Instructional Philosophy
The Board of Trustees Policy D-1 outlines ACC's instructional philosophy which holds the following guiding educational principal: instruction should adapt to meet student needs. To implement this principal, instruction must remain flexible and maintain a high academic standard.
Read the full board policy at http://www.austincc.edu/board/policies/D1.htm.
Academic Freedom and Responsibility
The Board of Trustees Policy D-2 reflects the College's belief that faculty must feel "free to pursue scholarly inquiry without unreasonable restriction." The policy goes on to discuss the responsibilities of the Board of Trustees, administration, and faculty members regarding academic freedom.
Read the full board policy at http://www.austincc.edu/board/policies/D2.htm.
Requirements for All Faculty
All faculty members are expected to enforce the no smoking, food, or drinks rule in the classrooms and labs.
All faculty members are required to adhere to all timetables established by the College, particularly in regard to the following:
a. signing Teaching Agreements;
b. completing and returning official documents (Final Grades, etc.) as informed;
c. maintaining office hours of one hour per week for each section taught; and
d. furnishing official transcripts.
First Week of Classes
The first week of the semester is hectic for everyone, but the following should be helpful in getting things off to a smooth start:
- Faculty should check their faculty mailboxes before class for administrative guidelines, messages, etc.
- Students should be provided a written handout/syllabus the first day of class indicating the following:
a. course number/section,
b. faculty member's name, office number, office hours, office phone,
c. prerequisites for the course,
d. required texts, supplies, and materials,
e. attendance policy,
f. withdrawal policy,
g. reinstatement policy, if applicable,
h. incomplete grade policy, if applicable,
i. course objectives,
j. course requirements, including special projects, field trips, etc., and
k. criteria for grading.
Syllabus preparation is protection for faculty as well as valuable information for the student. For more information on how to prepare a syllabus, faculty should contact their department chair.
Absence Procedure for Faculty
Faculty teaching college-credit courses are expected to meet all their classes for the length of time scheduled. Austin Community College does not have a "walk policy"; however, the College does recognize that during the semester situations may arise which prevent faculty from meeting class, though the expectation is that such absences will be rare. When ill, a faculty member must contact the Department Chair (Instructional Dean, if unable to contact the Department Chair) as soon as possible. Department Chairs are responsible for determining a procedure for locating qualified substitutes or deciding if it is best to cancel the class. In all cases, the Campus Administrative Office must be notified.
Substitute instructors receive hourly pay from an account in the instructional budget. Instructional Deans process payment on an Instructor Deduction/ Substitute Payment Authorization form, available in the Campus Administrative Office.
Attendance
College credit faculty do not have to record student attendance throughout the semester, but may do so. Technical/Vocational (block-time) faculty must record student attendance daily. Veteran students' attendance should be monitored every two weeks, and withdrawals should be made as appropriate. Forms for this purpose are available in the Campus Administrative Office.
Related Administrative Rule: 4.01.002 Attendance Policy: Semester Credit Courses
Class Rolls
During a regular semester, faculty will receive several class rolls from the Admissions and Records Office (distributed by the Campus Administrative Office and Center Supervisors).
- Unofficial roll - students registered at the end of regular registration.
- Unofficial roll - students registered at the end of final registration/schedule changes.
- Official Roll - Referred to as 12th-Day Roll in Fall and Spring, 4th-Day Roll for Summer Sessions. This roll is extremely important because it determines the number of students for which the State will provide reimbursement funds to the College.
- Final Grade Reports - distributed the last week of the semester
Copyright Ownership
The term "copyright ownership" is used here to discuss material you, as a faculty member, have personally created. For information on copyright involving material someone else created that you would like to use refer to Copyright and Fair Use.
The ACC Copyright Ownership policy as outlined in Administrative Rule 4.02.006 applies to all employees, both academic and non-academic, and to copyrightable material produced through activities of the College, including student materials.
In general, an author owns the copyright when the work has been created "on an individual's own independent initiative outside the time, place, and scope of employment or activity within the College." Conversely, the college owns the copyright when it has been created "within the scope of their employment."
However, "the College cedes copyright ownership to the faculty member who writes or develops a scholarly or academic tangible or virtual Work (including books, papers, lecture notes, articles, and similar materials)" either using his or her own resources or using "College resources that are generally available to the College faculty." The college resources include office, office computer, local telephone usage and library resources.
There are three areas of exception described in AR 4.02.006 where the College does not cede ownership: 1) assigned projects and tasks, 2) external college agreements, 3) institutional works.
The policy also outlines issues of revision policy, revenue distribution, disclosure, transfer of ownership, third party materials, and dispute resolution.
For more information about copyright ownership, visit http://irt.austincc.edu/copyright/.
Related Administrative Rule: 4.02.006 Copyright Ownership
Copyright and Fair Use
The term "copyright and fair use" refers to material someone else created that you, as a faculty member, would like to use. For information dealing with material you have personally created refer to Copyright Ownership.
As stated in Administrative Rule 4.02.007, ACC "requires that all faculty, staff and students comply with federal law regarding the use of copyright protected materials" including material for use in the classroom, out of classroom in presentations, online, at conferences, and in homework.
Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, ACC has the responsibility to remove or deny access to websites with copyright violations if the websites are part of the College's network. In this event, it is the producer of the material that is liable for any copyright infringements.
Copyright law does make allowances for "fair use" of copyrighted material under certain circumstances. The circumstances are evaluated based on four criteria:
- The purpose and character of use;
- The nature of the copyrighted work;
- The amount and substantiality of the portion used; and
- The effect of use on the potential market of the work.
For more information about copyright and fair use criteria, visit http://irt.austincc.edu/copyright/.
Related Administrative Rule: 4.02.007 Copyright and Fair Use
Distance Learning
Distance Learning's Mission is to provide student access to quality higher education credit and non-credit courses via distance learning technologies in the ACC service area, statewide, and nationally.
The primary responsibility of all ACC faculty members is to provide quality instruction to their students. For Distance Learning instructors, this often presents unique challenges beyond those faced by traditional classroom instructors. First, there usually is no classroom-or there may be multiple sites several miles, counties, or countries apart. Communications with distance learning students is critical and relies on high quality teaching and state-of-the art technology. Consequently, Distance Learning faculty members take on additional responsibilities essential to the delivery of a creative, supportive learning environment.
Distance Learning accepts responsibility for providing support for distance learning faculty members who instruct the distance learning students. Staff members are on hand daily to respond to requests for information and student support issues.
ACC faculty teaching distance learning courses follow the same College policies, procedures, and administrative rules as faculty teaching on-campus courses. More detailed information is available in Administrative Rule 4.03.004.
Distance Learning (OPC) also provides a Student Handbook for distance education students and a list of Student Resources.
ACC's Distance Learning program participates in a consortium of accredited, public Texas community and technical colleges called the Virtual College of Texas (VCT). ACC is one of the fifty college districts represented in VCT. The mission of VCT is "to provide all Texans access via instructional technologies to quality instruction and support wherever they may live, regardless of geographic, distance, or time constraints."
For more information on Distance Learning courses and procedures, visit http://dl.austincc.edu/.
Related Administrative Rule: 4.03.004 Full-time Faculty Workload
Field Trips
Field trips or class activities conducted outside the regularly scheduled classroom must be approved in advance by the Department Chair. Allow at least a week for the necessary forms (obtained through the Department Chair) to be processed.
Off-campus activities cannot be a mandatory part of the class, nor affect the students' grades, since attendance may interfere with other courses or obligations. Any exceptions to this must be approved by the Instructional Dean or must be stated in the ACC Catalog course description as a required portion of the course.
Guest Lecturers
Faculty must obtain prior approval from the Department Chair to have guest lecturers in their classes.
Prior to the guest's arrival, faculty need to inform the Campus Administrative Office and the Campus Police (preferably in writing) that there will be a guest on campus. On the day of the visit, guests need to sign in at the Campus Police office to arrange for parking.
Office Hours
Board Policy D-3 specifies requirements for scheduling office hours. Full-time faculty are required to hold five (5) regularly scheduled office hours per week and to be available for five (5) more by appointment. Faculty teaching courses on an overload basis must post one (1) additional office hour per each overload section. Adjunct faculty are required to hold one (1) regularly schedule office hour per week for each course taught.
Read the full board policy at http://www.austincc.edu/board/policies/D3.htm.
Professional Development Credit
For more information, see the Administrative Rule on Professional Development Credit and/or the Professional Development web site regarding specific guidelines for faculty and staff.
Schedule of Classes
The class schedule is prepared by the Department Chairs. Scheduling guidelines and approved number of sections are determined by the administration and task forces. Faculty requests for changes are routed through the appropriate Department Chair.
Related Administrative Rule: 3.03.012 Course Schedule Development and Assignment of Classrooms
Textbook and Supplies
Textbooks and supplies are available at six college bookstores. These campus bookstores are located at the Cypress, Northridge, Pinnacle, Riverside and Rio Grande Campuses (near the Rio Grande Campus at 812 West 12th Street). Textbooks and supplies are also available on location during general registration.
Workload of Employees Retired Under Teachers Retirement System
Individuals who are retired and receiving retirement benefits from the Teachers Retirement System of Texas (TRS) may be employed to teach no more than one-half the instructional load of a full-time faculty member. The instructional load shall be calculated on the basis of the semester-hour load of a full-time faculty member. For more information go to http://www.austincc.edu/hr/.
Related Administrative Rule: 4.03.001 Workload of Employees Retired Under TRS
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