CALS Academic Instructional Staff Teaching Policy

Rationale

The primary job responsibility of academic instructional staff is teaching, as opposed to tenure-track faculty members, who have a wider range of job duties. Academic instructional staff are therefore expected to have a heavier teaching load than research/instruction tenured and tenure-track faculty members. A policy on academic instructional staff teaching supports equitable workloads for these staff and provides consistency and transparency in the college’s teaching mission. As part of the college’s teaching mission, departments should also be focusing on maximizing teaching effort by meeting course enrollment minima, offering some low enrollment courses every other year, and updating curricula. These are the current enrollment minima for group instruction courses:

Courses numbered below 300: 15 students
Courses numbered 300 to 699 for undergraduate or undergraduate/graduate audiences: 12 students
Courses numbered 300 to 699 limited to graduate audiences: 8 students
Courses numbered 700 and above: 8 students

Scope

This policy applies to academic instructional staff, including job titles of lecturer, teaching faculty, and teaching professor.

Policy

Responsibilities: Implementation of this policy will be achieved by a coordinated effort from college leadership and Chairs of each department within the college.

Each department will maintain a teaching load policy, shared with the college, that delineates the teaching expectations within the department. Department policies must align with the college or have higher expectations. The policy will include, at minimum, the following:
1. The timeline and process for determining teaching assignments
2. The process for evaluating effectiveness and equity of the teaching load policy
3. An addendum to outline how the Chair calculates teaching credit, consistent with the equivalency information outlined below
4. The following teaching load expectations for common instructional job titles:
  1. The minimum teaching load expectation for a lecturer is a total of 15 credits over two semesters (Fall and Spring; 9-month appointments). This minimum is with the understanding that during the semester with fewer courses, time will be allotted to assist with instructional development and design.
    1. In the case of 12-month appointments, three additional credits are expected with a strong preference for these to occur during the summer.
    2. Reference:
      1. Lecturer standard job description and responsibilities: https://hr.wisc.edu/standard-job-descriptions/?q=TL020
  2. The minimum teaching load expectation for teaching faculty is a total of 12 credits over two semesters (Fall and Spring; 9-month appointments). This minimum is with the understanding that time will be allotted every semester for curriculum development, administrative functions, and, for teaching faculty at higher levels, facilitation of faculty training and/or grant proposals.
    1. In the case of 12-month appointments, three additional credits are expected with a strong preference for these to occur during the summer.
    2. Reference:
      1. Teaching Faculty I standard job description and responsibilities: https://hr.wisc.edu/standard-job-descriptions/?q=TL025
      2. Teaching Faculty II standard job description and responsibilities: https://hr.wisc.edu/standard-job-descriptions/?q=TL026
      3. Teaching Faculty III standard job description and responsibilities: https://hr.wisc.edu/standard-job-descriptions/?q=TL027
      4. Teaching Faculty IV standard job description and responsibilities: https://hr.wisc.edu/standard-job-descriptions/?q=TL031
  3. The minimum teaching load expectation for teaching professor is a total of 12 credits over two semesters (Fall and Spring; 9-month appointments). This minimum is with the understanding that time will be allotted every semester for curriculum development, advising, and contributions to teaching strategies and the science of teaching and learning.
    1. In the case of 12-month appointments, three additional credits are expected with a strong preference for these to occur during the summer.
    2. Reference:
      1. Teaching Assistant Professor standard job description and responsibilities: https://hr.wisc.edu/standard-job-descriptions/?q=TL055
      2. Teaching Associate Professor standard job description and responsibilities: https://hr.wisc.edu/standard-job-descriptions/?q=TL056
      3. Teaching Professor standard job description and responsibilities: https://hr.wisc.edu/standard-job-descriptions/?q=TL022
Chairs are responsible for:
1. Coordinating the assignment of teaching duties within the department or designating an individual to coordinate.
2. Evaluating the effectiveness and equity of the department’s teaching load policy.
3. Determining equivalents of teaching credits.
  1. Credit equivalencies are weighted for team teaching to appropriately allocate credits based on the percentage of the course being taught by each instructor.
  2. Courses may be weighted to count for more than the credit of the course based on these criteria:
    1. High enrollment
    2. Laboratory preparation and execution
    3. Multiple sections of laboratory or discussion for a single course
    4. Study abroad
    5. Off-campus field course preparation and execution
    6. Fully online courses that have previously only been taught in a face-to-face modality
  3. Courses may be counted less than the credit of the course based on these criteria:
    1. Online courses that have previously been taught online (note: courses must still have regular, high-quality interaction by the instructor).
    2. Courses that are supported by:
      1. Teaching assistants
      2. Graders
      3. Lab coordinators
    3. Courses that are designed to include guest lecturers
4. Allowing a decreased teaching load, below the college minimum
  1. During the onboarding period which includes the first or second semester after the hiring date.
  2. New course taught for the first time
5. Adjusting teaching load based on the percentage of an individual’s position. For example, a 50% appointment would be expected to meet at least 50% of the expected minimum.
Ensuring that instructors with $0 teaching appointments can sufficiently maintain their regular job responsibilities and, if necessary, redistribute those responsibilities to ensure continuity of the regular position. vi) The Chair and the Dean will discuss the department’s past teaching record each year at the college departmental evaluation meetings in February using data provided to departments in late Fall.
1. This will provide an opportunity for sharing expected teaching goals and new academic programs or courses being developed.
2. The Chair will comment on individual teaching performance, including teaching quality, and these data will help inform future merit salary increases.