Faculty Responsibilities - Teaching and Workload

Duties of Full-time Teaching Faculty

Faculty shall:

Maintain the highest possible classroom standards of instruction consistent with published course descriptions and syllabi.
Meet with classes as assigned by direct supervisor.
Explain to each class the policies concerning attendance, grading, make-up of assignments, and examinations.
Assure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) directives.
Maintain up-to-date syllabi, attendance records, and grade reports.
Serve as an academic advisor to each assigned advisee. Advising is a responsibility of the faculty.
Serve during registration periods as assigned.
Enter student grades as scheduled.
Participate in curriculum development, making recommendations to the dean.
Serve as a member of division and/or college committees and/or as a participant and/or contributor to organized activities of the college.
Attend all faculty meetings, in-service programs, and other called institutional meetings.
Report absences from meetings for approval by the appropriate supervisor in advance of the meeting.
Report problems and recommendations concerning instruction, instructional resources and materials, and student conduct to the appropriate supervisor.
Report problems with security and physical safety to the Director of Environmental Health and Safety Training.
Maintain a work-week of not less than 37.5 hours that will include assigned periods of classroom instruction, scheduled office hours, and/or other professional activities of not less than 30 hours per week on campus sites.
Engage in an annual program of professional evaluation and faculty development.
Assist the library in maintaining adequate resource materials and the collection in their discipline.
Be familiar with and abide by policies and procedures contained in the Faculty Handbook.
Abide by the mission of Jackson State Community College.
Maintain instructional standards in compliance with external accrediting agencies.
Participate in the academic audit process.
Provide information for SACS requirements upon request.
Update course content as appropriate each semester.

Work Week and Teaching Loads

The college work week for teaching faculty is a minimum of 37.5 hours per week. The college operates on a five-day work week. This requirement includes no less than 30 hours of on-campus responsibilities in the areas of classroom instruction and preparation, academic advising, committee service, scheduled office hours, faculty development activities, and other responsibilities approved by the immediate supervisor, dean, and Vice President of Academic Affairs. During peak times and for other college related activities, faculty may be required to be on campus for additional hours beyond the minimum of 30.

“On campus” is defined as the location that is required to fulfill the obligation of the faculty member’s responsibilities. Drive time (15-minute increments) from a faculty member’s official station to designated off-campus sites and back is also considered as “on campus” and is credited toward the faculty member’s minimum of 30 hours of “on campus” time.

All academic-year and fiscal-year faculty have the same contractual responsibilities and obligations. The academic year contracts begin on the Monday following the summer session and conclude following commencement in the spring semester. The fiscal year contracts begin July 1st and conclude June 31st. (Reference TBR Policy 5:01:00:00)

Each semester, faculty members will submit a Faculty Schedule Form with office hours included to the immediate supervisor and/or the dean.

Teaching Load for Academic Year Faculty

The college assigns teaching loads consistent with TBR policy. The teaching load for a faculty member is 15 semester hours or equivalent load hours per semester for a two-semester period or academic year. Contracts are based on a load factor of 29 to 31 semester hours per academic year. (Reference TBR Policy No. 5:01:00:00)

Teaching Load for Fiscal Year Faculty

Twelve-month fiscal year faculty appointments will teach a full load each term based upon a 37.5-hour work-week allowing appropriate time for instructional, administrative tasks (if applicable), and other established faculty duties. Because the various programs in Nursing and Health Sciences fields often differ from traditional courses in non-career disciplines, there is no single formula that fairly or realistically relates time in the class or numbers of students to a teaching load. At the present time, the most reasonable teaching load for a full time Health Sciences/Nursing faculty member is simply a minimum 37.5 clock hour work week. Health Sciences/Nursing faculty loads must be consistent with load limits established by the appropriate accrediting agency but may differ from traditional liberal arts disciplines.

Fiscal year appointees will normally not be eligible for over-load consideration. The division staffing plan will address load differences based upon the discipline.

Teaching Load for Summer Terms of Academic-year Faculty

Teaching assignments for the summer terms are optional and offered at the discretion of the president, with consideration given to availability of funds and recommendations of the Vice President of Academic Affairs. Summer assignments of faculty are separate from academic year appointments and are covered by separate contracts.

TBR policy states that faculty shall be compensated at the rate of 1/32 of their academic year salary per semester hour of teaching load. The maximum summer and intersession pay may not exceed 25 percent of the preceding academic year salary. (Reference TBR Policy No. 5:02:04:10)

For each credit hour taught in the summer, faculty will keep one hour of office hours (60 minutes) per week if teaching a five-week term or half an hour (30 minutes) per week if teaching a ten-week term. If a faculty member is teaching online courses during the summer, “virtual office hours” may be used.

Class Size

Maximum enrollments for courses at Jackson State will be recommended by the division in which they are offered with advice from the faculty teaching the discipline, subject to approval by the dean/program director and the Vice President of Academic Affairs. Class sizes vary according to the nature of the subject and/or size of the teaching facility. A goal of the college is to ensure equitable faculty loads within disciplines.

In the spirit of maintaining equitable workloads, dual enrollment class sizes will be the same as those of the same discipline that are taught on campus to traditional college courses.

Distance Learning course size maximums should not exceed acceptable class maximum standards for traditional equivalent classes.

Decisions regarding the minimum enrollment required for a class to be taught will be made by the appropriate dean/program director and/or the Vice President of Academic Affairs.

Equitable Workload

It is the duty of the institution to ensure that all faculty are assigned equitable work duties. Faculty who feel their workload assignments are inequitable may appeal to their direct supervisor or the Vice President of Academic Affairs with a written statement explaining why the workload is inequitable and offering a solution to the inequity. The issue will be discussed in a meeting consisting of the faculty member filing the written appeal, the faculty member’s direct supervisor, the Vice President of Academic Affairs, and the Executive Committee of the Faculty Council to determine if the appeal has merit and, if so, what steps shall be taken to correct the inequity.

Catalog Course Description and Syllabus

Instruction shall be consistent with course descriptions published in the current Jackson State Community College Catalog and Student Handbook. Instructors shall provide a syllabus to each student within the first two class meetings. Syllabi must be developed consistent with the criteria established by the college and must be ADA accessible under current TBR and institutional policies. If there are substantive changes (i.e., course requirements, significant change to the course schedule, or evaluation criteria) during the semester in the course requirements as stated in the syllabus, faculty should inform the students of these changes in writing. Program directors or deans will provide faculty with syllabi format.

Evaluation of Learning

Instructors may develop their own quizzes, examinations, and evaluation processes relevant to and within best practices of their disciplines. Learning outcomes will be measured. These outcomes will be consistent with the outcomes established for General Education by the Tennessee Board of Regents.

Grading

The grading system and definition of grades is provided in the Jackson State Community College Catalog and Student Handbook. Faculty members are responsible for entering final course grades in jWeb under the instructions provided by the Director of Admissions and Records.

Evaluation records of students in each class shall be maintained during the semester and for a minimum of six months following a course. Grades may not be publicly posted if the student can be identified by others.

Auditing a Course

Policies regarding an opportunity to audit a course are specified in the Jackson State Community College Catalog and Student Handbook. Students who elect to audit a course are present only for the purpose of observing the course. Neither faculty members nor JSCC academic support services will have any obligation to provide instruction or evaluation of the student.

Attendance, Records, Class Rolls

Faculty shall emphasize to all students the importance of prompt and regular class attendance. Each instructor shall formulate an attendance and tardiness policy as part of the course syllabus. If attendance or tardiness can affect the grade of a student, the policy must explicitly state the relationship of grade and attendance. The faculty member’s dean or program director reserves the right to review and approve the attendance policy.

The faculty member shall verify the accuracy of the class roll and maintain the roll and attendance records throughout the duration of the course. Only students officially enrolled in a class may attend that class and receive a grade. Should there be a question regarding the accuracy of enrollment of any student, faculty should refer the student to the Records Office immediately.

Faculty are required to verify attendance on a weekly basis, using the Attendance Reporting function with jWeb. Using this report, faculty will verify which students have never attended, have stopped attending, or are attending.

Confidentiality of Student Records

With regard to privacy, personally identifiable information may not be disclosed to others without the prior written consent of the student, except for specific cases defined by the U.S. Department of Education. The school must annually distribute to all enrolled students a notice of the availability of the information that is required to be made available to students under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). This act is also known as the Buckley Amendments which was passed by Congress in 1974. FERPA will provide guidance with regard to privacy about student records and personally identifiable information. A notice must list and briefly describe the information and include a statement of the procedures required to obtain the information. Information will need to include the following: the right of the student to inspect and review their education records; requests for amendments of their education records; guidelines for the correction of inaccurate and misleading data; and procedures to file a complaint the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by the school.

Academic and Classroom Misconduct

The matter of classroom discipline is left to the instructor. The instructor can temporarily remove or exclude from the classroom any student engaged in disruptive conduct or conduct in violation of the general rules and regulations of the institution. The instructor must notify the immediate supervisor, dean, and the Vice President of Academic Affairs after any student has been removed from class for disciplinary reasons. Extended or permanent exclusion from the classroom or further disciplinary action can be effected only through appropriate procedures of the institution. If a classroom discipline problem rises to the level of an emergency situation, the faculty member should contact campus police.

It is expected that Jackson State students will fulfill their academic responsibilities with the utmost degree of honesty. Academic dishonesty, as defined by the student handbook, will not be tolerated. The current student handbook informs students of the Tennessee Board of Regents policy on “Academic and Classroom Misconduct” (TBR Policy No. 3:02:00:01). Plagiarism, cheating, and other forms of academic dishonesty, either directly or indirectly, are prohibited. (See the academic honesty policy in the Jackson State Community College Catalog and Student Handbook.) In addition to other possible disciplinary sanctions which may be imposed through the regular institutional procedures as a result of academic misconduct, the instructor may assign an “F” or a zero for the exercise or examination or assign an “F” in the course.

If the student believes that he or she has been erroneously accused of academic misconduct and if his or her final grade has been lowered as a result, the student may appeal by choosing to have the case reviewed using provisions of the procedures established by the college. The student should consult the Jackson State Community College Catalog and Student Handbook for additional information regarding current disciplinary processes and procedures.