Resolution of the Ball State University Chapter of AAUP on Academic Freedom and Faculty Control of Teaching Modality

Basis for Concern

The Indiana Conference of AAUP (ICAAUP) has issued its position on protecting students and faculty during a pandemic. One of the main concerns expressed in this statement focuses on the unilateral character of administrative actions. While such action is understandable in an emergency, shared governance and decision-making should be paramount.

First, a recent ICAAUP survey of faculty in Indiana revealed concern about administrative pre-pandemic priorities involving budgetary cuts impacting teaching and its professional support (the preeminent mission of the academy), as well as support for laudable administrative cooperation and deference to faculty on this shift to online learning, exemplary of proposed intentional conduct.

Second, the Ball State AAUP surveyed BSU instructional faculty from Nov. 23 to Dec. 4, 2020, regarding the aforementioned matters and a report on those findings is presented below. We do not claim the data are representative of the entire campus (total responses were 337). However, our findings are representative of a significant cross-section of faculty and graduate student instructors and are consistent with those of ICAAUP. In particular, our findings reveal:

1. concerns with a lack of empowerment and discomforting environment regarding the instructor’s control over teaching modality in both fall and especially spring terms in the current AY,
2. a disparity among academic units on such,
3. a majority of instructional faculty are unaware that they own their own intellectual property in online courses, including those created in collaboration with Division of Online & Strategic Learning [DOSL],
4. a majority of instructional faculty have concern that their intellectual teaching property is being circulated in unintended ways, and
5. the open-ended comments disclosed an unfriendly atmosphere and well-described cases of discomfort and disregard toward faculty control over teaching modality.

 

Resolution of Principles

One, the choice of modality remains a faculty responsibility within the long-standing value of academic freedom. As the ICAAUP points out, a key application of academic freedom “is that faculty have control over the curriculum, their courses, and methods of instruction.”

There are discomforting cases of faculty intimidation from administrative pressure at several academic unit levels to select a single modality; for example, faculty must either teach online, teach in-person, or teach via a hybrid method.

Given faculty members’ expertise in both their disciplinary subject matter and pedagogy, course modality ought to remain under the instructor’s control, curtailed only by a campus shut-down, and extreme case logistics of the infeasibility in scheduling in-person classes.

Our support for this resolution principle recognizes the health dangers to students, staff, faculty, and community members, especially those who are members of at-risk populations. It also extends beyond the current crisis to enduring and significant matters of academic freedom and the aspiration for shared governance.

 

Recommended Action

1. Introduce a resolution before the Faculty Council at the January 2021 meeting in seeking a full discourse among faculty representatives and support for our concern, resolution, and proposed actions, and forward directly to President Mearns and to all academic units for appropriate action.
2. For the spring term of the current AY, allow (without interference) faculty choice of modality in the delivery of assigned courses, limited only to a campus shut-down.

• In the event the administrative response is neither timely nor positive, then call for a Faculty Council/BSU AAUP task force on academic freedom as associated with these issues of teaching modality and intellectual property to include administrators, professional staff, graduate instructors, and faculty.

• Continue to survey BSU faculty on matters of academic freedom in the delivery of courses and update reporting.

• Summarize and distribute to all instructors key facts relating to ownership of intellectual property and online instruction.

Signed by the BSU AAUP Steering Committee upon affirmative review with the membership on this day December 6, 2020.

A Snapshot of the Ball State AAUP Survey

Findings by College:

1. Were you assigned to teach in your preferred modality in fall 2020?
   1. CAP and TC at 70% and 75% yes, all others above 80%

2. Are you assigned to teach in your preferred modality in spring 2021?
   1. No significant differences, but CAP, CCIM, CoH, and CFA less likely than others

3. On a scale of 1=not at all and 5=completely, how much do you feel you were empowered to participate in decisions regarding your teaching modality in fall 2020?
   1. Overall, 51.8% of faculty felt very or completely empowered in fall decision making; less than 25% felt completely empowered in CAP, CFA, CSH.

4. On a scale of 1=not at all and 5=completely, how much do you feel you were empowered to participate in decisions regarding your teaching modality in spring 2021?
   1. Fewer faculty felt very or completely empowered in spring decision making (50.2%); TC (63.9%) and MCOB (75.1%) felt most empowered. CoH (32.1%), CFA (36.3%), and CSH (33.7%) felt least empowered.

5. On a scale of 1=not at all and 5=completely, how comfortable did you feel sharing your teaching modality request with the person who schedules classes in your department?
   1. 38.3% of faculty did not feel completely comfortable sharing teaching modality requests with department schedulers.

6. Are you aware that—generally—work created in consultation with the Division of Online and Strategic Learning (DOSL) is the intellectual property of Ball State faculty members and not the university?
   1. Most faculty (65%) are unaware that they retain the intellectual property rights to their online course content. A majority of faculty in CAP only (55.6%) were aware of this.

7. Given that an increasing amount of instruction has been taking place remotely, do you have concerns about your intellectual teaching property (video lectures, assignments, notes, etc.) being circulated in unintended ways?
   1. A slight majority (52.1%) of faculty are concerned about their online intellectual teaching property being misused. More faculty in CSH were concerned (58.9%) than in other colleges. Faculty in MCOB were least concerned (31.3%).

Findings by University Title:

8. 1. Were you assigned to teach in your preferred modality in fall 2020?
   1. Graduate students (25%) and associate professors (23.6%) were least likely to be assigned to teach in their requested modality in fall.

9. Are you assigned to teach in your preferred modality in spring 2021?
   1. In spring, although a majority of instructional faculty were assigned to teach in their requested modality, graduate students (42.9%) and assistant professors (31.3%) were least likely to have their requests fulfilled.

10. On a scale of 1=not at all and 5=completely, how much do you feel you were empowered to participate in decisions regarding your teaching modality in fall 2020?
    1. A slight majority (51.2%) of all instructors felt empowered to participate in teaching modality decisions in fall, with tenured professors (63.7%) feeling most empowered. Graduate students (37.5%) felt least empowered.

11. On a scale of 1=not at all and 5=completely, how much do you feel you were empowered to participate in decisions regarding your teaching modality in spring 2021?
    1. Nearly half (49.5%) of all instructors responding said they felt empowered in teaching modality decisions for spring. However, graduate students felt least empowered (57.2%), followed by assistant professors (46.3%).

12. On a scale of 1=not at all and 5=completely, how comfortable did you feel sharing your teaching modality request with the person who schedules classes in your department?
    1. 26.6 % of all instructors did not feel completely comfortable sharing teaching modality requests with department schedulers. Graduate students felt least comfortable (50%).

13. Are you aware that—generally—work created in consultation with the Division of Online and Strategic Learning (DOSL) is the intellectual property of Ball State faculty members and not the university?
    1. Overall, 65.9% of instructors were unaware their work created with DOSL was their intellectual property. Teaching/clinical/research professors (88.9%), assistant professors (70.1%), and associate professors (70.8%) were less likely to know this than other groups.

14. Given that an increasing amount of instruction has been taking place remotely, do you have concerns about your intellectual teaching property (video lectures, assignments, notes, etc.) being circulated in unintended ways?
    1. Again, a slight majority (51.9%) of instructors were concerned about misuse of their intellectual property. A majority of assistant teaching/research/clinical professors (54.5%), teaching/research/clinical professors (55.6%), assistant professors (59.7%), and professors (53.2%) had these concerns.