CALIFORNIA STATE POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY, POMONA
ACADEMIC SENATE
FACULTY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
REPORT TO
THE ACADEMIC SENATE
FA-005-910
AWARDING OF SUPERVISORY UNITS
Faculty Affairs Committee Date:
Executive Committee
Received and Forwarded Date: 1/26/11
Academic Senate Date: 3/9/11
First Reading
4/13/11
Second Reading
Background
Faculty are awarded supervisory units (assigned time) for students they are supervising in research/special projects. Some departments award faculty 1/3 WTU for each student being supervised for a research project. This system has the potential for abuse. For example, if a faculty member supervises 18 undergraduate students in a quarter (that is 18 students sign up to work on a research project) they could be awarded 6 WTU of reassigned time for this. However, it seems highly unlikely that a faculty member would be doing a good job at individually supervising 18 students. Are faculty held accountable for supervised projects when given assigned time, if so how? This also creates a problem for departments trying to schedule faculty to cover the teaching load of the department and has an implication on the quality of instruction for students.
§ Should there be a university policy that limits the number of supervisory units a faculty member can be awarded per quarter? Some of this may be dictated by the CBA with regard to faculty workload.
§ Who decides how many units are given for a particular activity supervised? Should it be a Departmental Committee?
§ What is the mechanism of assessment to make sure that the expected outcome is met?
§ For faculty who receive reassigned time bought out by an external grant, it is generally implicit in the grant that the faculty member will be doing this work with students. Should faculty be awarded additional assigned time units for supervising students working on those projects for which they already receive reassigned time?
§ Should there be a difference in units awarded for undergraduate vs. graduate students supervision?
Resources
Donald Straney, Lisa Alex, Frank Ewers, Samir Anz, Lisa Rotunni, Claudia Pinter Lucke,
Discussion
Please see the attached report
Recommendation
Please see the attached report.
Report to Academic Senate on Award of Supervisory Units
1.0 Introduction
Supervisory classes, also referred to as S-Factor classes, are assigned when the mode of instruction involves direct one-on-one contact between faculty and student. The classification is commonly utilized for courses that require individual supervision such as independent study, internship, studio and laboratory instruction, field work, thesis, senior projects, social work supervision, practice teaching, student research project, etc.. Supervisory classes are an essential component of student learning at a polytechnic institute, provide invaluable learning experience for the students, and substantially enhance their career opportunities.
Within the California State University system, each university budget is determined primarily based on the number of Full Time Equivalent Students (FTES) taught and faculty workload is commonly measured and expressed in terms of the Weighted Teaching Unit (WTU). Supervisory classes generally produce low FTES and result in a high WTU and therefore have a significant budgetary impact. The university has a vested interest in ensuring that the S-Factor classes are essential to the programs in which they are offered and the curriculum committees at all levels are encouraged to exercise oversight on the appropriateness of the S-factor classification used for each class.
Distinction must also be made between the Supervisory classes and discretionary assignment of WTU releases by the president/designee for direct or indirect instructional activities such as release time for research, scholarship, new course preparation, course overload, credit by examination, instructional support for graduate students, etc.. Assignment of release time is a separate issue from assignment of faculty to S-Factor classes with low enrollment.
In Fall quarter of 2010 a total of 657 active S-Factor classes were offered at Cal Poly, Pomona. These classes required approximately 876 WTUs and generated only 415 FTES. The following chart shows the student enrollment in these classes.
Majority of the classes had low enrollment of 1 to 5 students per class and few with larger enrollment.
The following chart shows the number of academic units assigned to these classes.
Majority of the classes were two unit courses and few were assigned more than four units.
2.0 S-Classification Categories
There are five different classifications of supervisory classes as described below. The appropriateness of a particular classification depends on the level (graduate or undergraduate), purpose of the class and the average number of student contact hours per week.
1. Social Work Supervision-S23
This classification is for graduate level social work only and faculty-student contact should average to at least 3 hours per week. The faculty workload for this classification is computed as WTU=Number of students enrolled.
2. Practice Teaching-S24
For all undergraduate disciplines. Faculty-student contact should average at least two hours per week. The faculty workload for this classification is computed as WTU = 0.667*Number of students enrolled.
3. Practice Teaching, Work Study, Thesis Project, and Independent Study – S25
The classification may be used for all undergraduate and graduate level disciplines, and practice teaching and graduate level public school nursing. Faculty-student contact should average at least 90 minutes per week. The faculty workload for this classification is computed as WTU = 0.50*Number of students enrolled.
4. Independent Study, Field Work, Studio Instruction, Supervised Activities-S36
For all undergraduate disciplines. Faculty-student contact should average at least one hour per week. The faculty workload for this classification is computed as WTU = 0.333*Number of students enrolled.
5. Independent Study, Studio Instruction, Supervised Activities-S48
For all undergraduate disciplines. Faculty-student contact should average at least 45 minutes per week. The faculty workload for this classification is computed as WTU = 0.250*Number of students enrolled.
3.0 Response to Referral Questions
This section addresses the specific questions raised in the referral. References to the collective bargaining articles are noted parenthetically.
Should there be a university policy that limits the number of supervisory units a faculty member can be awarded per quarter? Some of this may be dictated by the CBA with regard to faculty workload.
Faculty workload is measured in assigned WTU (CBA 20.2d) and one of the determinants of what constitutes a reasonable workload is the past practice of the University (CBA 20.3c). At Cal Poly, Pomona, the faculty instructional workload has traditionally been an average of 12 WTU per quarter. For Supervisory classes the workload is independent of the number of units assigned to the class. The WTU assignment of each supervisory class is computed in the manner described in the Section 2.0 of this report. For example, a Supervisory class classified as S-36 with 36 students enrolled in it results in 12 WTUs which constitutes a full one quarter load for the faculty member teaching the class. The same class is expected to require 36 hours per week of one-on-one interaction between faculty and the students.
Faculty workload issues are already adequately addressed by existing university policy and collective bargaining agreement, there does not seem to be a need for any additional policy.
However, two concerns implicit in the referral and raised by some of the resources that were consulted need to be clarified. The first concern is that faculty are assigned to teach supervisory classes and the corresponding WTU is not counted toward their total workload and/or faculty are assigned to teach S-Factor classes with large number of students and the resulting WTU is used for release time to other faculty members. The second concern is that the student enrollment in non-supervisory classes is raised so that the FTES generated from larger enrollment can support the S-Factor classes with low enrollment.
With regard to the first concern, faculty members are entitled and shall receive full credit for the WTU of the classes they teach and those who believe that they are not given the full credit are encouraged to discuss the issue with the Dean of the College and if not satisfied contact their campus CFA representative. Class sizes are also determined by the professional judgment of the faculty and past university practice. Any faculty member who believes their class size has been inappropriately increased should discuss the matter with the Department Chair, Dean, and if not satisfied contact the campus CFA representative.
At Cal Poly, Pomona many dedicated faculty members voluntarily accept extra workload to help their departments, college, and university to support the lower enrollment classes in their discipline. Any policy that limits the faculty ability to do so will take away this important option and reduces the department flexibility in class scheduling, particularly for smaller departments.
Who decides how many units are given for a particular activity supervised? Should it be a Departmental Committee?
The number of units, the classification, and the enrollment in S-Factor classes are curricular matters that are subject to the university curriculum process. The approved university curriculum process requiring approval by the department faculty, college curriculum committee, Dean of the college, university curriculum committee, academic senate for GE courses, and the Provost/designee shall be followed in all cases.
What is the mechanism of assessment to make sure that the expected outcome is met?
Student learning in both supervisory and non-supervisory classes should be addressed in each department’s assessment plan.
For faculty who receive reassigned time bought out by an external grant, it is generally implicit in the grant that the faculty member will be doing this work with students. Should faculty be awarded additional assigned time units for supervising students working on those projects for which they already receive reassigned time?
The assignment of release time to faculty in support of direct or indirect instructional activities is a separate issue. Release time may be assigned by the President/designee to support faculty activities as deemed appropriate. Assignment of faculty to S-Factor classes as well as non-supervisory classes shall be determined by the appropriate administrator (Dean of the college) after consultation with the department chair or designee and/or the individual faculty member. The department or other appropriate unit's overall instructional or course assignments shall be consistent with department and student needs (CBA 20.2b)
Should there be a difference in units awarded for undergraduate vs. graduate students supervision?
As discussed in the Section 2.0 of the report, there is a difference in S-factor between graduate and undergraduate classes.
4.0 Recommendations
The S-Factor classes are essential component of student education in a polytechnic university. These classes have significant budgetary impact and therefore it is recommended that each department review its current offering of the S-factor classes to ensure that the classification and number of units assigned to the classes are appropriate to the department, college, and university educational mission while available resources are efficiently utilized.
A recent communication from the Associate Vice President (AVP) of Academic Programs, Dr. Claudia Pinter-Lucke, indicated that higher echelons of CSU administration are engaged in a discussion of S-factor classes and are open to providing flexibility to each university in refining the existing S-Factor classification to better match their needs. It is recommended that Academic Affairs and the appropriate senate subcommittee review the current S-Factor classifications to ensure adequacy for Cal Poly, Pomona.
In the same communication the AVP indicated that the C78 classification may be modified for use in circumstances that might be appropriate to assign faculty to supervisory role without the accompanying WTU. Many large enrollment S-Factor classes seem to be used for internship, direct studies, lab supervision that would not require one-on-one interaction with the students enrolled in the class. It is recommended that the Academic Affair and the appropriate senate subcommittee develop such classification and departments use this classification when the supervisory class does not require one-on-one interaction with the student.