A Longitudinal Assessment of Academic Time Allocation

Abstract

            This purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of time and its relationship to the three major tenets of the professoriate, research, teaching, and service. Although there are several types of higher education institutions, all have at least one attribute in common, which is a limited time. In an era where we are asked to do more with less, the idea of identifying sufficient time to accomplish our passion becomes an enduring challenge. In this paper, we provide a semester of empirical data collected over a decade ago, when additional scholarship was first required. The results indicated at the time that at least one Assistant Professor had insufficient time to accomplish the additional requirements. Over the past ten years, the university has taken a number of steps to encourage more scholarship and transformative learning; however, recent discussions with faculty reveal that many of the same challenges persist. The point of this research is not to use data to demonstrate ill-conceived institutional strategies, as most agreed there was a need for enhanced scholarship at our educator-scholar institution. Instead, the results demonstrate a need for further prioritization, organization, and alignment of appropriate scholarship, which could include the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, which addresses transformative learning.