Many areas of the collge has found successful ways to argue that they derserve lighter work loads.  The Social Science Department is used in the contract as a "norm"; however, there are few, if any, parts of the college that adhere to this.  Accordingly, a one-class release (for reasons of committee work, curriculum development, special project, etc.) is NOT the same for each faculty member at LCC.  A one-class release for an instructor who teaches only 3 classes a term is much more costly and unfair to an instructor in Social Science who teaches 5 classes a term and gets a one class release.

On the subject of equity, some individuals get release time to prepare their courses while others do not.  Some instructors want to develop new courses and are given release time for that development.  Certainly actual class size should be collected to determine workload issues.  There are a number of classes each term that seem to be perpetually under-enrolled.  This means that, in effect, the instructors who teach the intro courses (and are not getting release time to develop them) are doing the lionŐs share of the work in the college.

Studies of faculty workload have revealed inequities and  deep resentments when comparing workloads throughout the college.  In the academic transfer part of the college, the Social Science Department (and Speech instructors in EFLS) have the highest workloads in terms of credit hours and contact hours taught.  The Workload Advisory Committee is urged to make efforts to solve this problem.  It has been discussed for YEARS without any move towards resolution.  Instructors, therefore, have been pursuing their own individual solutions (furthering inequities and sense of resentment) by many of the following methods:  switching to 4 credit classes,  "banking" classes,  pursuing release time through FASPs or college groups that offer release time for participation (while others do not),  exploring distance education components to their classes to gain numbers of students and reduce ACTUAL contact hours.

Within departments and disciplines the mode of delivery of a class should be considered.  Methods should be developed that evaluate the workload differences between a traditional classes delivered in the classroom, telecourses, and on-line courses.  The method of delivery can seriously impact the time needed.      Writing intensive courses also dramatically impact the amount of work performed by instructors.      Class size is another variable.  Lane should have a commitment to small maximum numbers in the classroom to insure the quality of the learning.  As a learning centered College students should be given individualized attention.  This is not possible without small class maximums or fewer class sections.    Learning communities also add to the workload of the participants.  They require coordination between the instuctors of course objectives, shared themes, time to sit in on the other classes of the learning community, and evalation of the things that are working.  This coordination is over and above what it takes to prepare courses individually. 

Faculty would also like the FWAC to consider is the increasing amount of bureaucratic and administrative "paperwork," administrative directives and initiatives, computer/technological changes, upgrades and problems, mandatory meetings (especially working in more than one department) increasing demands by students, departments & administration.  Instructors are finding that they now spend many hours at the computer they didn't used to.  Email volume is another concern.  This extra work, and/or all the  budget cuts have shifted much of that load onto faculty.   

Banner concerns including:
class size overrides
administrative drops
add slips
student waiting lists
manually entering grades
clunky Banner web interface
time leave entry