Contact hours are a way of describing the work of faculty. For work involving the instruction of students, contact hours are generally based either on the number of students enrolled in a section (the “head count”) or by the number of times a section meets (the “base count”).
Under the 12 hour law, a faculty who spent 100% of his or her time on instruction would receive 12 contact hours. Each contact hour translates into 8.33% of overall effort (1/12 = .0833)
Faculty members typically have some instructional responsibilities, but also other tasks such as research. The percent of time spent on non-instructional tasks is equivalenced into contact hours based on this formula. For example, a faculty member who spent 25% time on research would receive 3 contact hours. (25%/8.33% = 3 contact hour equivalencies).”