PERSONNEL
EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES
FACULTY WORK WEEK AND OFFICE HOURS
Procedure
DEFINITIONS
For the purposes of this procedure, “Office hours” are defined as time faculty members are required to be available to students outside of the classroom. Office hours require the physical presence in the office on the campus the faculty is assigned to for face to face classes, and a virtual presence for faculty who teach online or hybrid courses.
Faculty at Navarro College are professional personnel and their primary concern will be students, teaching, and learning. A secondary concern will be an active involvement with the institution and the community it serves.
EXPECTATIONS OF FACULTY MEMBERS
Full-time teaching faculty will schedule a minimum of ten (10) office hours per week over the five (5) day workweek. These office hours are to be scheduled in addition to the fifteen (15) or sixteen (16) hours per week teaching load equivalent and other professional responsibilities at the college in which faculty members may participate. Faculty who teach lecture/laboratory classes may count up to five (5) hours of laboratory time toward the ten (10) office hour requirement.
In order to meet the needs of Navarro College students, faculty who teach online or hybrid courses may hold virtual office hours in place of traditional "in-office" hours each week of classes during Fall and Spring semesters. Virutal office hours are defined as hours when faculty are available to respond to student needs other than meeting with them physically in the faculty member's office on campus. For virtual office hours, the professor will be personally available to students via:
- live video conferencing
- phone or email
- Learning Management System's messaging or chat features
- online tutoring programs
- online publisher products
No more than three (3) of the ten (10) office/student hours per week shall be virtual. All office hours must be posted.
Time expended in the performance of duties associated with an overload assignment is to be time above the minimum hours described above.
Virtual office hours for faculty whose teaching assignment is through distance education delivery means that the faculty will have posted hours of availability to students. These hours will equate to the same requirements as for face-to-face faculty.
Updated: August 12, 2020
