A Local University Is Considering Changes to Its Class Structure

question 119

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 labor productivity for the initial situation (students/hour).
b. Calculate the labor 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?

---

Definitions:

Alveoli

Tiny air sacs within the lungs where gas exchange between the air and blood occurs.

Dalton's Law

The principle that the total pressure exerted by a mixture of gases is equal to the sum of the pressures that each would exert if it were present alone.

Partial Pressures

The pressure that a single gas in a mixture of gases would exert if it alone occupied the entire volume of the mixture.

Total Pressure

The combined pressure exerted by a mixture of gases in a container, equal to the sum of the pressures that each gas would exert if it were alone.