Planning for an appropriate course section size is an important factor in ensuring a critical mass of students in a class for discussion, dialogue and critique, and in thoughtful utilization of faculty teaching time, our most valuable educational resource. RISD uses guidelines of a minimum of 10 students in undergraduate classes, and 8 students in graduate courses. Sections with lower limits require a strong justification to the Dean and Provost.
Deans and department heads are responsible for establishing appropriate section size as part of the curriculum review and course planning processes which take place each fall for the following academic year. In departments with small cohorts, this planning should include strategies for combining courses within the department or with other departments, or for opening the course to non-majors for elective credit so that minimum enrollments listed in the guidelines can reasonably be expected.
Department heads and deans are responsible for careful planning what courses are offered (enough seats in required courses to accommodate all majors and relevance of elective courses), scheduling courses when their likely audience is available to take them, and meeting the Registrar’s deadlines so that courses are available for registration at the start of registration. Departments with multiple sections of required courses should be conservative in the numbers of sections initially offered, with plans for adding sections should enrollment warrant. Deans and department heads should carefully examine course sections with historically low enrollment as part of the Course Table planning process and consider whether courses should continue to be offered, offered less frequently or on a different schedule, or whether some other change might boost its enrollment.
Thoughtful and thorough planning can reduce the likelihood of course sections which do not meet the minimum enrollment. Nonetheless, each year there are under-enrolled courses. At the end of registration in May and December, it is the responsibility of the dean in consultation with department heads to review the course enrollments for their areas and determine which courses are in danger of not meeting their minimum enrollment.
Cancelling of Low Enrolled Courses
Click here to read the under-enrolled course protocol. If a full time faculty member is teaching a course which is cancelled, every effort should be made to have that faculty member teach another course in the same term or later in the year. If a faculty member does not teach the required course load, they have the option to make up that course during the following academic year.
If a part time faculty member’s course is cancelled and they cannot be rescheduled during the current year, consideration of the work which has gone into planning and preparing for the course is given, with 1/13th pro-rated salary in payment.
Required courses may have to run despite low enrollment. In each case, however, the Dean should be satisfied that there is no other good alternative to running the class. And in each case, department heads and deans should determine the reason for the low enrollment and incorporate that information into the planning process as they look ahead.