For those that teach post-secondary...

[Dicentra]

If you don't mind obliging my curiousity, how many hours per week do you spend in front of students?  I was going to do up a poll but there seemed to be too many options (full time vs. part time, all the different hour amounts) so I just thought I'd ask. :)

 

Some background (since I don't often post here on the Chat Board)...

 

I was a high school chemistry teacher for a number of years before I began homeschooling my dd.  Just this past year, I decided to go back to teaching but have been teaching at the local community college instead of at the high school.  There are benefits and disadvantages over teaching in the public system but, overall, I'm enjoying it.  I was thinking the other day about how many hours per week the average teacher spends in front of students.  Full time at our local high school would mean 18.75 hours in front of students per week.  BIG NOTE:  As a long-time teacher, I'd like to make everyone who doesn't have a lot of experience with teachers aware that the 18.75 hours in front of students DOES NOT, in any way, reflect the number of hours a teacher puts into his/her job per week. :) On the low, low side, it would be about half.  For me, it was usually closer to about a third.  Just so no one thinks that a full time teacher works less than 20 hours per week. ;)

 

Now that I'm at the community college, I'm sessional which means that I get what I get but I can say no if I want to. :)  Since January, my schedule has been such that I'm in front of students 21 hours per week.  Four of those hours have been in a "substitute" capacity since one of my colleagues had to go for emergency surgery just before Christmas and I agreed to take one of his classes for him - and was glad to help out. :)  Today is the first day that he's back so as of next week, I'm down to 17 hours per week in front of students.  Quite frankly, the last 6 weeks have been exhausting. :)  All of my courses have been new to me - 2 chemistry courses, a math ed course, and the tech math course that I've been covering.  I've taught the chemistry contained in the chem courses before but not in this format and not in this time frame.  I think 21 hours per week is considered more than full time by the college here but since it was a bit of an emergency situation, they OK'ed it for the 6 weeks.  Can't say I'd want to do that for much longer, though.  Whew.

 

So just wondering...  For those of you who teach post-secondary (if you're willing to share :)), how many hours per week do you spend in front of students?

 

[Dana]

Your load sounds full time to me!

 

At the high schools, I know teachers are in front of students a lot more than the hours you mention (much more when I did my student teaching).

 

As an adjunct, I'm teaching 6 credits and am in front of students for 6 hours a week.

Full timers teach 18 credits (18 hours in front of students) and have service and advising obligations.

At the prior college I taught FT at, full time was 15 hours.

[Dicentra]

Thanks for sharing, Dana.  Full time faculty at this college would also be max 18 hours per week.  I did know that 21 would be more than full time but it was only for 6 weeks and the faculty member I was filling in for is an old and dear friend who was my physics teacher when I was in high school.  He now teaches at the college after retiring from the high school - I couldn't say "no". :)

 

Any others care to share?  It sounds like around 18 hours per week in front of students is considered full time.  Does that resonate with others' experiences?

[regentrude]

I am a part time lecturer. I have 7 hours of lectures in front of students, plus 4 hours of help sessions. A full time Teaching Professor at my university would have to teach four courses, 12-16 hours per week (the regular faculty also have a research program and teach less).

Your load sounds absolutely full time, and more than that.

[regentrude]

With four new courses, your load is absolutely insane. I remember when I prepared new classes - it takes way more than two hours prep for one hour of class. No wonder you are exhausted.

[G5052]

Yes, at the community college where I work, 18 hours is considered full-time with a flex to 21 hours with an overload bonus if approved.  They no longer have part-time faculty, just full-time and adjuncts who are hired semester-by-semester as needed.

 

They used to be very loose with adjuncts, basically letting you work as much or as little as you wanted, and for as many colleges as you could stand. Thanks to Affordable Care Act, adjuncts may only work 10 hours total for any state college per regular semester, and only 7 in the summer.  I have to sign a document each semester reporting if I am working for any other state college and how much.  

[Dicentra]

Thanks, regentrude! :)  As of the end of February, my math ed course will be finished (compressed time frame to allow them to go on field placement) so I'll be down to 11 hours per week - just my two chemistry courses left which, if I could have my own way, is how I would like it all the time. ;)  Two of my courses - the advanced pre-health chem and the math ed courses - are both distance ed/traditional courses (some students local & others not) meaning my courses had to be in Power Point format to be able to be compatible with the college's distance ed platform.  When I taught senior chem and AP chem at the high school (basically the same content), it was all "old-school" so none of my material was in Power Point format.  The Power Point packages that come with the textbooks have certainly been helpful but I still end up editing them because I don't necessarily like the way they are put together. :)

 

A personal opinion - homeschooling + more-than-full-time college teaching is NOT something I would recommend.  More of my hair has turned grey in the past 6 weeks than in the previous 5 years... ;)

[Dicentra]

Thanks, G5052!  Here in Ontario we use the term "sessional" but I think it means the same as "adjunct" in the States.

 

I'm curious (not that I know a lot about the Affordable Care Act) - how does health care legislation affect how much a person is allowed to work?  It seems like it would be two unrelated issues (says the curious Canadian ;)).

[regentrude]

I'm curious (not that I know a lot about the Affordable Care Act) - how does health care legislation affect how much a person is allowed to work?  It seems like it would be two unrelated issues (says the curious Canadian ;)).

 

The Affordable Care Act does not, in itself, regulate how much any person is allowed to work, but it requires employers to provide health insurance for regular employees (I am sure there are some definitions what exactly that means). So, some employers circumvent this mandate by simply cutting their employees' hours so that they remain ineligible for the employer provided coverage.

 

I am hesitant to discuss the issue further as this will inevitably lead into politics and will get ugly

 

[Dicentra]

The Affordable Care Act does not, in itself, regulate how much any person is allowed to work, but it requires employers to provide health insurance for regular employees (I am sure there are some definitions what exactly that means). So, some employers circumvent this mandate by simply cutting their employees' hours so that they remain ineligible for the employer provided coverage.

 

I am hesitant to discuss the issue further as this will inevitably lead into politics and will get ugly

 

 

Thanks for the explanation, regentrude!  Yes - I absolutely don't want to derail my own thread into an ugly political discussion! ;)

[G5052]

The Affordable Care Act does not, in itself, regulate how much any person is allowed to work, but it requires employers to provide health insurance for regular employees (I am sure there are some definitions what exactly that means). So, some employers circumvent this mandate by simply cutting their employees' hours so that they remain ineligible for the employer provided coverage.

 

I am hesitant to discuss the issue further as this will inevitably lead into politics and will get ugly

 

 

And yes, that's exactly what my state did.  They restricted the hours a part-time state employee can work, even if they have multiple part-time jobs with the state (as some adjunct professors do). My department has been cut to the bone anyway, and we're down to one full-time on overage and four adjuncts teaching one section each, but even if I went to the next state community college to pick up a few more sections (not worth the gas $ IMHO), I'd be restricted.

 

No politics, just reality there.  It's pretty much a done deal anyway.

 

Some of the private colleges (and private K-12 schools) have gone to putting their adjuncts into independent contractor status so they don't have to provide insurance. Technically that isn't right either in most cases, but that's a whole 'nother thread.

[Kate in Arabia]

I'm obviously not in the US, but I teach one course section of English at a local university in their continuing education program.  Last session it was six hours a week in class, they upped it to eight hours a week this session.  They had asked me to sign a contract agreeing to sixteen hours a week (!), but that was just not possible for me.  I like being an adjunct, I am working because I wanted a little time for myself more than to make money (although I don't mind that, of course). 

 

Seventeen hours sounds like a really full load, to me, when you count in the prep work and grading/evaluation.  I'm lucky that this time I am basically repeating what I taught last session, so my prep time is less.  Last session, which was my first, the prep time was significant.