supporting student learning through holistic … student learning through holistic faculty...

Supporting Student Learning

through Holistic Faculty Evaluation

Supporting Student Learning through

Holistic Faculty Evaluation

Nancy Hensel, NAC&U

Jon Kilpinen, Valparaiso University

David Salomon, The Sage Colleges

AAC&U January 23, 2015 2

The Teagle Foundation Grant

Preparing 21st Century Students through

New Visions for Faculty Evaluation, Campus

Governance, and Curriculum


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.


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


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.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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.).


Holistic Evaluation includes . . .

Revision/reinvention of form and/or

process for student course evaluation

Peer observation

Review of syllabi and assignments, including

online course content

Acknowledgement of intersection of

teaching with scholarship and service


supporting student learning through holistic … student learning through holistic faculty...

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