USU Nursing Faculty Rethink Faculty Workload, Develop A New Approach to Fairly Measure Teaching Efforts

Faculty from the Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing (GSN) at the Uniformed Services University (USU) aimed to uncover whether the traditional credit-based system accurately represented the actual time faculty spent teaching.

October 3, 2024 by Sharon Holland

Universities around the world struggle with the challenge of fairly measuring faculty workload, especially when it comes to teaching. Traditionally, workload has been tied to how many credits students earn for a course-if a student earns 3 credits for a class, the faculty member teaching it is awarded 3 credits for their efforts.

However, this method often fails to account for the significant differences in the time and effort required for various types of courses. While a straightforward lecture-based course with exams may require similar amounts of time for both students and faculty, hands-on courses like those with skills labs, simulations, anatomy dissections, or clinical supervision demand far more from faculty. These courses can require many additional hours to develop and manage effectively.

To address this issue, faculty from the Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing (GSN) at the Uniformed Services University, conducted a project led by Dr. Heather Johnson, professor and chair/director of the Family Nurse Practitioner and Women's Health Nurse Practitioner programs, that aimed to uncover whether the traditional credit-based system accurately represented the actual time faculty spent teaching. Using a newly developed data collection tool, the GSN faculty gathered detailed information on the number of clock hours faculty invested in developing and running courses. Faculty who had most recently taught each course provided this data, offering real-world insights into the time and effort they expended.

The results were striking: faculty often put in significantly more hours than students, in some cases, up to seven times more. While the team initially hoped to develop a universal formula for all courses, they discovered that each course had to be evaluated individually due to the unique demands and responsibilities involved.

Johnson and her team published their findings in an article titled "Redefining Faculty Workload Metrics: A Data-Driven Approach," which was released online ahead of print in the Journal of Professional Nursing on October 1, 2024. This groundbreaking work is the first to explore faculty workload in such a detailed manner. Though the project was time-consuming and complex, Johnson says they are pleased with the outcomes. The new workload units they established now more accurately reflect the effort faculty put into their courses, leading to a more equitable distribution of teaching responsibilities.

"This project provides a valuable guide for other institutions looking to ensure that faculty teaching efforts are properly recognized and rewarded," Johnson said. "By adopting a data-driven approach to redefine workload metrics, universities can more fairly acknowledge the contributions of their faculty and ensure a balanced workload across different types of courses."