1. FA-005-910 Awarding of Supervisory Units

2. Purpose • Investigate issues related to assignment and awarding of supervisory units and respond to questions raised in the referral

3. Background Information • There are two categories of classes: • S classes • C classes • Supervisory classes, also referred to as S-Factor classes, are assigned when the mode of instruction involves direct one-on-one contact between faculty and student.

4. Background Information • Assignment of release time is a separate issue from assignment of faculty to S-Factor classes with low enrollment. • WTU releases may be given by the president/designee for direct or indirect instructional activities such as release time for research, scholarship, new course preparation, course overload, credit by examination, instructional support for graduate students, etc..

5. Background Information • Faculty workload is measured in Weighted Teaching Units (WTU) • Faculty workload is average of 12 WTU of direct instructional and 3 WTU of indirect instructional activities. The average is commonly over one academic year. • There is a misconception that faculty workload is 3 classes per quarter. It may or may not be.

6. Background Information • For supervisory (S-Factor) classes the WTU is computed as: • WTU = K- Factor * Number of Students • K Factor varies by the classification. The typical K-factor is 0.333 for undergraduate and .50 for graduate classes. • Note that the workload in S-Classes does not depend on number of units assigned to the class.

7. Background information • S-Classes are expensive. They result in large WTU and low FTES. • Example: 12 Students in a two unit undergraduate class with S-36 Classification. • WTU = .333*12 = 4 • FTES = (12*2)/15 = 1.6 • This same class would require 12 hours per week of direct contact with students.

8. Fall Quarter 2010 Data • In Fall quarter of 2010 a total of 657 active S-Factor classes were offered at Cal Poly, Pomona. These classes required approximately 876 WTUs and generated only 415 FTES.

11. Q1: Should there be a university policy that limits the number of supervisory units a faculty member can be awarded per quarter? • Faculty workload issues are adequately addressed by existing university policy and collective bargaining agreement, there does not seem to be a need for any additional policy. • Two implicit concerns: • faculty not receiving credit for the WTU of S-Classes or resulting WTU is used for release time for other faculty. • student enrollment in non-supervisory classes (C-Classes) is raised to support the S-Factor classes with low enrollment.

12. Q2: Who decides how many units are given for a particular activity supervised? Should it be a Departmental Committee? • The number of units, the classification, and the enrollment in S-Factor classes are curricular matters that are subject to the university curriculum process. The approved university curriculum process must be followed.

13. Q3: What is the mechanism of assessment to make sure that the expected outcome is met? • Student learning in both supervisory and non-supervisory classes should be addressed in each college or department’s assessment plan.

14. Q4: For faculty who receive reassigned time bought out by an external grant, it is generally implicit in the grant that the faculty member will be doing this work with students. Should faculty be awarded additional assigned time units for supervising students working on those projects for which they already receive reassigned time? • Release time is assigned by the President/designee to support faculty activities as deemed appropriate. • Assignment of faculty to S-Factor classes as well as non-supervisory classes shall be determined by the appropriate administrator (Dean of the college) after consultation with the department chair or designee and/or the individual faculty member.

15. Q5: Should there be a difference in units awarded for undergraduate vs. graduate students supervision? • There is a difference in S-factor between graduate and undergraduate classes. • The number of units is a curricular matter

16. Recommendations • S-Classes have significant budgetary impact. Each department should review its current offering of the S-factor classes to ensure that the classification and number of units assigned are appropriate to the department, college, and university educational mission while available resources are efficiently utilized. • Academic Affairs and the appropriate senate subcommittee review and refine the current S-Factor classifications to ensure adequacy for Cal Poly, Pomona. • Many large enrollment S-Factor classes seem to be used for internship, direct studies, lab supervision that would not require one-on-one interaction with the students enrolled in the class. Academic Affair and the appropriate senate subcommittee should modify the C78 classification for use in supervisory classes that do not require one-on-one interaction with the student.