Direct instruction includes all teaching activities associated with courses that are taught by the individual during the fall, spring and summer terms. For nine-month faculty members who have separate appointments to teach during the summer term, direct instruction effort must be shown on the summer appointment as well. Direct Instruction (teaching activities) includes all effort spent in direct contact with students in the classroom and in all effort associated with teaching preparation for all courses offered on and off campus and on-line. (There is a separate box on the ARS form to report the percentage of effort associated with thesis courses for those individuals who work with doctoral students on thesis research.)

Direct contact with students includes: lectures, laboratories, independent study, conferences or seminars, and supervision of teaching and applied studies.

The effort that is associated with teaching a course includes: preparation of lectures or other classroom material; acquiring and preparing instructional media; meeting with students on course topics; and grading papers. For most faculty with teaching assignments, direct instruction will comprise a significant portion of their overall effort.

Direct instruction should be reported as a state-funded activity unless the instructor has no state fund appointment or if the course is offered through a separately funded account. If the course is provided as part of a contract agreement, the faculty should receive part of their pay from the funds from the contract and the course should be assigned to that account.

Thesis instruction includes all direct-contact instructional activity associated with students enrolled in the graduate research thesis courses.

Effort should be reported in thesis instruction for faculty who are overseeing the doctoral thesis work of graduate students. The instructors will have a direct instruction assignment record for the 599 thesis research course in one of the terms listed on the bottom portion of the ARS screen.

Thesis instruction is also usually reported as a state-fund effort - but it might be reported as part of activity on other fund sources. Specifically, if a faculty member is paid by a grant account (during the summer term or academic year) and continues to oversee doctoral research students - some effort can be reported in thesis research. This effort is usually directly related to the sponsored research project.

Note: undergraduate thesis/independent study or master's thesis projects should be reported as Direct Instruction.

Indirect instruction is the instructional-related activities that are not associated with the direct teaching of a course. There is usually only very limited effort that is reported for indirect instruction. The most common activity in this category relates to appointments for teaching assistants who provide assistance in the department but who do not have a course assignment.

Indirect instruction can include the supervision of multi-section courses; paper grading for an instructor's course; preparation and maintenance for laboratory sections; and study help and tutoring associated with courses.

Faculty who are provided release time to undertake major initiatives in the department might include some time in indirect instruction. This effort might include activity related to major revisions to the curriculum or to the review of the academic programs in the department.

These activities for faculty can include: effort spent preparing outlines, content, and bibliographies for future courses (curriculum development); devising and developing new instructional techniques; preparing or revising manuals, instructional software, tapes and slides; preparing for accreditation reviews by external groups.

Some units also have academic staff who might report indirect instruction activity for the coordination and supervision of TAs and other staff assisting in the classroom; the placement and monitoring of students in internships and practical study: and the coordination of study abroad programs.

Departmental Research includes all research and scholarly activities that is undertaken by the faculty member to support scholarly initiatives and professional development. Departmental research is non-funded research that is conducted with the support of the department and that helps to meet the overall academic priorities of the unit. Departmental research allows the faculty to pursue the development of scholarly activity within their disciplines.

Departmental research is usually supported by State funds, educational allowances, or gifts that are not assigned for organizational research. It is undertaken in general support of the instructional function of the institution and it is not an activity that is separately budgeted or accounted for with a separate account. It is not research that is conducted under funds from a research account and it is not performed for specific sponsored research agreements or contracts.

Departmental research contributes to the professional development of a faculty member and it may lead to publication. Scholarly development also includes any personal investigation into the professional literature; any writing of manuscripts or articles for publication; attendance and presentation of papers at professional meetings; and other efforts related to the development and maintenance of the scholarly competence of a faculty or professional staff member.

Organized Research includes all research and development activities that are budgeted and administered separately from instructional departmental activity and that are conducted for specific research projects.

Typical sources of support for Organized Research are: research grants/contracts funded by the U.S. Government, State of Illinois, and other external sponsors; research funds that are appropriated to the University of Illinois by the federal or state government; or ICR funds and other institutional funds specifically designed for organized research.

Organized research can also be conducted with gifts assigned for organized research and with campus Research Board funds allocated for specific research projects. At times, organized research activities can be carried out on an individual or project basis if financed from centrally administered, competitive institutional grants to individual faculty members.

For all faculty and staff appointments that are paid from a separately budgeted source of funds where the express purpose of the fund is to support funded research, the entire distribution of the effort for that appointment should be organized research (100%).

Faculty members who are paid by state funds (or institutional funds) and who provide direct effort in support of a specific research project should report that effort as organized research and then should also report cost sharing activity. Please see the ARS section on cost sharing for further information on this topic.

Public service is very limited in scope in effort reporting. The activities that are assigned in this category must be officially assigned by a department head or higher administrator. Public service is not separately compensated consulting or volunteer work that is done by a faculty member. Most faculty and staff will not report any public service effort.

Public service refers to programs or services at the University that are established to make available to the public the resources of the institution for the purpose of responding to a community need or solving a community problem. This can include public service programs or it can include the in-kind departmental contributions to the cost of an externally funded community service project and to the time spent by a person with an administrative appointment in the administration of public service (as in a museum or outreach program). Most public service activities are associated with specific funds and accounts that have designated program codes that are defined for public service.

The University of Illinois at Chicago designates patient care that is provided by health science faculty and staff to be patient service activities. Definitions for Patient Service are listed below. This effort is also viewed by the state as a public service but it is separately captured on the ARS screen under the clinical activities group.

General Administration is time spent by staff members who have an officially designated administrative function. Administration can include administering instruction, departmental research or public service activities. Academic professionals and administrators who are involved in the general operations of the unit usually report effort in the general administration category. This will include time and effort for heads and chairs; business managers; human resource staff; and other administrative staff.

Student support services are activities specifically designed to support recruitment and retention of students; student academic advising and counseling; student organizations; orientation; and student support within the department or unit. Staff who report activity in this category should have specifically assigned duties related to the support of students or student activities.

Paid leave includes administrative and sabbatical leaves for which the individual is paid by the University. It does not include disability leave or leave without pay. If the faculty member is on sabbatical full-time for the academic year, then 100% of the effort should be designated as paid leave. If the person is on leave for only a portion of the academic year, then the percentage effort assigned to the leave category should be adjusted.

For nine-month faculty member who has a two-semester sabbatical with half or more pay, report 100% in paid leave. For nine-month faculty with only one semester sabbatical leave with full pay, report 50% as paid leave. If the faculty member has only half pay for one semester, then the department should report 33% effort to paid leave. When the individual returns full-time for the second semester, the effort for the full pay in the second semester should be distributed across the remaining 67% of effort.

The clinical categories are listed on the ARS form for the health science programs at UIC. Clinical categories are designed to collect effort by health science faculty who teach in a clinical setting; who provide instructional support to residents or interns in graduate medical education programs; who give some patient services in the course of clinical teaching; or who provide specific support service to the University of Illinois hospital. Several reports to external agencies require the distribution of effort by faculty in clinical instruction that is associated with medical, dental or health care programs. Efforts in these clinical categories include the clinical portion of training for health science students (usually in a hospital or clinic setting); the training of students in the dental clinics; and the training of residents and interns in graduate medical education. The following categories are included under clinical activities: clinical education; resident education; patient service; and hospital service.