Contact persons: Audrey Shalinsky and Gracie Lawson-Borders
It is the head’s responsibility to oversee the offering of courses in the department to ensure that the appropriate numbers and kinds of courses are available each semester. For example, the head needs to be sure that there is the proper “mix” of courses for majors at the lower division and upper division so that students will be able to fulfill degree requirements in a timely fashion. The rotation of courses should be such that a student will be able to take the necessary courses to meet requirements in a reasonable amount of time. In addition, it is important to offer adequate numbers of sections of “service” courses to meet enrollment demands. The need for particular courses, rather than the desires of individual faculty, should guide course assignments. Preparing course projections for at least two years will help faculty plan their course preparation and the head make assignments; such projections also are helpful for advisors and students as they determine which courses a student should take in a given semester. The head is required to submit one year’s course projections as part of the budget planning process (Budget Cycle). You are responsible for posting the two-year course projection including summer school on the department's website.
The Deans’ Council has developed a set of recommendations designed to: 1) increase the accessibility of classes to students; 2) maximize the use of classroom space; and 3) increase the university’s availability to nontraditional students. Specific recommendations for achieving those goals can be found at http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/acadaffairs/PolicyStatements/class_times.doc
Equally important is the actual scheduling of the courses/sections. For example, courses for majors should be scheduled so that they do not conflict with one another; conflicts affect the enrollment in those courses and may delay student graduation. Service courses should be scheduled so that they are available to as many students as possible; thus, multi-sections of a course should be spread across the day and week, not bunched together. Again, student need, not faculty desires, should guide you. And it is vital that you use the standard starting times for courses.
Classes meeting MWF or M-F:
8:00 - 8:50
9:00 - 9:50
10:00 - 10:50
11:00 - 11:50
12:00 - 12:50
1:10 - 2:00
2:10 - 3:00
3:10 - 4:00
4:10 - 5:00
Classes meeting on TR:
8:10 - 9:25
9:35 - 10:50
11:00 - 12:15
1:20 - 2:35
2:45 - 4:00
Labs should be scheduled at times, as much as possible, to avoid conflect.
Also, lower division classes should not be scheduled during the evening group exam times (5-7 Monday through Thursday). If a department wants to schedule a group exam, it must coordinate with those departments already giving group exams.
Assignments to teach specific courses are the head’s responsibility. Though consultation with faculty/APs about what and when they wish to teach is recommended, the decisions are the head’s to make. Building a schedule based solely, or even mainly, on the faculty/AP preferences leads to skewed scheduling.
One system for projecting courses and scheduling teaching assignments is to give the faculty/APs, in late November or December, a list of the courses needed for the following academic year and then ask them what within that list they would prefer to teach. Such systems allow the head to both project course offerings for the coming 2 academic years and balance the teaching loads of individual faculty/APs over the academic year. It also helps when preparing department budget requests for the next year (see Budget Cycle). Similarly, the head should consult with academic personnel about specific days, times, and rooms for their teaching, making it clear that there is no guarantee that they will get exactly what they want. The rules for assigning classrooms have changed; a scheduling software program is in use now.
Knowing what individual faculty/APs are doing in their research/creative activity or professional development activities will help the head make judicious decisions about course assignments and scheduling.
In planning course projections, consider ways in which the department supports the efforts of The Outreach School (TOS), which now incorporates UW/Casper courses. At present, courses are delivered through audio-conferencing, tele-conferencing (compressed video, limited to the state of Wyoming), a combination of audio- or tele-conferencing and “intensive weekends,” intensive weekends alone (usually through UW/Casper), on the Web, and through the WEN network. When making teaching assignments for TOS courses, the head should take into account whether the delivery mode should affect the “credit” given for teaching a course. For example, preparing a course for Web delivery (designing assignments and materials to be put on the Web) may require reassigned time for the instructor in the semester prior to the course going on-line. If that is the case, the instructor must document in the annual update that such reassigned time was allowed and how it was used, and the head will need to take it into consideration in evaluating the instructor. However, instructors should not assume that they will receive reassigned time for every course taught through TOS.
Approval of all offerings through TOS requires the approval of the head. If the instructor is not a member of the UW academic personnel, the head has the final say on whether that person is approved for teaching the course. Any course taught through TOS should have the same requirements and expectations as those taught on campus, and students have the right to expect that the instructor is qualified and knowledgeable. It is the head’s responsibility to maintain the quality of courses taught through TOS.
Because there will be an increasing expectation that academic personnel on campus are involved in the delivery of outreach courses, departments should consider including the teaching of such courses in their hiring proposals. If faculty or APs teach for the Outreach School, student evaluations are required in the tenure and promotion and extended term Packet I. In addition the Assessment of Outreach Efforts form on the Academic Affairs web site must be completed and included in Packet I under 3.C.1.
Teaching for The Outreach School and UW/Casper may be done in two ways:
Teaching is considered part of the faculty member’s/APL’s teaching and included in the job description; therefore, the faculty member/APL receives no additional compensation. We anticipate that there will be an increase in on-load teaching for TOS since outreach is a priority in the Academic Plan. The Dean’s Office must approve any arrangements that involve TOS paying the department/program for teaching/replacement teaching BEFORE a commitment to TOS is made.
Tenure-track and extended-term-track faculty will not be allowed to teach overload for Outreach during the academic year; summer session is exempt.
Tenured and extended-term faculty will be permitted to teach one (1) Outreach course on overload per academic year; summer session is exempt. For exceptions, contact the associate deans.
It is important that courses enroll at least the minimum number of students (UW Regulation 6-400 mandates 10 for lower-division courses; 5 for upper-division courses). Our enrollment system allows a department to follow the enrollments in courses from the time students begin registering, usually several months before the beginning of the term. It is important to check those enrollments and to look for courses that are undersubscribed or those for which there is a heavier than expected demand. Before the end of the registration period, the department can adjust the schedule by making teaching reassignments from under-enrolled classes and adding additional sections of heavy demand courses. (See Summer School for policy regarding canceling classes scheduled for summer.)
It is not acceptable to cancel a course without reassigning the faculty/APL to another course; lack of enrollment does not free the instructor from a teaching responsibility. The Dean’s Office may, on occasion, approve under-enrolled courses if there is a compelling reason, but you must request such approval. Normally, such courses need to be canceled and another course offered. Decisions about canceling under-enrolled courses should be made as soon as possible — December for Spring Semester, May for Summer Session and early July for Fall Semester are usually the times to make decisions about closing classes. If only a few students are enrolled by those times, it is unlikely that the course will gain enough enrollments during registration, when classes begin, to meet minimums. Besides, canceling a class at that time gives the department adequate time to notify any students who may be already registered so that they can make other arrangements. It is important that students are notified of any cancellations.
Adding courses or sections is best done as early in the registration process as possible. Experience shows that courses not listed in the Class Schedule do not enroll well because students do not know that they are being offered. Adding additional sections of an already listed course usually has better results if some sort of wait list arrangement has been used. The wait list gives the names of students who want to enroll in the course (in the order in which they were put on the wait list); those students should be contacted and notified of the additional section(s) and given first chance to enroll in the additional section(s).
Controlled enrollment means that the student must contact the department before being allowed to register. It should be used sparingly. For example, if the prerequisites for the course cannot be screened by the registration system (e.g., having filed for graduation or having taken a number of specific courses), then the student will need to contact the department so that someone there can determine if the student meets the prerequisites. If controlled enrollments are used, it is imperative to strictly enforce whatever prerequisites were established.
The Banner student information system is not capable of automatically rolling students from a waitlist into a class, students are allowed to register for one section of a course while on the waitlist for another, students are unable to see their position on the waitlist through WyoWeb, and the summary waitlist for a class is in alphabetical order. The Registrar and Information Technology are aware of these issues with the Banner waitlist system and hopefully they will eventually be worked out. The waitlist policy is departmentally determined.
G. Verification of classes
For each term, the Office of Institutional Analysis produces a Verification of Data for Scheduled Classes report. These data are used in various ways to indicate teaching loads for all instructors.
It is critical that these data be accurate. The head is responsible for the accuracy of that information.
Here are some of the points that need to be stressed:
q Classes taught through telecommunication, such as compressed video, that have the same course number with section numbers in the 80s should count as one class. Many classes that are section 50 (UW Casper) as well as 80 (other outreach) may actually be one course. (Ten sections may be one course even though it is offered in multiple sites.) It is also possible that the on-campus class and the off-campus course is really just one class — it will depend on how the department has structured the course and whether the course is being taught for additional funds off-load. Sponsor and non-sponsor departments have not linked some combined section courses.
q If a class has a lab taught by a GA, the GA receives the 1 hour credit and should be listed as the instructor for the lab course.
Failure to input accurate data leads to misleading information about the teaching done by instructors in a department. These data are the basis for many university-wide statistics. Inaccurate data give a skewed picture of a department. If you have questions, please contact Ann O’Grady in the Dean’s Office.
H. Degree Program Curriculum
The curriculum and its maintenance and appropriate revision are essential to the vitality of an academic program. Ideally, department/program requirements are part of a cohesive whole with the university and college cores. Department heads/program directors may have a faculty committee charged with oversight of the curriculum.
The curricular requirements for a degree program are determined and specified by the appropriate faculty/academic professionals in the department/program.
It is the responsibility of the department/program to inform the dean, the registrar, the Center for Advising and Career Services and the Outreach School about changes in the curriculum. The department/program must work with the registrar so the on-line CAPP program is accurate.
I. Program Assessment of Student Learning Contact Audrey Shalinsky
UW is engaged in a major effort to assess student learning based on the goals, objectives, and student outcomes determined by the faculty. The purpose is to improve student learning through strengthening educational programs. The results of gathering information on student learning may be revision in the requirements of the program or programmatic expectations. Perhaps equally important, creation of student learning outcomes provide an opportunity to tell prospective students what they may gain in completing a program.All programs--Minors, Bachelors, Masters, and Doctoral--are now engaged in a continuous assessment cycle. The department reports its assessment activities in their annual report.
Assistance in completing the steps of the assessment process is available from the UW Assessment of Student Learning website http://www.uwyo.edu/AcadAffairs/ASSESSMENT/ , the university assessment coordinator (contact Academic Affairs), the Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning, and the A&S associate dean.