A Local University Is Considering Changes to Its Class Structure

question 101

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 (Mon.-Fri.) 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:

Probability

The measure of the likelihood that a particular event will occur, expressed as a number between 0 and 1.

Tree Diagram

A visual representation of all possible outcomes of an event, used to calculate probabilities in a structured manner.

Combinations

A mathematical technique to determine the number of possible arrangements in a set when the order of selection does not matter.

Distinct Items

Items that are recognizably different or not identical, often used in the context of counting unique elements in a set.