Grahame Cooper1

The Development of the Salford Workload

Balancing Model / Process

Grahame S Cooper

University of Salford

Grahame Cooper2

Discussions, Discussions, ...

• Time getting on - pragmatism

• Research:– Carry on using existing method from TIME RI– Research rating * 10 ... (“Just for now.”)

• Management activities– Handled by individual Schools– Guidance on Faculty aspects of some roles

• Commercial & other work (AE)– Handled as individual activities

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... Discussions, Focus on Teaching

• Contact hours V credits & student numbers– Traditions (Religion?)– Encourage efficiency and effectiveness

• Teaching weighted by level?– “Final year should be worth more!”– “First year should be worth more!”

• “Core and margin” approaches– Balance (Modules, Credits & Student Numbers)– Linear or non-linear variation– Variability: Some topics more intense than others

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Credits & Student Numbers

• First approximation to module workloads.

• Quantifiable variables identified:– Credits (C), Student Numbers (N)

• Workload = W0 + WC*C + WN*N + WCN*C*N– To first order. (Linear variation assumed)

• Assumption (reasonable approximation):– double Credits double Workload

– Implies: W0 = WN = 0

• Formula adopted:(Initial) Workload = WC*C + WCN*C*N

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Estimating Actual Numbers

• Many trial calculations done.– 1600 hour year assumed.– Various teaching styles looked at.– Estimates from all schools (est. hours worked):

(c+s)/16

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Teaching “Norms” Calculated

• “Standard Lecture Course”– Credits factor ~ 0.4 to 0.7 (mean: 0.6)– Students factor ~ 0.002 to 0.008 (mean: 0.006)

• “Intensive Lecture Course”– Credits factor ~ 0.2 to 0.65 (mean: 0.5)– Students factor ~ 0.005 to 0.017 (mean: 0.013)

• Other areas looked at:– MSc credits result in 1.5 x effort– Dissertations– Labs and team projects

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Credit & Student Based Calculation

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180Student Numbers

40 Credits20 Credits

10 Credits

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Example CalculationsTen & twenty credit modules based on conventional, lecture-based approach.

Per Student TotalCredits 10.00 10.00 10.00 10.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00Number of Students 20.00 50.00 100.00 200.00 20.00 50.00 100.00 200.00Per Week Hrs Hrs Hrs Hrs Hrs Hrs Hrs HrsPreparation prior to class 0.75 0.75 0.75 0.75 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50Delivery (lectures) 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00Student Interaction and Support 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00 8.00 10.00 12.00 14.00Total 6.75 7.75 8.75 9.75 13.50 15.50 17.50 19.50Total over 12 weeks 81.00 93.00 105.00 117.00 162.00 186.00 210.00 234.00

Assessment Hrs Hrs Hrs Hrs Hrs Hrs Hrs HrsAssignment setting 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00Assignment marking 0.33 6.67 16.67 33.33 66.67 13.33 33.33 66.67 133.33Exam setting - multiple choice 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00Exam marking 0.33 6.67 16.67 33.33 66.67 13.33 33.33 66.67 133.33Total Assessment time 15.33 35.33 68.67 135.33 28.67 69.67 137.33 271.67

Writing Module reports 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00

Total Hours 98.33 130.33 175.67 254.33 192.67 257.67 349.33 507.67

Days per year 220.00Hours per day 8.00

Hours per year 1760.00Conversion to workload units:

Standard workload 100.00Hours per workload unit 17.60

Workload for above module 5.59 7.41 9.98 14.45 10.95 14.64 19.85 28.84

Current Model:Student Coeff 0.0050

Credit Coeff 0.5000Workload In current model 6.00 7.50 10.00 15.00 12.00 15.00 20.00 30.00

Hours in current model 105.60 132.00 176.00 264.00 211.20 264.00 352.00 528.00

Grahame Cooper9

How Prescriptive?• Even roles with the same name are different in

different Schools.

• Different demands of subject areas– Between Schools; Within Schools

• Different development priorities– Research-active / less research active, etc

• Schools have a high degree of freedom within the common model– (Everything in spreadsheet configurable.)

• Other forces may bring balance in Faculty/University. (See later).

Grahame Cooper10

… leave room for common sense

• Calculation gives initial estimate only

• Some factors not easily quantifiable

StudentNumber

Credits

InitialFigure

AdjustmentActualFigure

Explicitly stated academic grounds.

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History / Principles - Summary• Distribute and sum

approach

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Activities

Course tutor

Module 1.2 - Knitting

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“Effort”

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• Teaching: Standard forfirst approximations

• Administrative activities: percentage of workload with consensus of school and sight of allocations in other schools

• Research – percentage of time based on simple assessment of level of individual’s performance

• Discretion by Head of School over all parameters

• Mechanisms in place for activity costing& TR– But main emphasis on workload balancing