One size fits all? Student workload in a higher education faculty

Abstract

This paper reports on a pilot investigation of student workload in the Informatics & Design (FID) faculty at a University of technology. In particular this study will focus on the amount of contact or class time as one component of the concept of notional hours as defined by SAQA. This is in answer to the challenge posed by Bekhradnia‘s (2009) contention that there has been ―no apparent attempt to address the question of the circumstances in which different levels of contact are acceptable‖ and Pogacnik‘s et al. (2004) identified ―need for further inquiry into the nature of the relationship between teaching and learning in higher education and for evaluation of the benefits (or otherwise) of more "self-directed" study‖. This paper will investigate the problem of allocating contact time and how the current practice compares to the suggested ratio between contact time and independent learning (Kilfoil). This research will use subject student timetables and subject documentation to obtain the data. The data will be analyzed to determine the patterns that emerge in terms of contact time spent by FID students. This study could help to provide better understanding of what the current status quo is in terms of student workload in the faculty. Finally some conclusions in terms of the indentified problem will be summarized as well as recommendations for further research.