supporting student learning through holistic … student learning through holistic faculty...
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Supporting Student Learning through
Holistic Faculty Evaluation
Nancy Hensel, NAC&U
Jon Kilpinen, Valparaiso University
David Salomon, The Sage Colleges
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The Teagle Foundation Grant
Preparing 21st Century Students through
New Visions for Faculty Evaluation, Campus
Governance, and Curriculum
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Goals for the Project
1. Improve and individualize the evaluation of faculty work.
2. Develop holistic department models.
3. Articulate and expand the NAC&U focus on integrating professional and liberal studies.
Sixteen NAC&U campuses participated in the Project.
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Implementing the Holistic Department
Approach – Valparaiso University
Response to: ◦ an historic 24-credit annual teaching load
◦ recent revision of the faculty evaluation process
◦ increasing concerns about faculty workload
Includes an intentional distinction between teaching-load credits (TLCs) and workload credits (WLCs)
Aims to promote and sustain our teacher-scholar model for faculty work
Formally adopted by the Faculty Senate in Fall, 2014
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Core Principles of this Model
Departments and smaller colleges operate as whole units consisting of faculty with diverse talents.
Academic units are empowered to manage faculty resources and deploy diverse faculty talents to meet unit and institutional goals.
Management of faculty resources should also support and advance the professional development of the constituent faculty throughout their careers.
Faculty will be treated equitably, though not necessarily identically, allowing them at times to be relieved of certain duties while they concentrate on others.
Decisions about managing faculty resources rest primarily at the department or college level, though within agreed-upon guidelines.
Departments / colleges are accountable for their management of faculty resources (with implications for budget and staffing allocations), as are faculty accountable for the performance of their work assignments and responsibilities (with implications for annual salary increases).
The academic deans oversee and administer this model, ensuring consistency and approving particular elements.
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Logistical Guidelines – TLC vs. WLC
Each faculty member is responsible for 24
WLCs per year with no set amount of
TLCs
◦ TLCs generally equal course credits
◦ one WLC equals 45 hours of time on task
(which approximates one TLC)
Each academic unit, however, must deliver
a minimum number of total TLCs each year
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Logistical Guidelines – Unit Minimums
The tenure-track faculty of each
department must deliver at least:
◦ the total number of t-t faculty x 18 TLCs / yr
◦ minus the approved WLC of the dept. chair
◦ minus the approved WLC of any grad program
directors
◦ minus the approved WLC of any unreplaced
sabbaticals, research professorships, or
endowed professorships
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Logistical Guidelines – An Example
A department with 7 tenure-track faculty members
would have the following overall profile:
◦ 7 x 24 WLCs = 168 total WLCs each year
◦ 7 x 18 TLCs = 126 gross TLCs
◦ minus 6 TLCs for the department chair
The WLC categories would include:
◦ at least 120 TLCs across the tenure-track faculty
◦ 6 WLCs for the department chair
◦ 42 remaining WLCs to distribute across the faculty
If there are not 42 identifiable WLCs, they revert to TLCs,
meaning the tenure-track faculty must offer more course
sections than the minimum
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Logistical Guidelines – WLCs
Always eligible for WLC after Dean’s approval of
task and time on task:
◦ leading assessment or accreditation work
◦ research activity with timeline and deliverables
◦ overseeing major curricular revisions
◦ journal editorships
◦ election to a major office in a national organization
◦ continuing education for strategic retooling
◦ other “titled” duties
e.g., supervisor of student newspaper or licensure coordinator
in Education
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Logistical Guidelines – WLCs
May be eligible for WLC, though normally
considered part of the usual work of faculty:
◦ service on standing committees
◦ academic advising
◦ membership on task forces
Not eligible for WLC
◦ regular office hours
◦ participation in recruitment efforts
◦ advising student honor societies and clubs
◦ mentoring junior colleagues & peer classroom visits
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Linkages to Faculty Evaluation
Each faculty member prepares an annual work
plan with goals and target dates
◦ identifies WLCs and their balance with TLCs
The chair revisits this plan and assesses progress
as part of the faculty member’s annual
performance evaluation
◦ unrealized goals for which WLC was approved may not
be renewed and could revert to TLC
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Opportunities of this Approach
Equitable, but not identical, treatment of faculty
Better leveraging of diverse faculty talents
Greater empowerment of academic units to achieve significant goals
Potential benefits to students in both formal classroom learning and undergraduate research
More flexibility over the course of a faculty member’s career, with better options for professional development
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Guiding Principles for Holistic Faculty
Evaluation of Teaching
Teaching Evaluation focuses on student
learning
Stress on student responsibility for active
learning and contribution to learning
Stress cooperative nature of the learning
enterprise
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Areas of Review to Consider
Evaluation of the learning environment and the
instructor’s effectiveness in creating and fostering
that environment;
Evaluation of the student’s assumptions of
responsibility for learning;
Achievement of planned learning outcomes;
“Housekeeping” issues important to human
resource management (faculty absence,
timeliness, organization, etc.).
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