Instructional practices versus time-available
Years ago “full-time” meant four classes for faculty where I teach now. Then that was changed to five classes. Since starting at the school in 1998, our median class size has also increased. This year, I’ve finally had to change some instructional practices that were too costly in regards to time.
For example, when teaching four classes, a reading quiz in one of my psychology courses could be the following:
Grading these, however, was just too time-consuming when there are other demands – such as an added course, and, some semesters, three distinct courses to prep.
Consequently, I’ve changed my formative assessments back to simple multiple-choice questions. I don’t like it. I know that my earlier, written quizzes, were better measures of students’ knowledge and abilities, but those just take too much time.