A Local University Is Considering Changes to Its Class Structure

question 100

Essay

A local university is considering changes to its class structure in an effort to increase professor productivity. The old schedule had each professor teaching 5 classes per week, with each class meeting an hour per day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Each class contained 20 students. The new schedule has each professor teaching only 3 classes, but each class meets daily for an hour. New classes contain 50 students.
a. Calculate the labour productivity for the initial situation (students/hour).
b. Calculate the labour productivity for the schedule change (students/hour).
c. Are there any ethical considerations that should be accounted for?
d. Suppose that each teacher also is required to have 2 hours of Office Hours each day he/she taught class. Is the schedule change a productivity increase?

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Definitions:

Illusory Correlation

The false perception of a relationship between two variables or events, typically due to cognitive bias.

Bystanders

Individuals who are present at an event or incident but do not take part in its occurrence.

Short-Term Memory

A component of memory where small amounts of information can be kept for a short period, typically up to 30 seconds.

Placebo

An inert or harmless substance given to a patient in place of a medication for psychological benefit or as part of a control group in research studies.