[Englecturers] Workload Committee Progress

[benjha at ucr.edu]

Keith Vance suggested that I give a quick update on the
workload committee status, so here goes.

First, I learned how the transition to eight courses will
happen: each BW 3, ENGL 4, 5 and 1ABC course will have a
bigger IWC (instructional workload course) value.  Full time
is currently 9 IWC, which is 9 courses.  The IWC for each
writing class will increase from 1.0 to 1.125, so eight
courses will be a full-time load, and four courses will be
half time (8 * 1.125 = 9; 4 * 1.125 = 4.5).

Second, I learned that instructors in English 4 and English 5
are NOT required to read two drafts of every essay.  So, you
can find alternative ways to help students improve.  You might
want to change your future syllabi in light of this fact.

During our meetings on the ELWR class workload, lecturers
filed complaints about the 1ABC courses, so all of the course
workload studies have been wrapped into one process.  Now, the
campus committee now has to make a recommendation by the end
of March, and the campus has to issue a decision within a week
or so after that.  Then, the union needs to decide whether to
appeal to the UC Office of the President.

So, we are half way through the process.  The union's position
is that the courses taught should be seven, not eight.  This
idea is encountering some resistence, but the committee is
open to considering changes in the enrollment cap for classes.
 The committee is meeting at least one more time, next Tuesday.

On a related subject, the University and the Union have
established a list of activities that, if they are required or
expected of an NSF, shall be given equivelancies.  So, TA
mentoring, for example, must receive an equivelancy.

Ben Harder