“A research-based tool for individual academics to estimate their workload”

 

An introduction to the Academic workload estimation Tool (The AWET)

The AWET is the result of ten years of research which involved over 2500 academics from around Australia. It is the first academic workload estimation tool that is designed to capture your whole workload. The AWET is innovative compared to other workload models in two ways: it not only provides realistic research-based estimates for all your teaching related tasks; but it also estimates the time you spend on research and service, which are missing from most institutional workload models.

How the AWET works:

The AWET builds a holistic picture of your work commitments by capturing the full range of activities you undertake. Each activity has an associated and research-based time value (or allocation). All you have to do is select the activities you undertake in a given year, and the AWET will automatically aggregate these to provide a realistic estimate of your annual workload.

The AWET can be used prospectively to explore scenarios and negotiate a reasonable workload that fits with your career aspirations and protects your welfare. It can also be used retrospectively to review what you actually did and consider career implications that may arise for the following year or years.

To begin, you can download the AWET and related documentation from the downloads link above.

On going improvement:

This unfunded research is on-going. In recognition of the more than 2500 Australian academics who contributed their time and data, this first iteration of the AWET is freely available for individual academics to use. All we ask in return is for feedback via the online survey https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7NLKD5F

We have ethical clearance from the University of Tasmania (UTAS) Human Research Ethics Committee to conduct this research (ID0010977). All responses to the survey will be anonymous. Any data provide will be used to improve the AWET and as the basis for academic reports, presentations or papers to advance this research.

Institutions that wish to explore the adoption of the AWET should contact us to arrange for a consultative process to guide its adaptation and implementation to suit the organisation context and to ensure the necessary supporting policies are in place. If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us directly via email (as per below).

We hope you find the AWET useful.

Regards

John Kenny & Andrew Fluck

Chief Investigators

John.Kenny@utas.edu.au and Andrew.Fluck@utas.edu.au