Policy: Faculty Workload & Expectations

Document Number: 1.009
Title: Faculty Workload & Expectations
Effective Date: 08/08/2024
Revised Date: N/A

Policy Statement

River Parishes Community College (RPCC) has established workload requirements that allow for full-time faculty members to fulfill their teaching duties, as well as other College obligations such as committee assignments, class/lab preparation, participation in meetings, advising, curriculum development and revision, college and programmatic accreditation activities and attendance at Commencement exercises.

Faculty Workload:

All full-time faculty (except Practical Nursing Instructors – see Practical Nursing Instructor Workload and Expectations below) are expected, as a condition of their contract, to:

• teach 15 credit hours each fall and spring semester
• up to 10 credit hours each summer semester (12-month faculty only)
• spend time preparing for class, grading, and improving their courses
• be regularly available to students outside of class time at least 10 hours per week, and
• serve the college in other capacities beyond instruction

All full-time faculty are expected to work a 40-hour work week during the fall and spring semesters.

The standard 40-hour work week is comprised of:

• 15 credit hours of instruction
  • Physical Science and Physics Labs: each credit hour = 1.5 hours toward load
  • Biology 1010L and 1020L: each credit hour = 1.5 hours toward load
  • Chemistry Labs: each credit hour = 2.25 hours toward load
  • All other Biology Labs: each credit hour = 2.25 hours toward load
• 15 hours of class preparation, course improvement, grading, and being available to students
  • A minimum of 10 of the 15 hours should be dedicated to office hours
    • If a faculty member teaches all “face-to-face” classes, 7 of the 10 office hours must be “on campus,” the remaining 3 may be online using online conferencing software (Microsoft Teams) via online appointment scheduler software (Microsoft Bookings). Available appointment times must be consistent each week.
    • If a faculty member teaches all online/virtual classes, then all office hours can be virtual using online conferencing software (Microsoft Teams) via online appointment scheduler software (Microsoft Bookings). Available appointment times must be consistent each week.
    • If a faculty member does not teach all online/virtual classes, then “on-campus” office hours need to be proportional to the number of face-to-face or hybrid classes that faculty member teaches. For example, if a faculty member teaches 3 OL classes, 1 S class, and 1 hybrid or face-to-face class, then 20% of the faculty member’s office hours should be on campus.
    • All office hours, whether on campus or virtual, must be stated in each course syllabus. In the case of virtual office hours, a link to the appointment scheduler (Microsoft Bookings) must be included on the Canvas homepage and office hours listed in the course syllabus.
    • Faculty are expected to respond to student emails and phone calls within 1 business day.
    • Although faculty are not required to keep scheduled office hours after the day final examinations begin, they must continue to be available for consultation with students up to 7 calendar days after the final grade submission deadline.
    • If a faculty member travels between campuses to teach, the faculty member may reduce their office hours in accordance with the table below:

    • Campuses	Reduced Office Hour Time
      Gonzales to Reserve	1 hour/week
      Gonzales to St. Charles	2 hours/week
      Gonzales to Westside	2 hours/week
      Reserve to St. Charles	1 hour/week
      Reserve to Westside	2 hours/week
      St. Charles to Westside	1.5 hours/week

• 10 hours of service
  • Advising Students/Committee Work/Departmental Meetings

Practical Nursing Instructors: Workloads and Expectations

All full-time Practical Nursing faculty are expected, as a condition of their contract, to:

• teach and be available to students 25 clock hours per week during the fall, spring, and summer semesters,
• spend time preparing for class, grading, and improving their courses, and
• serve the college in other capacities beyond instruction.

The standard 40-hour work week for Practical Nursing instructors is comprised of:

• 25 clock hours of instruction and office hours
• 10 hours of class preparation, course improvement, and grading
• 5 hours of service
  • Advising Students/Committee Work/Departmental Meetings

Release Time

Release time from instruction may be granted, upon approval by a Dean and the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs, for faculty to work on special assignments such as grants, policies, institutional and/or programmatic accreditation, designing training, etc. A Release Time Agreement must be signed by the faculty member, their Dean, and the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. Every “Release Time Agreement” will be given a credit hour value to document a faculty member’s total semester credit hour workload.

Failure to Teach 15 Credit Hour Load

If a faculty member does not have 15 credit hours of classes in a fall semester, they must make up the instructional time and any associated prep time/course improvement/grading time:

• with a Release Time Agreement, approved by their Dean and the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs, or
• or they must make up the credit hours in the spring semester

If a faculty member does not have 15 credit hours of courses in a spring semester, they must make up the instructional time and any associated prep time/course improvement/grading time with a Release Time Agreement, approved by their Dean and the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs.

A load deficit of six credit hours or more for two consecutive semesters may result in a non-renewal of the full-time contract the next academic year.

Overloads, Over Capacities, Class Cancellations, and Independent Study

“Overloads” are any credit hours taught above 15 credit hours in a fall or spring semester. Overloads are paid at the adjunct credit hour rate (subject to minimum class size requirements). Overloads may not exceed 6 credit hours per semester per faculty member (e.g., a faculty member’s total teaching load may not exceed 21 credit hours per semester). In extenuating circumstances, the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs may approve an assignment in excess of 21-credit hours for a full-time faculty member.

“Overloads” for Practical Nursing instructors are any clock hours taught above 25 clock hours in the fall, spring, or summer semester. Overloads for Practical Nursing Instructors are paid at $50.00 per clock hour, up to the contact hours required for the course.

Course Compensation and Class Size Calculations

Minimum Class Size & Course Cancellation

The minimum class size is set at 12 students per section.

Courses that do not meet the minimum class size may be cancelled or approved to be offered at the per student adjunct contract rate. Course cancellations will be determined by each respective Department Chair and/or Dean. The Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs may approve low enrollment courses to be paid at the full credit hour rate under extenuating circumstances.

Over Capacities

Over capacities occur if enrollment in an online or virtual course exceeds the enrollment cap (25 for English 1000, 1010, 1020, 2300 and corequisite English and Math classes) classes/36 for all other classes). In such cases, the faculty member will be compensated at the $150 per student rate in excess of the course enrollment cap.

Adjunct Credit Hour Contract Rates

Adjunct courses that meet the minimum class size are compensated based on the adjunct contract rate of $800 per credit hour.

Per Student Adjunct Contract Rate

The per student adjunct contract rate is determined multiplying the credit hour rate by the total credit hours of the course section, and then dividing by minimum class size.

[Credit Hour Rate] X [Section Credit Hours] / [Minimum Class Size] = Per Student Rate

Faculty Expectations

Adherence to Reporting Deadlines

All faculty, full-time and part-time, must abide by certain college reporting deadlines, including but not limited to:

• Textbook Adoption: All faculty must, by the date and instructions provided by the Office of Academic Affairs, submit textbook adoptions. Some faculty may be required to use certain textbooks as directed by their Dean or Department Chair. Regardless of whether a standard textbook is used, faculty must complete the textbook adoption process. Faculty who plan to use “Inclusive Access” materials must get approval from their Dean and must have adopted the materials in the Textbook Adoption Portal prior to registration beginning
• Show/No Show Reporting: All faculty must, by the date specified on the Academic Calendar, and according to the instructions provided by the Registrar, report which students have begun attendance in their courses, and which have not. Failure to report which students have or have not begun attendance or inaccurate reporting could constitute federal financial aid fraud, as such reporting is a determining factor in whether a student receives federal financial aid funds.
• Mid-term Grades: All faculty must, by the date specified on the Academic Calendar, and according to the instructions provided by the Registrar, submit midterm grades for each student.
• Program Learning Outcomes Assessment Data: All faculty teaching classes identified for program learning outcome assessment must, by the date specified by the Office of Academic Affairs, report program learning outcomes data in Canvas.
• Final Grades: All faculty must, by the date specified on the Academic Calendar, and according to the instructions provided by the Registrar, submit final grades for each student. Faculty with high school dual enrollment students enrolled in their courses may be asked to submit final grades earlier than the College’s final grade deadline for those high school dual enrollment students who are seniors. The Dual Enrollment Coordinator will alert faculty members of the deadlines for submitting high school senior grades and will identify for faculty which students are high school seniors.

Commencement:

Participation in Commencement is considered part of a full-time faculty member’s contractual responsibilities. Permission not to participate in Commencement may be obtained by petitioning the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs in writing. The College will arrange for a vendor to make academic regalia available to all faculty members for rent or purchase for the occasion.

Textbooks:

Requests for complimentary copy textbooks should be sent directly to the publisher. Faculty members are prohibited from selling complimentary textbooks.

In addition, faculty may not receive royalties from a book that is required reading in the faculty member’s class or profit from the assembly of books or lab materials for sale directly to students. If it is necessary to utilize a faculty-authored book for which the faculty member receives royalties, that income shall be contributed to the College’s Foundation.

Syllabi:

All faculty, both part-time and full-time, are required to provide a complete and accurate syllabus to students for each class taught on the first day the class is available in Canvas (3 days prior to the official first day of class on the Academic Calendar). All syllabi must be completed in the syllabus tool inside of Canvas. Uploaded files or other formats of a syllabus are not acceptable.

All syllabi must conform to the RPCC Syllabi Template and must contain the required elements outlined within the template. Some Departments may require use of a Master or Primary Syllabus, which determines course content. Deans and Department Chairs are responsible for the development and enforcement of Master/Primary Syllabi. Faculty members teaching courses in those Departments are required to utilize the Master/Primary Syllabi and implement the course content contained therein. Latitude is given to faculty, however, to add or emphasize specific content areas.

Class Cancellations:

Class cancellations (whether the class is meeting in person or virtually) should be kept to a minimum. Frequent class cancellations may negatively impact faculty evaluations and contract renewal.

Full-time and adjunct faculty must notify their appropriate Dean/Division Coordinator, Department Chair, and the Campus Director (as appropriate) if a scheduled class meeting (whether that meeting is in person or virtual) is going to be cancelled.

Faculty should:

• Email their students via Canvas and post an announcement about the cancelation in Canvas
• Email their Dean/Division Coordinator and Department Chair
• Carbon copy the appropriate Campus Director on the email to the Dean and Department Chair if the class is scheduled to meet in person on a campus

The email should detail if the faculty member has or has not notified the class via email, or if someone else needs to do so (i.e., the cancellation is due to an emergency and the faculty member is unable to contact the students). Deans/Division Coordinators or Department Chairs will make every effort to notify students via Canvas.

Student Behavior in the Classroom:

Instructors are referred to the Student Handbook for guidance concerning student behavior in the classroom. The Student Handbook also contains the College’s policy governing situations involving either academic or nonacademic misconduct.

Instructors are considered the managers of their classroom, whether that classroom is a physical or virtual space. As such, instructors should make clear in their syllabus and the first days of class their expectations for students’ behavior.

Faculty have the “duty to warn” any student not complying with stated guidelines, inform disruptive students that their behavior is not acceptable, specify what behaviors are required; and inform students of the consequences of not complying with guidelines. If inappropriate behavior continues, faculty may ask students to leave the classroom or virtual meeting space and may seek assistance from the Campus Director or Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Services.

Academic Responsibility:

It is a basic principle that every member of the faculty, of any rank, shall always be held responsible for competent and effective performance of his/her duties. The concept of freedom should be accompanied by an equally demanding concept of responsibility. College faculty are citizens, members of a learned profession, and officers of an educational institution. When faculty speak or write as citizens, they should be free from institutional censorship or discipline, but their special position in the community imposes special obligations. As persons of learning and educational officers, they should remember that the public might judge the profession and the institution by their utterances. Hence, they should always show respect for the opinions of others, and they should make every effort to indicate that they are not spokespersons for the institution.