Article 8, Section 1: Instructional Materials. Any instructional materials required by the unit for a course taught by a GTA will be provided or made available free of charge to the GTA.
What is the context of this?
KU’s policy has always intended for departments to provide all instructional materials to GTAs and our GTAC negotiations team did a really good job addressing this in 2018. The KU negotiations team (all administrators) had no idea that GTAs were being expected to create or update instructional materials and largely did not seem to believe us when we talked about working on curriculum over the summer and during the semester. But KU did not want GTAs to create course materials and they really didn’t want to pay us for the work so they addressed this by specifically putting into our contract what had been KU’s policy all along.
What is the difference between curriculum, course content, and instructional materials?
Because so many different terms are used, it can be difficult to parse what is and isn’t required. Luckily, the exact phrasing is legally irrelevant. All materials you need to teach this course must be supplied by our University. KU administrators cannot bypass this requirement by using different terminology. For the purposes of this FAQ, we’ll use the phrase “instructional materials”.
Does this include course preparation?
Yes! All materials must be supplied by our University and all related duties must fit within your weekly cap on hours per FTE, which is 20 hours for .50 FTE workers and scales from there. If you’re expected to upload materials and questions to Blackboard, those materials and questions must be supplied. Plus, the time spent reading through the provided materials, uploading the materials, checking uploads, etc. must be counted within your hours.
When can a GTA be asked to create and/or update instructional materials?
When you have meaningfully consented to this work and are being paid, full stop. The three most common scenarios include:
- GTAs receiving summer grants from the CTE or their department to create or update instructional materials related to their work as a GTA;
- KU hiring workers specifically to create instructional materials with separate job titles and pay unrelated to their work as a GTA; and
- GTAs nearing completion working as an Instructors of Record who choose to create and/or modify instructional materials as may benefit their personal education and/or career prospects with such labor counted towards their weekly cap on hours per FTE.
What counts as creating and/or updating instructional materials?
This one is tougher! Technically, any modification you feel is necessary or useful counts. But use your best judgement. If you’re pasting questions into Blackboard and you correct a typo or some phrasing here and there, you probably would not have a very good claim. If the materials include several parts which need edits or review, those materials should probably be returned for revision.
Oh no! I’ve been working on instructional materials for Fall 2020 already! What do I do?
Please use this form to have your situation personally and confidentially reviewed by a GTAC grievance specialist. We will review your situation and options with you, and help you with your next steps, if any. You may be entitled to backpay, which is traditionally covered by the College of Graduate Affairs rather than your department.
What should I do if I am asked to create and/or update instructional materials?
If it’s something small and you don’t mind doing it, let your supervisor know that you agree to make this modification and if any other duties will be cut to ensure you stay under your weekly cap on hours: “Hi, Dr. Supervisor! Thanks for the quick response. This is small enough that it looks like I can take care of it this time if I cancel Thursday’s office hours. Does that work for you?”
If you prefer not to do it and you feel good about it, you can let your supervisor know that this is outside of your scope of work: “Hi, Dr. Supervisor! Unfortunately, GTAs aren’t allowed to update instructional materials. Maybe the department can apply for a CTE grant for this work and we can update it over the summer? In the meantime, what would you like me to do about this assignment?”
If you aren’t comfortable with these types of communications, please use this form to have your situation personally and confidentially reviewed by a GTAC grievance specialist. We will review your situation and options with you, and help you access the instructional materials you need to do your best work for your students. (This can be as easy as using our training to help you draft a really friendly email.)
What if I was not directly told or asked to create and/or modify instructional materials, but I know that it’s expected and/or I feel pressured to do so?
Regardless of intent, this is a form of coercion and it’s not okay! Please use this form to have your situation personally and confidentially reviewed by a GTAC grievance specialist. We will review your situation and options with you, and help you access the instructional materials you need to do your best work for your students.
What if I was not directly told or asked to create and/or update curriculum or course content, but the instructional materials I received are incomplete and/or inadequate?
Email your supervisor to let them know that your instructional materials are inadequate. If the supervisor was unaware, this is a good chance for them to supply the required materials. Regardless, this helps establish a record. If the supervisor fails to respond or fails to resolve this issue, please use this form to have your situation personally and confidentially reviewed by a GTAC grievance specialist. We will review your situation and options with you, and help you access the instructional materials you need to do your best work for your students.
My supervisor was very specific that they cannot require me to create or update instructional materials without pay but I still felt pressured to “volunteer” to do this work for free. Is this legal?
KU administrators can neither ask nor allow GTAs or any other worker to “volunteer” unpaid labor because the Fair Labor Standards Act and Kansas State Statute 44-1202 both specify that all hours “suffered or permitted” to work must be paid. This is because the law recognizes that consent is impaired within a power differential, including the differential of power existing within a workplace.
What if I really want to update this curriculum because it’s so awful. Is this legal?
KU administrators cannot allow workers to “volunteer” unpaid labor because the Fair Labor Standards Act and Kansas State Statute 44-1202 both specify that all hours “suffered or permitted” to work must be paid. This is because the law recognizes that consent is impaired within a power differential, including the differential of power existing within a workplace. Although sometimes GTAs do genuinely want to volunteer labor, allowing a few GTAs to do so will also allow more than a few GTAs to be abused.
What if I made a mistake related to instructional materials and I’m correcting it?
If you make a mistake in your work, the time you spend on the correction of errors (or “rework”) count towards your weekly cap, even when you voluntarily do the rework. We’re human beings – we make mistakes and it’s KU’s job to account for that within their labor planning.
What if my situation isn’t addressed in this FAQ?
Please use this form to have your situation personally and confidentially reviewed by a GTAC grievance specialist. We will review your situation and options with you, and help you access the instructional materials you need to do your best work for your students.