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Meeting Minutes
August
29, 2006
Announcements:
There are
a few new members of the Taskforce this year. Joni Petschauer
stepped down and Carter Hammett-McGarry will take her place.
Also, Kelly Edge is the new graduate assistant to work with the
committee.
Dr. Keefe
announced that the Provost has granted $40,000 for faculty
grants this year. The purpose of these funds will be to
supplement GenEd changes in relation to the new model.
Dave Haney
has added new readings to the WEBCt website. Carter and Kelly
will be added to the list so they will have access. The Provost
has also begun a website for the Strategic Planning Committee
which needs to be in line with that of the GETF. It is on the
academic affairs portion of the App website.
Organization for the upcoming year:
The High
School/ Community College Sub-Committee will remain intact with
Jeni Wyatt as chair. (Joni would like to still be a part of it.)
The
Alumni/Employer Sub-Committee will also remain active with Greg
Rhoads as chair.
The
Departmental Statements Sub-Committee will stand as well.
Alexandra has compiled a cumulative report. An executive report
and summarizing statements need to be compiled as well.
Calendar
for the upcoming year:
It is our
intention to have a full calendar for both Fall and Spring. We
will meet in the Hubbard Center classroom every Tuesday morning
at 8:00am with the exception of September 12. (IG Greer 224 has
been reserved for this date.)
Our goal
for the year is to finish the Curriculum Model by December.
This includes the required core courses and credit hour
distribution. In the Spring, we need to address the
administration for Gen Ed, decide whether a Core Curriculum
Council should continue, and put in place a plan for assessment.
Public
Forums Planned for Fall:
Wednesday,
Sepember 13, 3-5pm:
A hard
copy and e-mail of the Goals/Learning Outcomes was sent to the
faculty during the last week of the Spring Semester, but only a
few people responded. We need more formal feedback, which is
the purpose of this forum. The subcommittee that worked on the
two surveys of faculty and alumni will need to present findings
and relate them to the goals and outcomes. Also, the
Departmental Statements sub-committee will need to present a
review and relate it to the goals and outcomes. Dave Haney
volunteered to present the Papas report that support our goals
and outcomes in a national context.
The
Provost wants the GETF’s final recommendation after this
meeting. (There will be no more public comment after this
point.) His goal is to announce the goals and outcomes at the
September 29th Strategic Planning Committee Public
Forum. He would like to get the entire University on board and
move forward with this project.
An
announcement will be made at this meeting about the September 15
forum.
Friday,
September 15, 3-5pm:
An e-mail
will be sent out next week announcing this forum to the
faculty. It is vital that they be involved with GETF in order
to work on a broad outline of the curriculum related to goals
and outcomes. From this forum, interest groups will form in
order to develop new classes. These groups will begin working
after this forum meeting and work throughout the year. By next
fall, the some new courses should be established. We need
pioneers working on new general education curriculum related to
our goals and outcomes. The GETF will provide a place to bring
people together.
Faculty
will not be placed into pre-decided groups; we will allow them
to emerge. This forum will act as a catalyst for them to find
one another and to form their own interest groups. We need some
positive developments for new curriculum to make faculty more
comfortable about the upcoming changes. The Science and English
Departments have existing interest groups working on
interdisciplinary courses. We will definitely need feedback
from both of them. We do need to address the fact that each
outcome does not need its own course and explain the variety of
ways to address our goals and outcomes.
Some
concern was voiced about the uneasiness of the faculty. It was
established that the best thing to do is acknowledge the change
and get the faculty interest groups involved in this project in
order to give them a voice in the process. Each person on the
GETF committee needs to speak to faculty and spread the word in
order to get people involved. Also, when the model is
established in December, everything should become much clearer.
This is a
grass roots effort to promote coordination among the faculty and
departments which begins with the GETF. So recruit as many
people as possible to this meeting.
There will
also be two more public forums this fall on Wednesday, October
11 and Friday, November 17, both from 3-5pm. These will present
our thinking on the emerging model.
Grant
allocation:
While
discussing interest groups, the question of where the 40k is
spent arose. This money will be granted to specific faculty
members. (For example, 2k would be awarded to 20 faculty
members to develop courses over the summer.)
Not all
faculty members involved in interest groups will get grants.
The purpose is to set up a mechanism in academic affairs so
students can begin taking courses in Fall 2007. One of the
determining elements in the award process is the number of
courses that we are allowed to begin. The number is not set,
but there is a possibility of 4-7 a semester. The assessment
process will be built into the grant application.
Grants are
a mechanism for working out how we want to grow. They are only
a guarantee that the class will be taught once. The assessment
process will determine how we will proceed with further class
offerings.
Other
questions arose that will have to be addressed in the
sub-committee that will address the grant application process.
They are as follows: Will non-tenured people be able to receive
grants? Will the test case courses come only from the grant
recipients? What about existing classes that fit into the goals
and outcomes? When do we begin to assess current gen ed
courses? Where does this leave interest groups that do not get
grants? When do they present their findings?
Some
questions were able to be addressed during the meeting:
Does the
GETF meet next summer to monitor progress of new courses? No
summer work should be required other than fine tuning of
classes.
If a
course is developed, is there a possibility that it will be
taught in Fall 2007? Yes.
Will it
count toward students’ current Gen Ed requirements? Yes, as a
special topics course.
New
Committee:
In order
to address the many concerns about the newly forming faculty
interest groups as well as the grant proposals, a Faculty
Interest Group Committee needs to be formed. Volunteers include
Carter, Paul, Dave, and Sammy. This group will help formulate
the faculty grants application process.
The
Curriculum Model:
A game
plan for the curriculum model is needed. It was suggested that
before we begin looking at required courses and credit hour
distribution, we get more philosophical about the model. We
will begin next meeting with Dave’s power point, which is also
on the website. This way, we will get a better sense of our
direction. For example, we will want to discuss the idea of a
vertical model.
Other items that need to be addressed are the two choices of
core courses or a capstone course. Also, the limitations of the
articulation agreement need to be addressed. It was proposed
that we address the needs of the students first and then make
adjustments as needed. Transfer students as well as native
students need to be considered in this process.
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