Grant Recipients
Elena Neiterman, Health, Public Health Sciences
Kelly Anthony, Health, Public Health Sciences
Amanda Demmer, Health, Public Health Sciences
Katie Damphouse, Academic Accommodations, AccessAbility Services
Michelle Ogrodnik, Health, Kinesiology and Health Sciences Recreation and Leisure
Zara Rafferty, Health, Recreation and Leisure
Diane Williams, Health, Public Health Sciences
Jennifer Yessis, Health, Public Health Sciences
(Project timeline: September 2025 - April 2027)
Description
This project explores an aspect of teaching that is often neglected in the literature yet presents a growing concern for instructors: the rise in administrative responsibilities and the associated increase in teaching-related workloads. Drawing upon the experiences of instructors from the Faculty of Health and utilizing a mixed-method design, we explore:
- how much time instructors spend on course management and administration (e.g., answering emails, managing absences, accommodations, and Teaching Assistant teams);
- what aspects of this work instructors find most challenging and/or time consuming;
- what supports instructors need to more effectively manage administrative workloads. Our goal is to develop a knowledge dissemination product that can help Faculty of Health instructors minimize time spent on administrative tasks and standardize these procedures. We will also share this product with UW instructors and administrators with the hope to reduce burnout, free up time for pedagogy, and create more consistency for students.
Research Questions
Goal 1: Examine how much time instructors spend on course management and administration
- What key administrative tasks are instructors responsible for when teaching?
- How many hours per term do instructors spend on each of these tasks?
- What (if any) effects do instructor’s gender, seniority, course size, type (online/face-to face, seminar/lecture), level (undergraduate/graduate and year of study), and teaching methods have on the volume of administrative tasks?
Goal 2: Examine what type of administrative tasks instructors find most challenging and time consuming
- Which tasks are most time-consuming?
- Which tasks are most energy-consuming and/or negatively impacting instructor mental health and wellbeing?
- Which tasks do instructors feel they are less competent/equipped to complete?
Goal 3: Create a knowledge dissemination product that can be adopted by instructors to minimize the administrative burden in their courses
- What supports would improve an instructor’s ability to manage administrative tasks?
- Does career stage impact the type of resources desired?
- What dissemination strategy/ies would be most effective and feasible to implement for this product?