Similarly one might ask whether the combination of a science lecture course and its lab constitute more than one preparation. Two factors seem to be behind the number of preparations expected of instructors in our budget units. First, programs that are rich in students usually have larger faculties and can afford to offer multiple sections of courses, thus reducing the number of preparations individuals teach. Our Business Administration program has many students and has also followed the latter strategy. Our Social Work program has a limited number of students, but, since it must meet accreditation standards, and since it has a propensity to become involved with new initiatives initially supported by grant funding but then left to the unit to staff, its faculty members are stretched to a high degree.
Most units field at least some large lecture sections.
Social Change and Development, in fact, has an explicit policy that every member should teach at least one large course a year to evenly distribute the load. Only two programs provide compensation for class size by counting a large course toward a greater proportion of load than one 3 credit section. As noted above, Social Change and Development, for certain courses, counts a large lecture plus four discussion sections as two courses. Humanistic Studies follows a similar policy with respect to its very large general education requirement satisfying course. Other programs do not compensate for large classes, although some express their appreciation during merit reviews, or at least do not penalize instructors for the lowered teaching evaluations that can result in very large courses.