Student Workload Calculator

The Student Workload Calculator has been developed for use by academic and professional staff to estimate existing student workload conditions and to manage the design, development, and engagement of all courses going forward.

The foundations of this calculator are informed by Elizabeth Barre's ongoing work initially at Rice University (2016) and now carried over to Wake Forrest University. We have further built on Barre's work to develop this calculator. We also consulted with and are very grateful to participating staff in the CoHSS, CoHSS Teaching and Learning Committee, and BASE+.

While students work differently from each other depending on their preparatory background, varying learning challenges, and choice of effort, we can, nevertheless, make some informed assumptions about their workload patterns and habits. We acknowledge that this calculator is an ongoing work in progress. The more we learn, the better our calculations will become, and we will update the calculator accordingly.

The estimates from this tool account for important aspects that contribute to student workload.

Our estimations also take a middle range, an average, of the assumed time range students may take to complete any course task. Some students will work faster and others slower than the estimations. Therefore, if a course's workload summary exceeds our recommended range for that course's level, we provide an alert so that you can consider those students who may work more slowly and, perhaps, reconsider the design and content of your course to support student success and well-being.

Each category of the calculator adjusts workload for the various ranges of performance expectations based on Bloom's taxonomy and SOLO taxonomy. Some of these adjustments are embedded within the calculation, but most of these adjustments are transparent and require you to make an appropriate choice for the task to be estimated accordingly.

We hope that you find this tool useful and helpful. We look forward to the ako that will continue to inform this tool in future iterations. We welcome constructive feedback on its interface and its estimates, and suggestions for possible future enhancements.

Click on the "Data" tab to begin!

Dr Rahna Carusi, Educational Developer
Dr Bruce MacKay, Digital Learning Developer, CoHSS

Lisa Emerson, Rahna Carusi, and Bruce MacKay. College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Massey University.
v | Last updated: | Copyright © Massey University | All rights reserved.

Please note:

No input or results data are collected or processed by us when you use this tool.

However, all workload data you enter into the tool are automatically stored locally in your browser so that you do not need to finish entering data in a single session.

Click on the Results tab once you have completed entering your course's workload data.

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Course & Assessment information

Course name	URL	Credits

ID	Assessment name	Weighting (%)
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2
3
4
5
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9
10

The course name will appear on the workload tables when printed.

The credit point value (if defined) triggers the appropriate workload benchmarks for the course and enables the workload tables.

Usage panels like this one can be set to be open or minimized by default throughout the tool. You can also toggle between each category within each workload section by clicking its ‘Usage’ button.

Writing 1: Essay/Creative

Label	Assess ID	Type	Preparation & revision level	Length (words)	Workload (hours)

Select the type of essay writing, the level of drafting required, and the word length for this calculation.

The calculations are based on the amount of work expected and the taxonomic expectations of academic writing genres and types.

The "Label" field is optional - content added is displayed in the main results table. While physically narrow, this field will handle all the text you enter into it.

Please note that reports and briefs are calculated in a separate category below.

Writing 2: Laboratory/field work reports

Label	Assess ID	Report type	Additional research	Length (words)	Workload (hours)

Select the type of report/brief, research requirements, and word length to estimate the workload.

The embedded calculations for this category take into account the preparatory work required in the laboratory or the field.

The "Label" field is optional - content added is displayed in the main results table.

Writing 3: Group projects

Label	Assess ID	Presentation format	Detail	Words or Duration	Group size	Planning (hours)	Data (hours)	Analysis (hours)	Workload (hours)

This category requires you to enter estimates for the times required (on a per-student basis) for group planning meetings, data/information collection, and analysis.

Writing 4: Posters

Label	Assess ID	Writing type	Length (words)	Workload (hours)

The word count of academic posters usually falls between 500 - 800 words.

Writing 5: Forums

Label	Assess ID	Activity	Avg. number of words	Number of instances	Workload (hours)

Basic forum posts are more general and short responses (80-200 words) to a discussion forum thread, which take the form of personal experiences, initial reactions, or general reflections in relation to the lesson or topic.

Structured forum posts and ungraded writing are more considered and longer responses (150-400 words) that build on lesson material and/or a teacher-initiated discussion prompt. Structured forum posts may also take the form of peer feedback to other student posts.

Writing 6: Portfolio

Label	Assess ID	Element	Category	Quantity	Workload (hours)
			Not applicable
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			Not applicable

This category assumes the portfolio is comprised of unique components of new work. If the portfolio assignment is a compilation of old work with minimal revision and additional reflection writing, then the Written assignments category may be a better estimation fit that only calculates the reflection writing.

Writing associated with the portfolio assumes the 'extensive revision' category (cf. Written assignments).

Video and audio workloads are estimated as a unique multiple of length (duration) of each element. Visual media includes poster- or PowerPoint-type projects that don't neatly fit into the strict video or audio category. Visual media estimates are made on the basis of the number of words required for the output

Presentations 1: Oral/Audiovisual

Label	Assess ID	Type and basis of presentation	Number of students involved	Duration (minutes)	Workload (hours)

Both oral and audiovisual presentations are characterised by whether the presentation is based on work the student has previously prepared or new work written specifically for the presentation and, if the latter, whether or not this work involves external research (e.g., a literature search).

An oral presentation may or may not include a PowerPoint (or similar) slide deck.

The "Label" field is optional - content added is displayed in the main results table.

Enter each presentation activity on a new entry line.

Tests & Examinations

Label	Assess ID	Exam duration (hours)	Number of instances	Workload (hours)

The calculations for these assessments estimate 9 hours of study for each hour of exam or test plus the time to complete the exam or test.

For multichoice quizzes, we estimate 1-1.5 minutes per question.

The "Label" field is optional - content added is displayed in the main results table.

Resources 1: Lectures, Tutorials, & Labs

Label	Assess ID	Type	Number of instances	Average duration (minutes)	Workload (hours)

Only enter the primary instance of a class engagement type. For example, for an internal class only enter the f2f lecture data, not the uploaded video capture to the course's Stream site for those internal students who did not attend the lecture.

Third-party videos should be accounted for in the "Fiction/non-fictionpodcasts" section.

The "Label" field is optional - content added is displayed in the main results table.

Resources 2: Readings

Label	Assess ID	Required reading strategy	Genre	Page count	or	Text content	Workload (hours)
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Enter data for required readings only, not supplemental readings.

The "Label" field is optional. Any text entered (e.g. the week or topic number in which the reading appears or the name of the reading's author(s)) will appear in the "Details" table in the "Results" tab.

Select the genre that most closely describes your reading(s).

Choose one of the five descriptors appropriate to the reading's purpose and difficulty:

Register refers to skimming.
Review refers to remembering and understanding concepts previously encountered.
Extensive means to get acquainted with new information without being distracted by new, unfamiliar terms.
Intensive means to read text carefully and deeply to gain maximum understanding in response to clear learning objectives or other specific guidance.
Intensive+ means that the reading is one of great difficulty and significance, one that students will have to read closely and revisit.

Enter each reading separately, or several readings of the same genre and reading strategy as a single entry. You can either enter the number of pages of readings or copy and paste the contents of the reading(s) into the form (for an automatic word count).

Resources 3: eBooks & Lessons

Label	Assess ID	eBook or Lesson content	Required reading strategy	Video or podcasts (minutes)	Learning tools (minutes)	Word count	Workload (hours)












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1. Click the “Print Book” link in your selected Stream/Moodle eBook or view your Lesson as an administrator (click through "Reports >Detailed statistics" to reveal all the Lesson's content).
2. Click anywhere on that content.
3. Click anywhere on the new page that appears in your browser.
4. Highlight (PC: Ctrl+A; Mac: Cmd+A) and Copy (PC: Ctrl+C; Mac: Cmd+C) the content.
5. Paste (PC: Ctrl+V; Mac: Cmd+V) the content into the textbox in this calculator.

An alternative approach - if you have the entire contents of the eBook in a Word document – is to paste the contents into the textbox provided here.

The "Label" field is optional, included only for organisational purposes.

Choose one of the five descriptors appropriate to the eBook/Lesson's purpose and difficulty:

Register refers to skimming.
Review refers to remembering and understanding concepts previously encountered.
Extensive means to get acquainted with new information without being distracted by new, unfamiliar terms.
Intensive means to read text carefully and deeply to gain maximum understanding in response to clear learning objectives or other specific guidance.
Intensive+ means that the reading is one of great difficulty and significance, one that students will have to read closely and revisit.

Learning tools include self-assessment exercises (e.g. H5P tools).

Resources 4: Video & Podcasts

Label	Assess ID	Duration (minutes)	Workload (hours)

Enter all other video and podcast resources provided to students that are not already accounted for in the previous sections.

Enter the sum of all videos & podcasts (in minutes) for each period (week/topic/module).

Lecture and tutorial videos are dealt with in the "Lectures, Tutorials, & Labs" section above.

Resources 5: Self-assessment & Reflection

Label	Assess ID	Activity	Average duration (minutes)	Number of instances	Workload (hours)

Use this category group for self-assessment activities (e.g. H5P quizzes, fill-in-the-blank exercises) that are often provided at the end of a lesson.

Please note that for-credit tests and examinations are dealt with in their own category in this calculator.

The "Label" field is optional - content added is displayed in the main results table.

Other

Label	Assess ID	Text content	or	Actual word count	Required reading strategy	Word count	or	Actual time (hours)	Workload (hours)

Use this category for any required course content that does not fall within the above categories.

We recommend you enter a label for each entry (e.g., study guide, interviews) to aid clarity of the results report generated for you.

Please note the or prompts. Only fill in one of the three options to trigger the workload estimation.

Notes

This set of FAQs extends the explanation of the terms used in the data collection page (e.g. reading strategies) and describes how to interpret the results of the calculator.

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What is the purpose of the 'Label' field?

The label field is not a required field - you don't have to enter any content into it. However, it does provide you with a means of making the result sections - particularly the "Details" table - easier to interpret.

For example, the following screenshot shows the name(s) of the author(s) for each reading entered into the label fields:

The following screenshot shows how those labels (highlighted) are displayed in the "Details" table of the results.

Without those labels, reviewing the table's contents would be much harder.

Notice that while the label field is narrow, everything you enter into it is displayed in full in the Details table (e.g., compare the entries for MacDonald et al., 2023 in the Readings entry form (top image) with its presentation in the Details table (lower image)).

What is the 'Assess ID' field?

The 'Assess ID' field is only used when you are setting up assessment vs workload profiles.

You can read more details about this field and its use in the "How do I set up and interpret assessment vs workload profiles" FAQ further down this page.

What are 'Reading strategies'?

When you instruct your students to read a paper or a chapter in a book, what do you have in mind? What type of reading do you expect the students to engage in and how hard do you think the reading will be for them?

These are the considerations behind the "Reading strategies" options that you'll find in the Resources 1 - 3 data entry sections.

In determining the strategy option, try to be honest and reasonable about the significance of the readings to your students' overall workload. Try not to take the approach that every assigned reading is expected to be read intensively.

The reading strategy options and their descriptions are:

Register refers to skimming.
Review refers to remembering and understanding concepts previously encountered.
Extensive means to get acquainted with new information without being distracted by new, unfamiliar terms.
Intensive means to read text carefully and deeply to gain maximum understanding in response to clear learning objectives or other specific guidance.
Intensive+ means that the reading is one of great difficulty and significance, one that students will have to read closely and revisit.

What are 'Writing types'?

Written assignments within university courses cover a wide range of genre and form. Our approach in this tool is to cover each genre separately.

Within each genre, however, are common features that make up the types of writing: familiarity with a concept, the writing goal (e.g. self reflection vs defending a position), and the level of additional research needed.

The tool expresses these types as points on a continuum that range from writing to explain a concept (recall, comprehend), reflecting upon or providing a narrative experience, through to research-requiring argumentative and analytical writing:

Recall, Comprehend, Reflect, Narrative
Argument/Analysis/Creative, no/little ext. research
Argument/Analysis/Creative + external research
Researched Argument/Analysis + external research

In selecting the writing "type", you need to take the intensity, levels of difficulty and required additional research of the writing task into consideration.

What information does the 'Preparation & revision level' parameter capture?

The minimal/moderate/extensive levels of this parameter (found in 'Writing 1: Essay/Creative') reflect the amount of time and effort students are expected to invest in the planning and presentation (e.g. editing) of a piece of writing.

For example, students writing a 300 word reflective piece for a discussion forum would not be expected to spend as much time in planning and editing their work as other students preparing a 1500 word critical analysis assignment.

The level you choose should reflect your expectations and be aligned with the instructions you provide to your students in your assessment brief.

What do the different genres of student readings achieve?

If the text of a reading is unavailable for pasting into the 'Text content' field in the readings section (Resources 2), the different genres are used to guide our estimation of the number of words per page.

A fuller description of the genres are:

1 column academic journal vs 2 column academic journal: Some academic journals present their content within a two column/page format. The average number of words per page in this format differs substantially enough from a full page/one column format that we need to distinguish between the two formats.
Fiction/non-fiction: An option for creative writing and communication course reading resources
Textbook

Online popular/public writing: Opinion pieces and blog posts are examples of this genre. The concept of a "page length" does not exist for online material so you will have to copy and paste the content of this type of reading into the 'Text content' field.
Study notes: If you provide study notes for your students and they are in digital form, consider pasting them into the 'Text content' field.
Powerpoint slides: As the number of words on individual slides can vary widely in a single slide deck, there is no useful measure of words-per-page/slide. As a consequence, you will need to copy and paste your slidedeck into the 'Text content' field.

How do I set up and interpret assessment vs workload profiles?

The assessment-workload profile analyses the relationship between each assessment's weighting and the activity workload associated with that assessment. Ideally, the activity workload should match the assessment's weighting.

Set up

Step 1. Enter the assessment names and their relative weighting (value) into the "Course & Assessment information" section.

Step 2. Enter that number in the "Assess ID" field for each teaching and learning activity that underpins that assessment.

If a particular activity relates to more than one assessment, you can enter more than one number in the Assess ID field. For example, if a particular activity is associated with Assessment ID 1 and 2, enter '1,2' into the field. This will result in half the activity's workload being allocated to each assessment.

If you feel that an equal share of the workload is incorrect and that a 25%:75% split between assessments 1 and 2 is more appropriate, enter '1,2,2,2' into the Assess ID field.

Interpreting the profiles

The assessment-workload profile results are presented graphically below the activity pie chart, with the contributing data presented at the bottom of the details section.

The profile identifies three items of interest:

Balanced assessment and workload activities
Unbalanced assessment and workload activities
The proportion of workload that is not allocated to specific assessment(s)

All three items are displayed in the following figure:

Essays 1 and 2, the forum participation, and the poster assessment show excellent balance between the value of the assessment and the workload associated with it.
In contrast, Essay 3 and the final exam have unbalanced profiles. Essay 3 has a greater estimated workload associated with it than its assessment weighting. The final exam, on the other hand, has an estimated workload associated with it that is half of its contribution to the overall grade of the paper. Is it fair or appropriate that students have to commit relatively more work to earn assessment credit for Essay 3 than they need to commit for the final exam?
A little over 5% (~11 hours) of the course's workload is not associated with any assessment activity. Whether or not this component is significant will depend on the academic's teaching philosophy - is it appropriate or even necessary to tie all teaching to assessment?

Where is my data stored? What is 'local storage'?

Your data are stored in your browser's local storage.

Local storage is a web browser feature that allows web applications like this calculator to store data locally on the user's computer.

The data stored in the local storage persists even when the browser is closed and reopened, making it a convenient option for saving data that needs to be retained across multiple sessions.

Your data are safe in local storage. Data stored in local storage is specific to the website that sets it. Each website has its own separate local storage, meaning data from one website cannot be accessed by another website.

It's important to note that you can only store the workload information of a single course in your browser's local storage.

If you want to store workload data from two or more courses (so that you don't have to reenter all your data each time you update your course workload and need to check it), then you will have to use a different browser for each course.

Where are the 'Save' and 'Submit' buttons?

Every time you select an option or enter data into any of the input fields on the 'Data' tab, your selection or data are automatically stored (into your browser's local storage).

Every time you click the 'Results' tab, your stored data are retrieved, analysed, and the results presented.

As a consequence, we don't need 'Save' or 'Submit' buttons.

Summary Activity	Estimated workload (hours)	Profile (%)
Essays/Creative
Laboratory/Field work reports
Group projects
Posters
Forums
Portfolio
Oral/Audiovisual presentations
Performance
Tests & Examinations
Lectures, Tutorials & Labs
Readings
Stream Books & Lessons
Fiction/non-fictionPodcasts
Self-assessment & reflection
Other
Total		100%

Student Workload Calculator

Summary

Set up

Interpreting the profiles