Faculty Responsibilities

Instructional Load

The faculty instructional load policy is based on a year-round academic calendar. The academic deans and directors will take into account the type of courses and teaching load in order to determine a specific faculty member’s workload. Contact hours can be spread between day, evening, or online sections as well as between semesters or departments in order to get to the appropriate number of contact hours. Full-time faculty may be required to teach in the summer. In some cases, faculty will be paid overload based on their instructional workload.

Assessment of Student Learning

It is expected as part of the teaching/learning process that faculty will conduct assessments to determine their students' attainment of the institutional core abilities, the course competencies, and the programmatic learning outcomes. Documentation of these assessments will take place through the learning management system, Canvas, and through the Annual Programmatic Assessment Report.  Faculty will analyze the assessment results and improve their curriculum to assist students in achieving the desired outcomes.

30-Day Check-in Survey and End-of-Course Survey

Getting student feedback supports our accreditation process and helps us continuously improve. The information gained provides valuable insights that can aid decision-making and lead to a better student experience.

Courses with low student response rates or low enrollment under five students will only be available with consultation with the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness on a need-to-know basis that follows FERPA guidelines.

Communication

Dunwoody's course satisfaction survey tool, Watermark, integrates with Canvas. The notification system in Canvas cannot be adjusted; therefore, students will receive pop-up notifications every time they log on. We recommend they complete the survey early to avoid disruptive alerts.  If students raise concerns, please remind them why this information is important to you and to Dunwoody.

You are required to encourage student participation in the 30-day Check-In and End-of-Course Surveys. The goal is a 75% response rate from enrolled students. The easiest way to hit this goal is to dedicate class time for participation.

Students will receive a pre-survey announcement email two days before the survey opens. Students who still need to complete the survey will receive an email every two days of the last 4 days of the semester or shortened session. You will also receive an email notice during the last 4 days of the survey period if your course participation is less than 75%.  You will not receive notifications for modular or short session courses; however, you can inquire with your supervisor.

Fall & Spring Semester

Students will receive an email and notifications within Canvas the Monday morning two weeks before a class ends; surveys close at 11:59 p.m. on the last day of the semester.

J-Term/Summer Semester and Sessions 1 & 2 (shortened terms)

Students will receive an email and notifications within Canvas the Monday morning one week before a class ends; surveys close at 11:59 p.m. on the last day of the semester.

Questions

The included questions are acquired from validated research question banks. Some are used for benchmarking from national student satisfaction or engagement surveys.

You can add up to two custom questions to your End-of-Course Survey beginning 14 days before and up to the date the survey is administered to the students.

Results

You can review your End-of-Course Surveys results after grades are due. You will receive an email when you have access to your individual surveys.

Administrators, Deans, and Directors can review results as soon as the survey opens and will regularly monitor the response rates until the survey(s) are no longer available.

Instructor Support

End-of-Course surveys are administered by the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness. The office offers individual consultations to discuss your results, design custom questions, or find ways to increase student survey engagement. For instructor support regarding this software solution, contact the director, Lisa Smith, at research@dunwoody.edu.

Faculty Office Hours

It is important for faculty to be able to establish reasonable expectations of availability, and it is important for students to be able to find and communicate with faculty in a reasonable time frame. In order to balance those needs, all faculty members who are currently teaching need to declare (and keep) office hours throughout the semester, and need to declare personal preferences with respect to communication with students.

Full-time faculty should hold office hours at least five hours per week, preferably distributed across more than one day a week. Faculty should publish office hours on the syllabus of each course they teach. Due to the time, location, and modality of courses, it is understood that some flexibility within this rule may best serve students’ needs for access to faculty.

Adjunct faculty should make every effort to give students a way to communicate with themselves in a reasonable time frame throughout the semester and need to declare personal preferences with respect to communication with students. Holding office hours one hour prior to or after class is a preferred practice.

Syllabi

Faculty* will create a syllabus for each of their classes for each academic term they are assigned to teach. Syllabi are created through Simple Syllabus and reviewed and approved by the appropriate academic dean, associate dean, director, or program specialist.

Syllabi deadlines are posted each term on the Dunwoody Dates Outlook calendar by the Office of Instruction. Syllabi dates apply for the entire term, not individual modular course start dates.

  • Deadline 1 (approximately 3-4 weeks before the start of the term): Faculty* submit their syllabi for approval by their supervisor.
  • Deadline 2 (typically the Friday two weeks before the term starts): Supervisors have approved all syllabi to ensure that faculty can publish their Canvas courses the following Monday (1 week before the term starts) and students have access to each course syllabus. 

*Syllabi designers are used in the School of Design and instructions will be provided by SoD leadership.

Required and Recommended Textbook and Supplemental Material Policy 

The Textbook Provision of the Higher Education Opportunity Act requires that students have access to the cost of course materials at the time they register for classes. Dunwoody is committed to providing students access to view the courses available for registration and the textbooks and other supplemental materials required or recommended for each course, by the time registration opens for the student. This policy ensures Dunwoody College complies with the U.S. Higher Education Act (See 122 STAT. 3107-3110 for full public law) textbook provision. A timely adoption of textbooks and required course materials is vital to the success of our students. Timely adoptions also allow our bookstore operations manager the appropriate time to source the most cost-effective options for our students. 

  1. Departments determine individual practices for book adoptions, but all required and recommended textbook and material information will be entered through the Barnes & Noble Book Adoption Portal located in the Faculty Filing Cabinet in Dunwoody’s Launchpad. Some required or recommended course material may require the Bookstore to enter directly into their system. Furthermore, specialized required items may not be able to be ordered through the bookstore (i.e. HVAC gauges) and should be clearly listed on the course syllabus. 

  2. All courses should finalize textbook adoptions by the last working day of Fall Semester’s Week 10 for the upcoming J-Term, Spring Semester, and Summer Session terms and by the last working day of Spring Semester’s Week 10 for the upcoming Fall Semester. Exact dates are published on the Dunwoody Dates Outlook calendar by the Office of Instruction.

  3. The academic dean is ultimately responsible for final textbook and course material decisions if a faculty member is not assigned to a course by the close of book adoptions.

Course Attendance

Dunwoody is an attendance-taking institution. Please refer to the Best Practices in Attendance tab for a complete list of guidelines.

Teaching an Online Class

Dunwoody is committed to providing its online students with faculty trained in best practices in online teaching and learning. All faculty teaching online classes should complete a course or certificate that ensures the faculty is prepared to provide online students an equivalent experience as students taking courses on campus.

The Center for Innovation in Technical Education (CITE) provides funds for faculty to complete the Quality Matters' Teaching Online workshop (offered asynchronous or synchronously) or similar training such as the Online Learning Consortium's (OLC) Online Teaching Foundations course, the OLC's Teaching as Online Adjunct Faculty: Practical Resources for Instruction, as well as Dunwoody's in-house Instructional Strategies in the Virtual Classroom workshop. Faculty teaching online courses with previous online teaching training from another institution can also provide evidence satisfying the requirement qualifying them to teach online courses at Dunwoody. In addition, each fall, the Office of Instruction provides a 1-hour seminar on the legal requirements for online teaching at the Fall Conference.

Faculty are qualified to teach in a program by the qualifications established by their respective academic leadership. Academic leaders further qualify each instructor per course and modality. Faculty Qualifications are maintained and audited by the Office of Instruction.

New Student Orientation

Academic Leadership may require one or more faculty members to meet with students for a departmental breakout session during New Student Campus Orientation or attend a Teams meeting for Dunwoody Online Orientations.

Orientation provides a quality transitional experience that maximizes a student’s potential for personal and academic success and is an enrollment requirement for all new students. Admitted students receive information on scheduled orientation sessions from the Admissions team. Students who have attended the College in the past and are re-enrolling are required to attend orientation if their last orientation was missed or if they have been off campus for more than a year before the start of their school term.  

Student Organizations/Student Clubs and Chapters

Faculty members may be assigned as the advisor and point of contact for student organizations/clubs/chapters that usually align within their instructing area. A list of current student organizations can be found on the Dunwoody website. Any student organizations/clubs/chapters identified as co-curricular must participate and complete an annual co-curricular assessment. Faculty advisors have additional duties outlined in the student handbook related to co-curricular activities. 

Students can start their own club/organization if one doesn’t currently exist at the College. Students should be directed to Student Affairs for direction on how to start the process.

Recruiting Students as a Faculty Member

As part of their job duties, many Dunwoody faculty participate in recruiting students for their programs. At the August All-Employee In-Service, the Vice President of Enrollment Management presents Dunwoody's policy on ethical recruiting practices. All recruiting activities are coordinated with the department dean and may include participation in

  • Dunwoody's on-campus events, such as open houses and student tours;
  • Dunwoody Online Info Sessions;
  • Dunwoody off-campus events, such as the Minnesota State Fair;
  • high school classroom visits;
  • hosting high school students on campus;
  • participating in high school events;
  • developing marketing materials; and
  • academic planning for +2 degrees.

Potential New/Returning Student Contact

Potential students may reach out to you regarding Dunwoody degree programs, including former students inquiring about a completion degree or certificate. In the event that you are directly contacted by a potential student, please follow the protocol below to transfer them to admissions:

  1. Answer any academic questions they may have about the academic program.
  2. Once all academic questions are complete, copy in the Director of Admissions & Recruiting.
  3. The Director of Admissions & Recruiting will copy you on their response to the student confirming the transition has successfully been made.

See HLC Policy FDCR.A.20.020.