Workload reduction
Update July 2024
Over the past year, the Recognition and Rewards programme team of the Faculty of Social Sciences has been focusing on reducing workload. We are working hard to identify bottlenecks and possible solutions. For example, we have collaborated with the functional administrators of the main ICT systems (Cirrus, Osiris, and Brightspace) to improve cooperation between teachers and educational support staff.
One concern is that teachers often do not understand why certain information is requested by the various support staff. One outcome of our discussions is to streamline and consolidate communication from support staff to teachers, meaning a single informational email with an overview of all requests and information that teachers will receive from the Education Center throughout the year. A best practice in this regard is the exam team mailing, which is highly appreciated by teachers.
Teachers have expressed a desire for the Brightspace team to handle the copying of courses to the next academic year, instead of doing it themselves. The Brightspace team will now implement this.
Unfortunately, not everything can be resolved. It helps if we understand why something cannot be done. A well-known issue for teachers is the inconsistent naming of students across different ICT systems, making it difficult to upload student-specific information from one system (e.g., grades from Brightspace) to another (e.g., Osiris). There is no solution for this inconvenience as it requires changes in Brightspace that cannot be realized. However, the integration between Osiris and ANS (the successor to Cirrus) is expected to be completed by the end of 2024. For these two systems, identical student names can hopefully be used in the near future, allowing for the exchange of student-specific information (such as grades).
This is a start, but we are not there yet. We hope to continue the pleasant and constructive discussions with the ICT administrators and thereby reduce ICT-related workload on both sides.
Update May 2024
In a new biweekly blog series, the Radboud Young Academy (RJA) shows the dilemmas young scientists face. And there are quite a few! More balanced Recognition & Rewards of the talents of scientists sounds great, but the young scientists have the feeling that there is yet to be a balance. "Chess on five boards" (Blog 1: Chess on five boards) is the title of the first blog by Mark Dingemanse, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts. He emphasises that it is impossible to prioritise certain areas (research, education, impact, leadership, academic citizenship) as long as managers use very different frames of reference for assessments and promotions. He says catchily (and wittily!): "Against every Recognition & Rewards expert, there is a dinosaur who still drools at publications in magazines with a high impact factor…. It is now the university's turn."
Update March 2024
At our faculty, teaching tasks are explicitly allocated hours, but this does not generally apply to research, impact and leadership/academic citizenship. Since contracts for academic staff generally show a division between research time and teaching time (and not for other tasks), time spent on impact, leadership and academic citizenship is by definition at the expense of research and/or private time. From the Recognition and Rewards programme, we strive for a distribution of hours that does justice to daily practice.
Currently, we have insufficient insight into how much time is spent on academic citizenship and leadership tasks. We are therefore asking all academic staff to complete a questionnaire. Your input will help us enormously in addressing the workload within the Faculty of Social Sciences.
Update December 2023
The theme committee engaged in constructive discussions with the functional administrators of Bass HR, addressing issues identified by the committee. Not all issues are resolvable as Bass is no longer being further developed; any updates must be implemented by the Radboud University itself. The Executive Board advised investing in standalone applications for necessary upgrades. What's possible? Next year, the explanation of the Selection model will be consolidated into a single service point, and the model will be made more user-friendly where feasible. Additionally, supervisors may no longer need to individually approve vacation days for each employee but can give one-time approval for multiple days. Regarding workload in education, the theme committee is exploring various task models within Social Sciences programs to establish common principles. Lastly, a poll will soon be conducted among staff to assess the 'academic citizenship' tasks they perform and the time involved.
Update November 2023
At the end of September, we held a constructive meeting with functional administrators of Brightspace, Osiris, Cirrus, and the Examination Board. Beforehand, together with the workload reduction theme committee, we identified issues that lecturers experience in education-related systems. The conversation brought crucial insights for lecturers and administrators, such as the importance of correct course and test information in Osiris in view of authorisations in other systems (e.g. Brightspace). System administrators will now emphasise this importance more actively and ask lecturers for an extra check two weeks before the course starts. Our request for some kind of annual schedule for lecturers to supply the right information was positively received, with the hope of also relieving system administrators with this. The first meeting provided valuable guidance, and we are taking joint steps to solve issues in education-related systems. Two functional administrators now also participate in our workload reduction theme committee. This allows us to ensure even better coordination between teachers and administrators.
Update September 2023
In addition to the R&R programme team, ten employees (both WP and OBP) participate in the 'workload reduction' theme committee. In two sessions, the recommendations from two previously published reports on workload reduction were examined, and three themes were chosen that we think should be given the highest priority at the moment:
- ICT systems
- 'Trust, accountability and collaboration between WP and OBP'
- Real educational task models
In the short term, we will discuss the main tie-ups in education-related ICT systems with the functional managers of Osiris, Brightspace and Cirrus.
Diverse career paths and profiles
Update May 2024
A new proposal for career paths and profiles will soon be presented to the deans and the Executive Board by the RU-wide R&R working group. Within FSS, the R&R team recently presented their proposal to the board and directors, and the FGV will follow soon. This proposal really offers opportunities for scientists to make choices early in their career for profiling in 'research' and one other domain or in 'education' and one other domain. Embracing and implementing this change of direction by executives at the highest levels is a crucial first step. Within FSS, the R&R team is busy converting paper into practice. But they cannot do this alone. Managerial "dinosaurs" and "R&R experts" will have to talk to each other. Sending more clear signals to the young generation of scientists and supporting them in making choices will not be an easy process: it involves a cultural change. But let's get started!
Update March 2024
On 30 January, Sabine and Hanneke attended a Recognition and Rewards (R&R) meeting of the Radboud Young Academy, by invitation. They raffled prizes among nearly 70 colleagues who had been nominated for their outstanding contributions to the Radboud University. They also gave a presentation on the R&R programme within the Faculty of Social Sciences. With the Representative Council and the Faculty Student Council, they shared the latest state of affairs in R&R on 1 February.
Soon, the university-wide working group, in which Sabine participates, will issue an advice to the deans and the CvB with frameworks/guidelines for various development paths. Once there is a green light, the faculties can start working on this themselves. In April, Sabine and Hanneke hope to present a first proposal for development paths to the directors and the board within our faculty.
Update December 2023
Sabine participated through the "RU Development Paths" working group, in development sessions for 'research,' 'education,' 'impact,' and 'leadership.' This university-wide group will provide recommendations to the steering committee (comprising deans and the Executive Board) at the end of January. The guidelines for development and career paths formulated in this advice will enable faculties to customize within their own domain. In the first quarter of 2024, Sabine and Hanneke will use the input gathered to initiate concrete criteria for the four domains (research, education, impact, and leadership) in the UD-UHD-HGL trajectory within our faculty. The goal is to establish a new career path alongside the traditional UD-UHD-HGL trajectory in the Faculty of Social Sciences, emphasizing and providing more space for education.
Update November 2023
We held follow-up discussions with the theme committee (directors and HR) and the sounding board group. Important questions are: What profiles do we want to distinguish, and what criteria per job level are appropriate? Is there a need for a profile with a stronger educational accent and, for example, a different education/research ratio? Is there a need for a separate profile with a stronger focus on 'impact'? How do we make 'academic citizenship' visible and value it sufficiently? How does 'leadership' play a role at the various job levels, and what do we expect at the very highest level? Do we pay enough attention to horizontal development steps? In short, there are a lot of questions, sometimes already with answers, but often no ready-made solutions about the 'how'. Fortunately, this is not yet necessary. It is especially important that we hear all parties as clearly as possible and carefully weigh up the SWOTs (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) during the development process. We will continue to do so with all stakeholders and with great enthusiasm.
Update September 2023
All research and programme directors, HR and a Faculty Board delegation, participate in the 'career paths and profiles' theme committee. The aim is to create more diversity and flexibility in the UD-UHD-HL path, including clear selection and promotion criteria in the core domains (research, teaching, impact and leadership). The career path for lecturers will also be included.
To ensure that the proposals from the themed committee also have wider support, we hold regular consultations with a 'career paths and profiles' sounding board group of 12 employees (WP) working within various research institutes and/or study programmes and at different job levels. Sabine and Hanneke have now met with (almost) all directors (research and education), as well as with the sounding board group.
In September/October, follow-up talks are planned with both the themed committee and the sounding board group. In addition, as R&R programme leader at FSS, Sabine will participate in the RU-wide Career Paths working group for the next two years. This working group advises the RU-wide R&R steering committee in which, among others, all deans and the Executive Board are involved.
Stay informed and have your say!
Members from the theme committees and sounding board group will soon be introduced via the website and information screens in the Maria Montessori building. In the faculty newsletter, we will give an update on the progress of the R&R programme each time. If there are issues you would like to bring to the attention of the R&R programme team or if you would like to contribute ideas on any of these themes, do not hesitate to email us: erkennen-waarderen-FSW [at] socsci.ru.nl.
