Administrative Rules

Value Statement 

Austin Community College is dedicated to the teaching and learning of its students.  The Faculty Workload policy reflects that commitment by seeking to provide the proper balance between teaching, service to students and the college, and the preparation time necessary to be an effective instructor.

 Administrative Rule

 Definitions

 "Adjunct faculty" refers to those faculty appointed on a course-by-course basis for a term not to exceed one semester per contract period, except where the adjunct faculty member has a Multiple Semester Term Appointment, which guarantees courses during the academic year term (subject to sufficient enrollments).

 "Contact hour" refers to a 50-minute classroom assignment.

 "Laboratory hour" - One laboratory hour equals 0.75 contact hours unless defined differently elsewhere in this document.  The number of lecture equivalent hours and lab hours for each course is determined from the course descriptions in the official College catalog.

 "Courseload reduction" refers to releasing faculty members from all or part of their full-time teaching duties.

 "Distance education" is defined as a formal educational process in which the majority of the instruction occurs when students and instructors are not in the same place. Instruction may be synchronous or asynchronous.  Distance education may employ correspondence studies, audio, video, or computer techniques.  Distance education classes must be offered through Open Campus.

 "Full-time faculty" refers to all full-time teaching faculty, librarians, and counselors. Full-time refers to anyone paid on the full-time faculty pay scale.

 “Good evaluative standing” refers to an overall rating of good or better on the most recent Full-Time Faculty Evaluation Summary form.

 "Lecture hour"- The total number of contact hours scheduled for the lecture portion of a course during a standard 16-week semester, divided by the number of weeks in the semester.  The number of lecture hours for any course is stated in the course description in the catalog.

 "Lecture equivalent hour"- The Lecture Equivalent Hour (LEH) value for any course is a weighted combination of Lecture Hours and Laboratory Hours stated for the course.  One Lecture Hour is one LEH, and one Laboratory Hour is .75 LEH, unless stated otherwise in this Administrative Rule.

 "Overload" refers to an additional teaching section, above the regular teaching load, paid at the adjunct faculty rate of pay.  A fractional overload does not count as an additional teaching section.

 "Teaching assignment" may include teaching during the day or evening at more than one location.

 "Workload" - The total responsibility of a faculty member will require a minimum of 40 hours of work per week.

 Counselors and Librarians

 Full-time counselors and librarians are required to work a minimum of 40 hours per week.  Counselors and librarians may be assigned to teach no more than 3 LEH per year as part of the regular load.  For counselor faculty, this is subject to the review of the appropriate Campus Dean of Student Services, and the Vice President of Student Support and Success Systems and final approval of the Vice President of College Support Systems and ISD Relations.  For librarian faculty this is subject to the review of the Associate Vice President of Instructional Resources and Technology, and final approval of the Vice President of College Support Systems and ISD Relations.

 If a counselor/librarian teaches as part of the regular contract, the counseling/librarian contractual hours will be determined by deducting the in-class teaching hours, required office hours, and one hour of course preparation time per week per LEH.

 Head Librarians will receive a stipend as determined by the Vice President of College Support Systems and ISD Relations based on the recommendation of the Associate Vice President of Instructional Resources and Technology

 Librarian Faculty

 Library Faculty, Head Librarian - Public Services

 Library Faculty, Librarian - Public Services

Library Faculty, Head Librarian - Technical Services

 Library Faculty, Librarian - Technical Services 

 Counselors 

Counselors are required to work a minimum of 40 hours a week. Since counselors perform a variety of functions, the allocation of time to each function is based on college-wide goals, campus needs, the skill levels of individual counselors, and the official job description for counselors. Generally, counselors will adhere to the following allocation of time. 

Thirty (30) hours Direct Student Contact Time: walk-ins, appointments, contract teaching, workshops, new students orientation, student follow-up, and/or student activities.   

Ten (10) Administrative Time: committee work, professional development, supervision, faculty liaison, program development, and/ or budgeting. 

2.  With the approval of the Campus Dean of Student Services, counselors who act as advisors to student organizations or as members of college-wide committees may allocate up to 10% of their workweek to activities related to their function as committee members and/or club advisors. 

3.  Counselors who serve as advisors to campus clubs or organizations will not receive extra compensation from the college. 

4.  Time spent with student organizations in excess of the allowable 10% will be done outside the counselor’s regular workweek. 

5.  With the approval of the Vice President of Student Support and Success Systems, Campus Dean of Student Services and the Provost, a counselor may exceed the 10% limit to serve on a college-wide committee for designated periods of time. 

Full-Time Teaching Faculty 

Full-time teaching faculty are required to work a minimum of 40 hours per week.  Teaching assignments may include teaching during the day or evening or weekends and at more than one location.  Full-time faculty workload for the academic year (Fall, Spring and Summer semesters) shall be determined as follows: 

1.  Lecture courses: 35-36 lecture equivalent hours (LEH) annually during the 10-˝ month contractual period or 30 lecture equivalent hours (LEH) during a 9 month contractual period.  Only hours above 36 or 30 will constitute an overload and be paid at the adjunct faculty rate of pay. 

2.  Laboratory and/or lecture/lab courses: 35-36 or 30 lecture equivalent hours annually using the formula that one hour of laboratory instruction = 0.75 lecture equivalent hours.  The number of lecture and lab hours for each course is determined from the course description in the official College catalogue. 

3.  Maximum workload:  The maximum load for a faculty member in any standard 16-week semester is 21 LEH including overloads.  A maximum load for the entire summer is 16 LEH including overloads, with no more than 10 LEH in any 5.5-week session.  Full-time faculty must be in good evaluative standing to be eligible to teach overloads.  Full time faculty may not select (or reserve) a second overload section prior to adjuncts who have special hiring designations (MSTA, Highest Priority to Hire, Instructional/College Associate) having made their course selections (Fall, Spring and Summer).  Any exceptions to this rule must be approved in writing only by the appropriate Instructional Vice-President upon recommendation of the appropriate Dean. 

4.  Courses with external learning experience:  For student learning experience external to the classroom, credit toward instructor workload will be given only if the experiences are: 

a)     Structured and approved as part of the course through the usual approval process

b)    Expected of all students in the class 

A.  Health Sciences

Health Sciences classroom teaching faculty workload equals 15 to18 LEH per semester.

LEH will be calculated by the following formula: 

• Lecture = 1:1 (Contact Hours to LEH)
• On-Campus Laboratory = 1:0.75 (Contact Hours to LEH)
• Clinical (Practicum and Clinical in which ACC faculty are continually on site with students and coordinate all the students learning experiences) = 1:1 (Contact Hours to LEH)
• Practicum (Practicum and Clinical in which ACC students are assigned the supervision of an employee of the clinical facility and ACC faculty make occasional visits to the clinical facility) = 1:0.75 (Contact Hours to LEH)
• For faculty with a combination of clinicals and practicum the actual hours of each are used to calculate workload.

Because the semester to semester workload varies dramatically in some programs depending on the semester, Health Sciences faculty have a total workload of 30-36 LEH for Fall & Spring semester for faculty working a 9 month contract.  For 10 ˝ month contracts, a total of 36-43 LEH is required, and for 9+3 contracts, a total of 42-50 LEH is required. 

B.  Field Experience/Practicum (e.g., Child Development, Human Services, etc.) Internships

The supervision of students involved in practicum and field experiences shall be equated to one LEH by the table below.  An instructor will receive one LEH for each complement of students; i.e., one to two weekly hours for 12 students will be equated to one LEH; 1-2 weekly hours for 24 students will be equated to 2 LEH, etc. For loading purposes the number of students may be aggregated over a year. 

 C.  Cooperative Work Experience (e.g., Marketing, etc.)

 The supervision of students involved in cooperative work experience shall be equated to classroom teaching by the table below:

 For loading purposes the number of students may be aggregated over a year.  Recommendation of the appropriate Dean and Associate Vice President is required for any exceptions to the above for determining lecture equivalent hours. 

D.  Applied Music 

Faculty teaching applied music courses will be loaded at the rate of .67 LEH for each student or receive 2 LEH for each three students.  No more than 20% of a full-time faculty member’s regular load may be earned by teaching applied music courses. 

5.  Distance Education:  Distance education classes must be offered through Distance Learning.  Distance education is defined as a formal educational process in which the majority of the instruction occurs when student and instructor are not in the same place.  Instruction may be synchronous or asynchronous.  Distance education may employ directed or print-based study, or audio, video, or computer technologies. 

All courses must be approved by the appropriate department chair or department advisory committee, instructional dean, and the Director of Distance Learning.  Approval of entire degree and certificate programs also requires approval of the Academic or Workforce Vice President.  The Distance Learning Course Approval Form is used for this process.  New Distance Learning courses not in the college course inventory must also go through the new course approval process.  The Academic and Campus Affairs Council approves the Distance Learning Approval Form as recommended by the Director of Distance Learning, Distance Learning Committee and Associate Vice President of Instructional Resources and Technology. 

The Director of Distance Learning coordinates the scheduling of classes, of either new or existing Distance Learning courses during the schedule development process.  This process is done in collaboration with department chairs and division deans using the appropriate Distance Learning forms. 

A.  Student Limit Per Section 

The maximum number of students per section for DL sections is as follows:  Instructional Television (ITV) – 50, Print based courses (PRN) – 50, Personal Computer with Modem (PCM) – same as campus equivalent, and Interactive Video Classes (IVC) – same as campus equivalent.  Approval for a different limit may be granted in unusual cases.  The approval process to obtain an exception to this rule is the same as that for offering a course via Distance Learning with the additional required approval of the Academic and Campus Affairs Council. 

Students taught by ACC faculty who receive course credit from another institution will be counted for loading purposes according to this policy. 

B. Standards 

1.  Office Hours

Each distance learning course must provide for appropriate interaction between faculty and students, and among students.  This interaction may occur during faculty office hours, or it may take place via telephone, email, electronic chats, on-site meetings, video teleconference or other methods. Appropriate interaction for a course depends upon the course delivery mode and the technology used by faculty.  

The number of on-campus posted office hours held per week equals the number of hours stated in this Administrative Rule, section 7, and an additional number of hours equal to the time that the Distance Learning section(s) would have met on-campus.  For example, a class meeting for 2˝ hours per week requires 2˝ hours of additional posted office hours per week.

For Distance Learning courses with extensive student contact via email, electronic chats, other technologies, on-site or additional activities, the required on-site office hours may be reduced.  Approval for reduced on campus posted hours must be obtained by using the appropriate Distance Learning form. 

2.  Distance Learning Standards and Practices

Additional standards may be addressed and approved by the Academic and Campus Affairs Council in order to implement and maintain best practices.  These standards may be approved as long as they do not conflict with Administrative Rules, Board Policy and standards set by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), or other regulatory bodies.  These standards should be incorporated into the Distance Learning Course Approval Form to implement "good distance education standards and practices." 

C.  Computing LEH and Compensation 

1.  First Section Taught

The first section of a Distance Learning course taught by a full-time or adjunct faculty member in a semester earns the same number of LEH as the on-campus equivalent.  The first section may occur in a short session if that faculty member does not teach the Distance Learning course during a long session.  Generally only the LEH for the first section of a Distance Learning course is included in a full-time faculty member’s base load.  However, two or more Distance Learning sections of the same course or different courses may be part of a faculty member’s base load if approved by the appropriate Dean.  Enrollments from several sessions may be combined in order to generate sufficient enrollment to warrant offering the course as a first section. 

2.  Additional Enrollments

During a semester faculty members are compensated on a per-student basis for enrollments beyond the first section for a Distance Learning course as defined above.  The per-student compensation is computed by dividing the salary the faculty member receives for teaching a Distance Learning course at the adjunct rate by the Distance Learning section enrollment limit.   

Payment for additional enrollments will be paid as a stipend distributed in even payments over the remaining pay periods in the session in which the enrollments are generated. 

D.  Minimum Enrollments Per Section 

The process to determine the minimum number of enrollments that are needed to offer a first section of a Distance Learning course, as defined above, is the same as that for on-campus courses. There are no minimum enrollment requirements for sections where faculty members are paid on a per-enrollment basis. 

6.  Full-time Teaching Faculty Load and Work Assignments:  Faculty members shall be consulted as to teaching schedules and work assignments, prior to such assignments.  Full-time teaching faculty members are required to teach a minimum of 40% of the regular teaching load in traditional in-class classes during the Fall and Spring semesters.  “In-class classes" include live courses taught using interactive video, Internet resources and other technologies.  Exceptions must be approved by the appropriate Dean and Vice-President.  The teaching loads and work assignment are the responsibility of the respective Deans.  For Department Chairs, Assistant Deans and Assistant Department Chairs, office hours will be based on the actual LEH taught and proportional to the required office hours of a full-time instructor.  Office hours for a class taught as an overload equal 1 hour per 3 LEH.  For Department Chairs and Assistant Department Chairs, the appropriate workload will be determined by the appropriate Instructional Vice President. 

A.  Normal full-time teaching load: 

Fall - 15 LEH

Spring - 15 LEH

Summer - 5-6 LEH

Total 35-36 LEH 

LEH of less than 3 may be carried over to another semester only within the same academic year with the approval of the appropriate Dean.  LEH that is carried over, or banked, to a later semester counts against the maximum allowable LEH for the semester in which it is used, not the semester in which it is taught.  5-6 LEH is considered a “full" load in a Summer session.

B.  The maximum paid overload that faculty in good evaluative standing may receive for an entire semester is as follows: 

Fall - 6 LEH

Spring - 6 LEH

Summer - 10 LEH 

Any LEH taught above 36 lecture equivalent hours during the 10-˝ month contractual period or 30 lecture equivalent hours during a 9 month contractual period will be compensated for at the approved salary rate of adjunct faculty. Waivers of this limit must be approved in advance by the appropriate Instructional Vice President. 

C.  Department Chairs and Assistant Deans who choose to make themselves available will receive a stipend for working 7 hours per week the "other" short session 5.5 weeks of the summer. 

D.  All release time is in LEH.  The total LEH for hours taught and release time taken may not exceed the allowable LEH limits.  That is, release time still counts against the 21 maximum LEH per long semester, the 16 LEH in summer and the 10 LEH in a 5.5-week summer session. Assistant Chairs shall receive compensation in a form determined by the appropriate Instructional Vice President. 

7.  Full-time Teaching Faculty Office Hours/Other Duties:  In addition to full-time teaching responsibilities, full-time teaching faculty shall make themselves available to students, staff, and other faculty as defined below: 

In the Fall and Spring, full-time teaching faculty contractual obligations begin one week prior to the first instructional day of the semester and end with the last instructional day of the semester.  In the Summer, they begin and end with the first and last instructional days of the session that is taught.  

Full-time teaching faculty are required to work a minimum of forty hours per week.  Teaching and office hours are structured to allow a minimum of fifteen unscheduled hours per week for instructional preparation/development and other college-related activities. 

Full-time teaching faculty must schedule a minimum of five regularly scheduled office hours, and make an additional five office hours available to students by appointment.  This requirement applies to Fall and Spring Semesters, as well as to the Summer session in which full-time teaching faculty are on a 10.5 contract.  Those on a 10.5 month contract who teach the 11 Week Session must schedule a minimum of three office hours per week and make an additional two hours per week available by appointment. 

For each Distance Learning class, faculty must schedule additional office hours each week equal to the time that a classroom version of the Distance Learning section(s) would have met on campus. 

Full-time teaching faculty teaching overloads during the Fall, Spring, or Summer Semesters are required to hold one office hour per week for each 3 LEH. 

Office hours, office location, instructor phone number, and email must be publicized to students through the course handout/syllabus, web address and must also be posted outside the office each semester. 

Each full-time teaching faculty member shall be expected to share responsibilities related to the total concern of the college.  Such responsibilities include instructional development, faculty meetings, instructional department committee meetings, registration duties, student advisement, and other responsibilities as assigned by the College. 

(Administrative Rule effective January 2001 for scheduling of faculty for Summer of 2001.)