Section A: Course Assignment

Section A Course Assignment:

Section A of the Service Agreement provides for the assignment of up to four (4) courses to each full-time faculty member. Full-time faculty may be assigned a combination of hours in all three sections that do not exceed 40 hours per week. Adjunct faculty may be assigned a combination of hours in all three sections that do not exceed 30 hours per week. Course assignments are not to exceed four courses, except in limited situations and with prior approval from the VPAA/CAO. The weekly Schedule information must be provided and must align with the University’s Master Schedule for the day of the week and times scheduled for each course. These meeting days and times are not to be altered by the faculty.

FNU is eliminating the proration of sections based on enrollment numbers. Courses will be canceled if they have fewer than 8 active students unless approved by VPAA/CAO and VPO. If a course is approved with fewer than 8 students, faculty should be aware that Course Management hours will not be included. Registrars will not exceed the maximum number of students enrolled, as determined by the Faculty SMEs and detailed in Campus Nexus. Therefore, no prorated increases will be required moving forward.

Distance Learning and on-ground courses will be compensated for instructional hours, or direct contact hours with students. The calculation of instructional hours will be the same, regardless of modality. All courses, regardless of modality, must utilize a BlackBoard course to communicate, provide instruction, and engage with students. DL Faculty must fully complete all the assigned instructional hours, including synchronous instruction. Although the fully DL faculty do not need to utilize the ADP time and attendance for DL Service Agreement hours, it is the university's expectation that all scheduled contact hours are fully met.

All Faculty must meet the scheduled contact hours for each course to receive full compensation for Instructional hours. Meeting contact hours is a mandatory requirement of the institution, our accreditors, and state licensing authorities. There are no exceptions to the requirement of meeting weekly instructional contact hours, including DL instructional hours. Instructional hours are the number of hours scheduled for direct contact with students. DL courses and on-ground courses that are scheduled for 6 hours of direct contact with students per week will be compensated for 6 hours of instructional time. A hybrid course that is scheduled for 3 hours of DL (synchronous) instruction and 3 hours of on-ground instruction per week will be compensated for 6 hours of total instructional time.

Faculty are required to utilize the ADP time clock for all hours worked in accordance with Instructional hours, except for fully DL faculty whose instructional hours are tracked through BlackBoard.

The institution is adding a Course Management section which covers time spent grading, in-course advising, course preparation, lesson planning, exam preparation, student engagement/communication, individual course assessment, and preparing/revising course materials. Course Management will be two (2) hours per week for each course taught that has 8 or more students. Course Management is provided as a means for faculty to adequately prepare and conduct their assigned courses. This additional compensation is not part of direct Instructional hours. This additional time is provided to enhance the ability of faculty to deliver quality education. Course Management for on-ground faculty should be clocked in ADP, and specifically detailed in the Faculty Service Agreement. However, FNU does want to encourage faculty availability to support students, so if any of the Course Management hours are utilized on the weekends. The on-ground faculty should notify their immediate supervisor, within 24 hours, of the hours worked in an email, as if it was a missed punch. Fully DL Service Agreements that include Course Management, do not require ADP usage. The full DL Service Agreement will be compensated, and DL faculty activity will be tracked through other means.