Senate Document SD 06-15

(Approved, 4/9/2007)

MEMORANDUM

TO:            Fort Wayne Senate

FROM:      Faculty Affairs Committee

                  Nash Younis, Chair

DATE:       March 1, 2007

SUBJ:        Recommended Guidelines for Assigned Course Time for Faculty Co-op Coordinators

DISPOSITION:           To the Presiding Officer for implementation

WHEREAS, The IPFW Cooperative Education Program is a vital part of our students’ education; and

WHEREAS, There is a significant time commitment involved in the program by the Faculty Co-op Coordinators; and

WHEREAS, There is no consistent assigned course time across the campus for Faculty Co-op Coordinators,

Based on the duties described in paragraph four, it is estimated a co-op coordinator spends approximately 5 hours per student, per semester, except summer.  Therefore, the time requirement for coordinating approximately 28 students is equivalent to teaching a 3 credit hour course. 

This amounts to 142.5/5.0*=28 students.

0.25 FTE/28 students = 0.009 FTE assigned course time/co-op student/semester;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Faculty Senate recommends a 0.009 FTE assigned time for the Faculty Cooperative Education Coordinators per student for each semester except summer.  Assigned time can be banked.

* The 5.0 hours per student, per fall and spring semesters, also includes an allowance for coordinator time required during summer semester (summer I + summer II) where no assigned course time is proposed.

Senate Document SD 06-15

Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne

                Recommended Guidelines for Assigned Course Time for Faculty

Co-op Coordinators

Background

The IPFW Cooperative Education (Co-op) Program is a vital component of the education of many IPFW students.  The program connects our students to the northeastern Indiana business community and connects the business community to our students and our campus. 

By providing students with the opportunity to work in real-life situations under professional business supervision, the program gives students the chance to apply the skills we strive to develop in the classroom.  Also, faculty visits with

co-op students in their work environments enable connections to be made with business professionals.  These visits provide opportunities for discussions about curriculum improvements and provide the faculty with opportunities to talk about how the businesses can contribute their skills and resources to IPFW and vice versa.

The Cooperative Education Program has grown significantly in 20 years in the number of students served, the number of employers involved, the number of contacts made and the geographical reach of the program.

• 2,098 co-ops worked with 231 employers in 8 states in the past 20 years
• 94% of co-op students persist to graduation (16 year average)
• 90% of co-op graduates obtain full-time career-related employment in 1-2 months after graduation
• 75% of co-ops are hired by co-op employers
• 90% of co-ops remain in Indiana (95% in the NE quadrant)
• 5-25% above entry level salary is what co-op graduates can expect
• 147 students were placed academic year 2005-2006 (record number)
• 24 co-op academic majors and concentrations
• 14 Faculty Co-op Coordinators.
• Co-op is present in the Doermer School of Business & Management Sciences, School of Arts & Sciences, College of Engineering, Technology, & Computer Science, and Division of Organizational Leadership & Supervision.                      

This growth has been fueled by the efforts of many people, including the

Co-op Director and staff.  The growth has also been helped by the work of the Faculty Co-op Coordinators who mentor the students, approve the job descriptions (and revise as needed), visit the students and employers, promote the program, attend the various meetings and exhibitions, grade the students’ semester-end reports, assess the students’ evaluations, assess the employers’ evaluations and write assessment reports related to the outcomes and objectives of the academic programs. Faculty are required to visit all students during the fall and spring semesters.  During the summer from mid-May until mid-August, Faculty Coordinators have the same work load except for site visits. 

Assigned Course time for the Faculty Co-op Coordinators is not uniform across campus. At the last Faculty Co-op Coordinators’ meeting, (Spring 2006), an ad hoc committee (N. Younis, S. Minke, D. Burns) was formed to review the assigned times in all departments and develop a campus policy.  The committee completed a survey this summer of many of the Faculty Coordinators and found varying amounts of assigned time were given.  As a result of their investigations, the committee developed a recommendation based on the following assumptions about the time demands of co-op supervision relative to course assignments

A Three Credit Hour Course (0.25 FTE) requires, on average:

Contact hours               2.5/week x 15 weeks per semester = 37.5 hours

Office hours                  2/week x 15 weeks per semester    = 30.0 hours

Grading/preparation     5/week x 15 weeks per semester     = 75.0 hours

     Total                                                                                   142.5 hours