develop courses as part of program planning. There doesn't seem to be any place to record and account for this type of work in advance, so just seems to get added to the teaching load during the semester when the class gets taught. just a part of my overall service. Involved in a major re-design of a large on-line course. Moral Support from Dean, no support from chair.

New course development Strategies: Clarify value in criteria documents- this is a oftrecurring theme Develop common vocabulary that distinguishes new course development versus preparation for regular course ( with recognition for major revisions)

FINAL COMMENTS There is no teaching credit for any of the above although it has been requested. The College indicated it would have to come at the expense of other classes with no adjuncts to cover any courses not offered. The Division is understaffed so this is not an option. I really don't know enough to answer these questions. I know that we are in a huge transition phase and a lot of our faculty members are doing a lot of extra work that is not documented on PDPs.

FINAL COMMENTS I believe that my Chair and Dean appreciate the effort I put into mentorship outside of the classroom, but in many ways this goes unrecognized in terms of an explicit part of my job responsibilities. This is going to be a much more important problem when we have more graduate programs. Mentorship at the graduate level is very time intensive and usually requires the continual maintenance of a highly active scholarly agenda. This is nearly impossible for most faculty on a full teaching load.

FINAL COMMENTS What is not reflected in this survey is the increase in work load created by increasing course caps. This has as much impact on my work load as almost anything else. Whether it is real or not, there is an apparent problem at this University with regard to equal pay for equal work. It is clear that faculty are given different amount of work loads for same level of pay; this is even seen when faculty teaching credit is assigned based on number of students in the classroom. This needs to be discussed, the colleges need to be exposed, and this needs to be stopped

FINAL COMMENTS Need uniformity throughout campus and chairs desperately need to be TRAINED in working with faculty on their PDP. . . they currently are all over the place Loading is unfairly negotiated when it comes to these activities. It is beginning to cause very unhappy faculty in XXX College.

FINAL COMMENTS The 25% research and service has become at least 50% of a 90 hour week. Now that we have advanced graduate students, the emails are becoming intense. At least 30 minutes to an hour per day answering in the past couple of weeks. Weekends are the worst because that's when they are the most active. It's how I started my day this morning (a Wednesday) for about 30 minutes, trying to write a thoughtful response to an enthusiastic student. I got up at 7: 00, hoping to start on another service assignment, after teaching until 8: 00 last night. Now it's 8: 45, and I still haven't started the service (committee) work I expected to start at 7. I have about three hours of work on that I need to get to a colleague by Friday. I did take a 30 minute break for breakfast and to start the laundry, though, posted some data from a colleague into a research file, answered more emails, and took this survey. I feel like I'm drowning in the swamp, and I wonder if people know how much I am working. I suspect that when I close this survey, my student will have answered my email, and I will have to answer him before I can start that committee work I need to finish and send on. This is a bit random, bouncing from idea/issue to idea/issue, but that's my life right now.

FINAL COMMENTS Advisors are 12 -month, in-unit faculty; however, we do not fall within departments in our colleges. This places us in "no man's land" leaving us little voice within our colleges. As the University grows, not only do our student loads grow, but so do our responsibilities. I understand this is part of the job, but we are not compensated for this. Seems like I am doing a lot of things for the University on a pro bono basis. This needs to stop and it needs to be clear to new faculty that this kind of practice is unacceptable. It seems like as faculty we are expected to work 50 plus hours in a week and work on weekends. As a faculty member on a 12 month appointment this is cumbersome and overwhelming and it affects my health, family and quality of life.

FINAL COMMENTS This survey is not suited for evaluation of assignments and responsibilities given to research faculty. Also there are no opportunities for advancement. The biggest problem I face in my program is that we don't have enough faculty and staff to support the growth in students and maintaining/getting accreditations. This survey does not address non-teaching faculty who are part of the faculty at large and for whom workload is an important topic as well. There should be some consideration to variety of courses taught. I have taught seven different courses in the last two years, and this is not unusual for ranked faculty in my department. Maybe this is something unique to our department.

FINAL COMMENTS I know everyone is in the same boat but I am going to stop spending every evening and all my weekends working on FGCU business, when I am not being compensated for more than 40 hours of work. Most of the service I do is in excess of what I would need for promotion. This being such a good citizen gets precious little credit in our promotion system, and takes far too much time from scholarship, which gets significantly more reward. As a member of the peer review and support committee, I have seen too many colleagues fail to be promoted because they overloaded on service (with the collusion of the institution) and did not develop their scholarship. I am doing way too much now; I need to rebalance my priorities to give my future a little more weight.

FINAL COMMENTS The CBA defines the minimum standards for teaching effort, but does not define any maximum. Consequently, faculty don't have any idea when they are being asked to do too much. Thank you for investigating this issue. It is unfair that faculty not receive compensation in either time or money for work that directly generates revenue for the university. Main problem is too much service on committees, supervising grad students, and chairing or sitting on committees with no acknowledgement in load and no place for research/publication.

FINAL COMMENTS In the last three years, I have been on 2 thesis committees, conducted 5 directed readings sections, and supervised 4 internships without any compensation. We can not keep this up without some form of paid compensation. This university is long overdue for a careful empirical study of how the university does (or more often does not) compensate faculty members for taking on additional responsibilities beyond the standard 3 -3 teaching load. It's absolutely appalling here. Please don't misunderstand the problems in my department to reflect lack of support by my chair and/or dean. The fault rests entirely with upper administration, and they have been obfuscating about this for years.

FINAL COMMENTS The issue in question is that the university collects tuition, however, the instructors are expected to perform a service, above and beyond their assigned duties, without any compensation. I am currently paddling as fast as I can, but Colloquium has to change immediately and this involves several processes. There are many ways to contribute as a faculty member, there need to be many ways to reward folks for their contributions. Figuring out what is fair is hard to do when folks value different things in different ways- time/money/releases can all be understood as either a good way, but determining who gets what for what is hard; guidelines need to be established so that favorites are paid the same as everyone else.

FINAL COMMENTS A big issue in workload is the secrecy that surrounds it among faculty. There is no mechanism for us to know whether our workload is more or less equal to that of others in our unit. I have heard of faculty members being strongly discouraged from asking questions about equitable assignment as well. How can we know if our assignment is equitable, if we do not have a way to know about the assignments of others, especially prior to signing the agreement prior to a given semester? Also, we have asked repeatedly to help to assign faculty in each program to courses, rather than the Associate Deans doing so, so that we can assist in making assignments that are most beneficial to students. This request, in its varied forms, has been largely ignored, despite promises to send out information to program leaders ahead of scheduling time, despite program leaders taking the initiative to send the Associate Dean a list of faculty choices as well. It seems that our efforts to make this easier for the Associate Dean as well as better for students are, for some reason, ignored. I can't seem to understand why.

FINAL SUGGESTIONS Increase transparency Share PDP’s openly Departmental PDP conversations? Share best and worst practices More mentoring of new faculty and adjuncts as to rights and responsibilities