Introduction

Lawrence B. Breitborde

Dean of the College

Faculty and administrators must work together to adjust workload, to devise creative time-reallocation strategies, and to rearrange fiscal priorities--[so] that our students will be the ultimate beneficiaries.

From a 1999 report, Reconsidering Faculty Roles and Rewards, K. U. Zahorski and R. Cognard, for the Council of Independent Colleges

The success of the college depends on faculty willingness to respond to both student and institutional needs. However, our collective success is increasingly challenged by the need to find ways for us as individuals to have a realistic view of our workloads and to construct workable, productive and both professionally and personally satisfying lives. The flexibility of our profession as educators allows us to integrate our scholarship with teaching and to enjoy a great deal of autonomy (compared to many other professions) in structuring our daily lives. Yet, the very commitments we have to excellence in teaching, to advancing our scholarship and creative work, and to faculty self-governance often seem to compete with our ability to enjoy a sense of satisfaction with both our professional and our personal lives.

The Knox faculty has addressed these issues through a 1995-1997 ACE-Kellogg-supported "Faculty Workplace Initiative." This led to our ~~Survival~~/Success Guide, among other projects. More recently, stipends have been established to acknowledge the additional work required for both teaching the First-Year Preceptorial and chairing departments/programs. Both these developments have their limitations. First, the question of workload will never be solved by a handbook alone. Second, stipends for certain kinds of additional work are not likely to provide a fiscally viable solution in the long run; more importantly, stipends don't necessarily address the fundamental question of how faculty commitments can be integrated with a sense of personal and professional well-being.

The Faculty Development program was instituted several years ago with a broad agenda that includes seeking innovative ways to address these challenges. This working paper summarizes suggestions that have emerged through a series of activities over the past two years. I hope that the summary will spur further discussion and proposals through which we can consider changes that will ensure our students the very best educational experiences while enhancing our satisfaction and effectiveness with our jobs.

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Finding Time

A Working Paper

Background

This working paper comes most immediately out of faculty development activities of the past two years. Tim Kasser organized a ShopTalk in October, 2003 on "Time Poverty/Time Affluence." Brief presentations were given by Tim, Zali Gurevitch, Diana Beck, and Penny Gold. Following up from the discussion at this session, Tim and Nancy Eberhardt worked out a collaborative project whereby a small group of faculty volunteers would keep track of their time for a term, and reflect on what they found. A group of about 8-10 "Time-Trackers" did just that in the fall of 2004, meeting over lunch a few times during the year to talk about their experience. Several members of the group (Nancy Eberhardt, Tim Kasser, Diana Beck, Donna Jurich and Martin Roth) reported out on the project, with lively discussion. While these activities have been the immediate stimulus for this working paper, the same issues were of central concern to the group of faculty who wrote the ~~Survival~~Success Guide for Knox Faculty, which includes sections on "Managing Time" and "How to Say No."

We have gathered below suggestions for "finding time." Some of these come from people who participated in the "time-tracker group" and from people at the discussion this spring; these suggestions are listed without presumption of widespread agreement. We offer them for consideration and discussion. [A few of the suggestions are imported from the ~~Survival~~Success Guide for Knox Faculty and are noted as such. Suggestions from the Guide carry the weight of six co-authors and of the Dean of the College, who checked over the text before it was published and who sends it out to all new faculty.]

We have divided suggestions between strategies that could be employed by an individual faculty member and strategies that would entail institutional action (by the Dean, through a college publication, etc.)

We hope this working paper will stimulate further discussion, help us disseminate the good ideas people have already had, and lead to institutionalizing practices that will further help faculty. Our overall goal: enhancing the quality of faculty life in order that our jobs may be done with more joy and less stress, and hence with more effectiveness.

Individual strategies

1) Keep track of your time for an extended period (e.g., one term). What do you do throughout the day and how long do you spend on each activity? Include a column for noting your level of satisfaction in doing the activity. (See last page for a sample tracker sheet.) Some things to look for when you review your results: Do you have any days when you've spent zero hours on work? (Having regular breaks like this--say one day per week--can really help.) What things are you spending more time on than you thought you were? What things are giving you the most satisfaction? What's the total number of hours you spend working each week, and how much does that vary from week to week? What things are getting less time than you would like them to? Are you often interrupted, or are you working in large blocks of time? Which feels more productive--short spurts or longer blocks? Many of the rest of the strategies below will be easier to employ if you have this data about your own work-life.

2) Think about how many hours is appropriate for a "normal work week," knowing that some weeks may be heavier than others (e.g., pre-registration time, dealing with honors students in spring term, an article deadline approaching, etc.). For example, you might draw up a model of a normal work week as 35-40 hours, knowing that sometimes there will be more. This way the "more" may take you up to 50 hours some weeks, but not up to something as unhealthy as 60 or 70 hours on a regular basis.

3) Keep in mind the amount of time that students should spend each week on courses. Perhaps 35? Since they're taking three courses, that would mean between 11 and 12 hours per week on each course, including class time. Tailor your course so that student work comes within that limit. Consider how many and what kinds of assignments you're giving. Does each assignment serve a pedagogical goal? Are any of them make-work or just "making sure students do the reading"? Would it be possible to stagger assignments so not all students are handing in things on the same day? Design the nature and quantity of assignments so that students can complete them in a reasonable amount of time and so that you are able to grade them with an amount of time reasonable for your schedule (see next item).

4) For your own work week: Within a model of, say, 35-40 hours per week, decide how many hours are realistic to spend on your two courses, including prep, teaching, and grading. Make it a number that allows for the other work commitments that you have, e.g., research, e-mail, other work with students (like independent study and honors), other college work (like committees and admissions). Divide the number of hours for courses in two, and then reshape how you prep/teach/make assignments so that one course fits in that number of hours. This is what a "one credit" course is when faculty have a teaching load of two courses per term. If you are doing way more than this, cut back! For example, if you are assigning more work than you can grade, it's probably more work than the students can do in a reasonable time also (see above). Assign less -- either shorter assignments or fewer or both. If you have trouble getting the reading for a class done in less than 2-3 hours, again, it's probably too much for the students also. Cut back. For the sake of an example, here's a possible estimate of time allotment, one that would be doable for a faculty member who's taught most of their courses two or three times previously and who has an established research program:

Teaching (total of 30 hours)

class time (2 courses, each with three 70-minute periods) 7

prep time (2 hours per class session) 12

grading time (1.5 hours per course) 3

(some weeks this will be much less, sometimes more)

independent study/honors direction 2

office hours and informal student contact 4

Other college work (committees, etc.) 2

Research/creative and other professional work 8

BUTS:

a) But I teach a course that meets four or five times per week. Response: Adjust prep and/or grading time to adjust for more in-class time.

b) But I'm in my first year or two of teaching and most of my courses are new. There's no way I can prep each class in less than six hours. Response: There's probably no way around the first year or so being seriously overloaded. Other demands may be less on you (e.g., other college work), but that's not enough to make up the slack. And you're also in a time when you need to forge ahead with your research/creative work. Consider each element carefully and trim wherever possible. Don't even think about doing more than one independent study per term, and have some terms with none. Even if a course is entirely new, try to include assignment of at least some texts/issues with which you are very familiar. Make assignments shorter. Know that life will get much easier once you've taught a course twice before.

c) But I've been teaching mostly the same courses for 20 years, and I don't need this much prep time. Response: Consider if you still love all the courses you're teaching--maybe it's time for an overhaul, for thinking through new kinds of assignments, or for offering a new course or two. Or, utilize the freed up time for other professional work.

5) Consider canceling class once a term when you have an unusually heavy commitment to grade a long assignment that needs to be turned back to the students quickly. (On the other hand, if you've figured in grading as part of your load, and scheduled assignments in your two courses so as to spread grading over the term, you shouldn't need this strategy very often.)

6) Consider streamlining comments on grading. Are there mistakes or de-railings that are commonly done? Write your comment out once and then copy-and-paste into written feedback as needed. If you prefer hand-writing comments on papers, write in the margin "see attached" and staple the "stock" comments at the end. Or key particular comments with a number or letter, write the number or letter in the margin of the paper, and provide the key at the end.

7) Limit the number of independent study courses you offer. See the ~~Survival~~Success Guide for Knox Faculty for a discussion of independent study courses and how to limit them to those with the most justifiable academic purposes (http://deptorg.knox.edu/facdev/guide/ind_study.html). The guideline offered there is not just a faculty dream, but concurred with by the Dean: "How many to take on? Probably no more than one or two a term, but not as many as six in a year. (This can vary by discipline. Scientists who have students working with them as part of their own research will often take on more.)" (Emphasis added. More good advice precedes and follows this passage!) Another strategy to lessen the load is to offer independent study courses on an S/U basis rather than for a letter grade. This can help lessen time that would be spent grading student work. It will also turn away those students who are under the impression that an independent study is an easy "A."

8) Don't be afraid to say no to requests from students, other faculty, or the Dean if you really don't have the time to do what is being asked. (This assumes that the request is appropriate to your status, experience and interests--any of these are grounds for saying no as well.) It is in the nature of our job that we are the only ones who know all we're doing; no one else is keeping track and more requests will be made than we can say yes to and stay sane. It's up to us to sort through the many requests and figure out where our time and talents will be well spent, and to say yes to those. It's also possible to say "yes, but not right away" if it's just an issue of timing. See the ~~Survival~~Success Guide for Knox Faculty for a more extended peptalk on this whole subject. (See the "Introduction," the section on "Managing Time" and the foldout page on "How to Say No.")

9) If you find there are things you want to have time for that you're not getting to, schedule those in first. Don't wait to find the time, but "Just go there!" (quoting Nancy Eberhardt). If it's a one-day "sabbath" from work, two mornings a week of research, evenings with family, reading novels, or whatever--make that a priority and schedule it in. Write these activities in your planner if you have to. After you've been doing it a while, it will feel more natural. This can also work for some of the not-so-desirable activities that we tend to put off and then feel burdened by--like scheduling in three hours of grading right after an assignment is due.

10) Watch out for how much time you're spending on e-mail. Try to distinguish between those messages that need an immediate reply and those that can wait. Just having all of them sitting in the in-box can be discouraging--and time-consuming as you continue to scroll through to see what needs attending. Try filing some messages in folders like "Later-school" and "Later-personal," and then schedule a time in the week to come back to those.

11) If you find you have way overcommitted yourself and need to back off of something, talk to the Dean to get some help. The Dean is happy to help you with a reality check--is this too much or not? And if it is, he'll help you figure out how to cut back or redistribute the load.

12) Are you dealing with unusual personal circumstances for a while, e.g. children and/or parents who need extra attention? If you can afford it financially, consider asking for a term off, or to go on part-time status for a year or more. Departmental needs will have a place in whether the request can be granted, but don't hesitate to explore the possibility with the Dean if you think this will make a significant difference in your well-being. It's also sometimes possible to take a term off with no pay in order to pursue your scholarly agenda full-time. Talk with your department chair and with the Dean if this is something you'd like to do.

Institutional strategies

1) Make more widely known the guidelines and advice on this subject (e.g., what's already available in the Guide, but that tends to get forgotten). Find ways to make the college's expectations for faculty time visible and known. Be sure people know that the college is in favor of faculty having a sane workload. Some ways we might do this:

A direct message from the Dean, say a note at the beginning of the year.
Work with Chairs towards more college-wide consistency on expectations.
Develop a separate little booklet with all this wisdom and distribute to faculty; put a version on the Faculty Development Program website as well.

2) Make advising loads more equitable across the faculty. This is a complex issue, as some advisees are assigned by the Associate Dean (entering students, reassignment of 1st and 2nd year students when a faculty member is gone) and some are assigned by department/program chairs (majors). Both parties have access to advising loads. But even if the department chair distributes advisees equitably in the department s/he doesn't see listings from other departments, so isn't in a position to assess if everyone in the department is overloaded. Data is needed on the distribution of advisees across the faculty before the problem can be addressed, with a breakdown by non-majors, majors, and second majors. If faculty were aware of these numbers--and if we decided on a maximum beyond which no individual should go--we would be in a better position to respond reasonably to requests. It's also possible that a re-figuring assignments for entering students might alleviate pressure in high demand fields. We could consider going back to a system that assigned advisors to entering students without reference to expressed major interest, or consider a system based on residence. For departments with an especially high number of majors, we could consider assigning majors to faculty outside the department.

3) Consider the impact on faculty time of the new graduation requirements for an educational plan and for experiential learning, both of which involve faculty time. How much additional time are faculty spending on these tasks? How much is reasonable to fold in without adjustment? What else might be reduced to make up for this extra time? For example, might we eliminate the second advisor to double majors, with students and first advisors picking up the responsibility? Or cancel one day of class in each pre-registration period?

4) Consider a panel for First-Year student orientation or for the Fall Institute a panel on "Tips for Successful Interactions with Your Professors," which would include, among other things, guidelines like: "Respect your professor's time. Set up an appointment if you want to see him/her, and come prepared. Don't call your professor at home unless it's an emergency, or unless they've told you it's fine to do so. Understand that independent studies are extra work for your professors and are not meant to replace regularly offered coursework." [N.B. This is in the works for Fall Institute 2005.]

5) Consider stipends and/or course release to faculty for independent studies.

6) Implement the ACE/Kellogg proposal for a part-time child care coordinator (see document of May 2000 for details). Some tasks that now take up the time of many individual parents could be provided to all through the work of one person.

7) Consider reducing the number of credits needed for graduation from 36 to 35 or 34. This would decrease class size and would help out some students who have not kept pace with 9 credits per year.

Sample Time Tracker sheet

[This sample includes keeping track of both work and personal time,

but you can reduce it to just work time if you prefer.]

Time activity begun	time spent	activity	personal time	satisfaction (1-5, 5 high)
8:40	35 min.	e-mail		3
9:15	15 min.	class prep		5
9:30	15 min.	student stopped by office		5
9:45	135 min.	class prep		5
12:00	75 min.	class		4
1:15	15 min.	lunch	X	--
1:30	30 min.	e-mail		3
2:00	60 min.	independ. study		4
3:00	20 min.	travel planning	X	2
3:20	10 min.	clearing desk		2
3:30	10 min.	colleague stopped by		4
3:40	20 min	clearing desk		2
4:00	90 min.	committee mtng		3
5:30	15 min.	left for home	X	--
5:45	165 min.	family time	X	4
8:30	60 min.	grading papers		3
9:30	60 min.	personal e-mail	X	5
10:30	30 min.	personal reading	X
11:00		to bed	X	--

In this hypothetical day, the faculty member spent a little over 9 hours on work and a little over 5 hours on personal things.