Section VIII - Faculty & Instruction

VIII A 12

Faculty - Curriculum Teaching Workload Policy

To state the College’s policies and procedures regarding instructional faculty workloads

It is the intent of Randolph Community College to provide equitable and reasonable faculty workloads. Full-time curriculum faculty are professionals who prepare for and teach classes; advise and assist students; evaluate student performance; participate in committee, program, divisional, and institutional activities; engage in continuous professional improvement; and perform other duties as assigned. Full-time curriculum faculty will be at a campus site and/or other designated location for 30 hours each week, except for holidays and faculty break days identified in the academic calendar, and will spend the additional time necessary to accomplish these responsibilities. The only exception to this requirement will be for faculty who have selected or been assigned to a 40-hour work week. These faculty will be at a campus site and/or other designated location for 40 hours each week, except for holidays.

1. Teaching Assignments
   
   Prior to the beginning of each semester, each department head will assign a teaching schedule, including courses, times and locations, to each member of the faculty in his/her program. Among the factors to be considered in making equitable assignments are the following: number of students, number of course preparations, number of course sections, number of locations within the same day, length of the teaching day, new course preparations, and the use of new technologies and/or alternative methods of delivery.
   
   Each member of the faculty will be available to teach classes as assigned. Adjunct faculty will teach within a range of contact hours established from guidelines in effect for the given semester. Full-time curriculum faculty will teach 18 - 21 contact hours per week per semester, except in extenuating circumstances or in cases in which the program requires more contact hours. A faculty member assigned to coordinate a Work-Based Learning (WBL) course will receive one contact hour for each increment or partial increment of five students.
   
   Each associate dean will monitor the teaching assignments of faculty in his/her division to ensure that they meet the needs of students, are equitable to the faculty, and consider the financial resources available.

2. Adjustments to Teaching Load
   
   Full-time curriculum faculty will be eligible for an adjustment to the teaching assignment below the 18 hours for performing additional instructional and/or administrative duties for the college. Full-time curriculum faculty may receive a reduction in their workload for online course development during the semester prior to which the new online course will be offered. This reduction is equivalent to the contract hours of the course being developed. All reductions in curriculum faculty teaching load must be recommended by the department head and approved by the appropriate associate dean, dean, and VP for Instructional Services prior to the beginning of the semester in which the reduction is proposed to occur.

3. Additional Assignments
   
   An additional teaching assignment occurs when a member of the curriculum faculty is assigned to teach more than 21 contact hours per week for a semester. The President of the College or his designee may identify specified faculty positions that will not receive additional pay for teaching more than 21 contact hours. The President of the College or his designee may increase faculty teaching assignments if budget restrictions mandate. A faculty member within a department will not be assigned a teaching overload except in extenuating circumstances or when all full-time faculty in the department are assigned full loads.
   
   A curriculum faculty member will be paid for a teaching overload when the hours taught result in a teaching assignment of more than 21 contact hours per week. The hours of overload will not be calculated into the total on-campus hour requirement of 30 or 40 hours per week. For example, if a faculty member taught 1 three-hour class as overload, the total number of hours on-campus would equal 33 for a 30-hour option faculty, or 43 for a 40-hour option faculty.
   
   The faculty member will be paid at the adjunct faculty rate for the hours exceeding the 21 contact hours per week. All overload payments must be recommended by the appropriate department head and approved in advance by the appropriate associate dean, dean and the Vice President for Instructional Services.

4. Substitute Teaching Assignments
   
   Prior to the beginning of each semester, each division chairperson will develop a plan to provide for coverage of classes in the event of the absence of a member or members of their divisional programs. Faculty in a program are responsible for providing coverage of classes for their colleagues on a short-term and/or emergency basis.
   
   The rate of pay will be based upon the adjunct faculty rate for the course in which the substitution occurs. All substitute teaching payments must be recommended by the appropriate department head and approved in advance by the appropriate associate dean, dean and the Vice President for Instructional Services.

5. Office Hours
   
   Each member of the full-time faculty will be available 6 hours per week at a designated location for the purpose of assisting students enrolled in his/her courses and/or program. Program faculty should coordinate office hours to maximize availability to students. These hours shall not be used in calculating a reduction in teaching load.
   
   
6. Academic Advising Assignments
   
   Each program is responsible for the academic advising of students assigned to that program. The associate deans are responsible for the equitable distribution of advising duties.

7. Recruitment and Employer Contact
   
   Faculty members are responsible for helping to recruit new students and for maintaining contact with and knowledge of the employer community.

8. Curriculum Currency and Outcomes
   
   Faculty members have primary responsibility for developing and delivering curriculum content, maintaining the currency and relevance of the curriculum, and in ensuring that program outcomes are met.

9. Required Meetings
   
   Each faculty member will agree to serve on committees and will attend institutional meetings, meetings of his/her program and division, and meetings of committee(s) to which he/she is assigned.

10. Professional Development Activities
    
    Each faculty member will engage in a program of continuous professional improvement. Each faculty member will participate in required professional development activities, including those scheduled on specified days in the academic calendar, and will complete required assignments.

11. Registration Assignments
    
    Each program/division is responsible for providing coverage during the posted hours on registration days. Associate Deans are responsible for the equitable distribution of registration duties. Each member of the faculty will assist with registration as  assigned.

12. Faculty Prep Days
    
    Prior to the first day of classes in each semester, each faculty member will complete assigned individual and program responsibilities, which are necessary to the beginning of classes, including the preparation of a syllabus for each course which he/she is assigned to teach.

13. Work Schedules
    
    A work schedule for each faculty member will be recommended by the appropriate department head and approved in advance by the appropriate associate dean, dean and the Vice President for Instructional Services prior to the beginning of the semester.
    
    Each faculty member is expected to be at the College at least 10 minutes before his/her class meets and to meet all of his/her classes for the entire semester as the class has been scheduled. In the event of sickness, faculty members are expected to notify their program head in advance of the scheduled classes that will be missed due to the sickness.
    
    Faculty members are not to leave their classes when in session. If an emergency creates the need for a faculty member to leave a class, the department head and associate dean must be notified. In the event neither is available, the faculty member should contact the next person in the chain of command until speaking with someone in authority.

14. Paperwork
    
    Each faculty member will complete and submit grades, attendance and other department paperwork by the deadline of submission each semester.
    
    
15. Graduation Assignments
    
    Each faculty member will participate in graduation activities and will perform duties related to graduation as assigned. A faculty member may be exempted from graduation upon written request to and approval by the President of the college or his/her designee.

Adopted: 04/15/1999

Revised: 01/20/2000, 07/18/2002, 05/17/2007, 01/17/2008, 05/21/2009, 07/14/2011