Guidelines For Online Teaching Load Equity
Approved by the School of Education Faculty unanimously on April 29, 2020.
Preamble
Faculty in the School of Education have teaching, scholarship, service, and governance responsibilities consistent with the (a) William & Mary Faculty Handbook; (b) School of Education Bylaws; and (c) Procedures for the Evaluation, Retention and Promotion, and Award of Tenure for Members of the Faculty of the School of Education. The following guidelines have been developed regarding faculty opportunities to teach in the online environment for their on-load courses. While it is not possible to include or anticipate all possible factors impacting teaching load, this document is designed to serve as a set of guidelines for determining fair and equitable teaching loads for School of Education faculty who teach in programs where online course opportunities exist. It represents a yearlong discussion initiated by the Faculty Affairs Committee to establish a set of practices that allow for the optimal and fair balance of online course loads while also facilitating the delivery of high-quality curriculum.
School of Education Guidelines for Online Teaching Load Equity
Certain agreed upon understandings provide the foundation for this document. An overview of these guiding assumptions, principles, and considerations follow:
- All course load assignments and expectations will be affected by the ability of Departments to (a) offer courses to students in a manner that allows for their timely completion of degrees and (b) meet established or new accreditation or specific faculty requirements, and to do so without hiring additional faculty. Therefore, all decisions regarding online teaching course loads should be made in consultation with Department Chairs and should be mutually beneficial for the program and the faculty member.
- Course credits taught via online, hybrid, or face-to-face have equivalent value in student transcripts and matriculation towards earning a degree. Consequently, online course credit hours equally count toward a faculty member’s teaching load regardless of the course length or learning platform (face-to-face, online, or hybrid).
- There are no restrictions as to the number of courses a Faculty member may teach in online or hybrid modes. Faculty could teach their course load fully online, partially online, or all face-to-face in consultation with the department chair based on the needs of the program.
- Faculty teaching exclusively through online platforms must remain available to offer governance to the School of Education and University. Governance to the School of Education and University should be negotiated by Department Chairs in consultation with the Dean.
- Faculty should have access to consultation and training to develop their online pedagogy/andragogy provided by the School of Education and/or University.
- Any opportunity for overload teaching in online programs for extra financial incentive should be treated in a similar manner as face-to-face overload opportunities. It is encouraged that pre-tenure tenure-eligible faculty should avoid teaching overload courses, including those in online platforms. No faculty member can be made to teach overload courses in any mode of delivery.
