Overview

List of policies related to classroom instruction.

Assigning TAs and AIs

The College of Liberal Arts requires all units to report the appointment of TAs to the course that they are assigned to during the fall and spring semesters using FaSET (Faculty and Student Electronic Tracking). Authorized staff members enter updates by the 12th class day.

Assistant Instructors' Teaching Loads

Assistant Instructors should not be assigned more than one course per semester unless the second course is a one-hour lab or discussion section that is considered part of the total course offering.

Questions, please contact Jessica Luhn, Assistant Director of Graduate Education, jluhn@austin.utexas.edu.

Assistant Instructor Teaching Upper-division Course**

The Handbook of Operating Procedures states that Assistant Instructors (AIs) may be assigned to upper-division instruction upon receiving the approval of the Office of Graduate Studies. Instructional service of an Assistant Instructor shall be carried out in accordance with a syllabus and other guidelines that have been prepared by and approved by the hiring unit.

For more information, please contact the Office of Graduate Studies: Graduate_Studies@utlists.utexas.edu or visit: https://gradschool.utexas.edu/finances/student-employment/conditions .

**This policy is currently under review.

Canvas Adoption Requirements

Each instructor of record for an organized undergraduate or graduate course with five or more students must publish their course and syllabus in the University’s official Learning Management System (LMS) by the first day class meets each semester. To remain in compliance with this policy, instructors must post their syllabus in the LMS using the Simple Syllabus tool or attach their syllabus as a file in the Syllabus section of the LMS. For ease of reporting, instructors are asked to include the term “syllabus” in the filename. Instructors of organized undergraduate and graduate courses with fewer than five students must provide their syllabi to their students by the first day class meets using the LMS, Simple Syllabus, or in another electronic or paper form.

Course Cancelation Policy

Once registration for a semester has begun, a request form to cancel an organized course must be submitted by the home unit regardless of enrollment.

Submission Form: Course Cancellation – Fill out form

Course Evaluations

Instructors of record for all organized undergraduate and graduate courses with five or more students are required to administer official, University-approved course evaluations according to HOP 2-2180, Course and Teaching Evaluations.

Course Materials Disclosures

To ensure student access to low cost course materials and in accordance with State and University policies, all instructors must disclose required course materials in the Co-Op Submission System. Disclosures must be submitted by May 1 for Fall and Summer courses and by November 1 for Spring courses. Instructors must disclose all required course materials, including textbooks, software and tools, including materials that are free and those included in program costs (such as Option II and III programs). Instructors with no required course materials are required to submit a disclosure and flag “No Material Required.”

General Administrative Guidelines

Guidelines that instructors must follow for administering courses at The University within the Handbook of Operating Procedures, policy website: https://secure4.compliancebridge.com/utexas/public/getdoc.php?file=2-9970 . These include: Passing Period Intervals, Course Location and Time, FERPA, Instruction Mode, and more.

Non-Member GSC Teaching Graduate Course

Instructors who are not Members of the GSC must receive special permission to teach graduate courses.

For more information, please visit: https://gradschool.utexas.edu/navigating/policies/academic/authorization-teach

Office Hours

Instructors of Organized Courses are required to be accessible to their students outside the scheduled class periods, with availability for Office Hours posted on their syllabus. Please see the policy: https://secure4.compliancebridge.com/utexas/public/getdoc.php?file=2-9970

Small Classes

Submission form: Small Class Petition – Fill out form

Syllabus and CV Requirements

Each instructor of record for an organized undergraduate course must submit a copy of their course syllabus and curriculum vitae to their departmental office or dean’s office on or before the first day class meets each semester so that they can be made publicly available.

Instructors for organized graduate courses must submit their course syllabi and curriculum vitae according to their departmental office or dean’s office (for non-departmentalized units) specifications.

Syllabus resources: https://provost.utexas.edu/the-office/academic-affairs/your-syllabus-at-ut-austin/

Guide to an Effective Syllabus: https://ctl.utexas.edu/instructional-strategies/effective-syllabus

Textbook Authorizations

From the Regents' Rules and Regulations: “Textbooks, notebooks, manuals or other materials for the use of students of a component institution, written or prepared by a member of the faculty of that institution, shall not be prescribed for the use of students in that institution or sold to such students until such books, notes, manuals, or materials shall have been approved with reasons stated, by the departmental faculty, the dean or deans concerned, and transmitted to the institutional head for approval and inclusion in the next regular docket. All such requests shall indicate the proposed prices and profits, and their authorization shall be effective only to the end of the fiscal year (August 31) for which such approval has been given.”

The Provost’s Office has recently updated their process for submitting textbook authorization requests from submitting signed forms via email to a more efficient system using DocuSign. More information on this process can be found on the Provost’s Office website. Please read the for more on the process. The Docusign Powerform can be found here.

UT Libraries Course Materials Services

The University of Texas Libraries’ Course Materials Service provides Libraries' materials in physical or digital format to support the UT Austin curriculum. Materials are designated as Course Materials at the request of instructors in support of current UT Austin courses.

Instructors are encouraged to consider use of Open Education Resources (OERs) whenever possible. UT Libraries provides consultation and support for using Open Educational Resources. Please contact your subject liaison or fill out this form for assistance.

Special note for audiovisual materials: It is never too early to plan ahead when it comes to films, either on DVD or in streaming. UT Libraries works with various distributors; some films could be licensed and ‘turned on’ within minutes, but others could take a few months to get licensed. On top of that, UT campus red-tape adds another layer of processing which could be lengthy. Please help them help you, by submitting your requests as early as possible and not waiting until the first week of the semester. Include a title, director’s name, and year of release, if possible. It would also be super helpful if you could let them know for which date during the semester the film would be assigned to students; that will help them prioritize licensing and spending. Please note that some films might not be available in streaming at all.

While researching for new content for your course, please bear in mind that UT Libraries works with many providers, and has access to over 80,000 films -- all are searchable, discoverable, and accessible through their catalog. They currently have access to 67 Audio-Visual collections across all subjects.