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HCDE Summer Quarter Teaching Policy

Approved November 2021

Overview

HCDE’s academic programs primarily are offered during the Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters. However, there are reasons and opportunities for offering courses over summer, but these have financial implications for the department. This policy aims to clarify and make equitable and transparent the process of proposing summer courses in our BS and MS programs.

The goals of this policy are to 1) provide a source of financial salary support for our faculty who want to teach, 2) give our students flexibility in completing their degrees, 3) allow for room to innovate on new courses, and 4) potentially generate additional revenue for the department. We also need to assure that offering summer courses does not reduce enrollment or impact
curricular plans or goals during the academic year.

Courses will be staffed according to a 1:20 ratio of instructors to students for 4-credit courses, 1:30 for 3-credit courses, or 1:40 for 2-credit courses. Co-teaching or hiring of instructional support for courses (e.g., TAs, graders) may be possible depending on projected ability to fill seats in the course. Instructors will be compensated at 50% FTE for an 8-week full term course or and adjusted appropriately for A or B term courses assuming a 1:20 ratio.

BS Program and General Ed Classes
In 2020, the provost changed the financial model for summer quarter in the state-based programs, which is now run by UW’s Continuum College. In this model, departments have direct control over which classes they offer and are shared a portion of the revenue generated from those courses. At the same time, we also now assume financial risk if courses do not fill to their target enrollments. This policy aims to identify which courses we may offer and how to incentivize faculty to increase enrollment in their courses. 

General education classes, if filled to full enrollment, can be a source of revenue generation, especially if they attract non-HCDE students. HCDE 210 (Explorations in Human Centered Design) and HCDE 298 (e.g., Inclusive Design or other special topics) are the two primary service courses we have offered that fill general education requirements. Because offering HCDE BS classes over summer can potentially lower enrollments throughout the year unless they are of interest to non-HCDE students, these courses should be offered on a more limited basis.

Instructors can have a direct impact on the revenue generated by the General Education and BS classes, and to incentivize faculty to offer these courses and assure high enrollments, the department commits to share 25% of the HCDE net profit generated by the course with full time faculty in the form of additional incidental funds. This incentive is not available to Affiliate Faculty or PhD students.

MS Program Classes
Unlike the state-based BS and service classes, MS classes follow the same financial model as during the academic year and thus are not eligible for the incentive. Instructors of MS courses will be compensated at 50% FTE for an 8-week course.

PhD Program Classes
In general, PhD courses are not offered over summer. 

Summer Course Proposal Process

In November prior to the upcoming summer quarter, the Curriculum Committee Chair will send out a proposal submission form to full time Faculty, Affiliates, recent LPTTs, and PhD students for summer courses, including title and course number, desired term (A, B, Full), description of course, etc. The total number of courses we can offer may be dependent on enrollment projections from the coming year. For faculty teaching general education courses or BS program courses that have the potential to attract non-HCDE students, potential instructors will also be asked to accommodate what size of enrollment they anticipate being able to support and whether they would like to have support instructors or opt for potential increased revenue.

If more people are interested in teaching classes during the summer than we have the capability to offer, prioritization of approval for classes will be based on:

  • Full time faculty will be prioritized first, then PhD students, then affiliate faculty. Within these ranks, how many other prior opportunities to teach the proposing instructor has had will also be considered.
  • Instructor’s experience and ability to teach the proposed course independently without much support from the program directors.
  • Anticipated interest from students (e.g., based on past enrollment, etc.) to assure full enrollment and financial sustainability.

The BS and MS Program Committees will review the course proposals made to their respective programs and make recommendations to the Curriculum Committee and the Chair for which courses may meet enrollment targets and would best serve the needs of the students. The Curriculum Committee and the Chair will make the final decision and will notify faculty of the decision to offer the course by January 31.

If enrollment minimums (targeting at least a break even amount for the cost of the course) are not met by 30 days prior to the start of the term (A, B, Full), the class may be cancelled.