COMMITTEE: Academic
Standards Committee
MEETING DATE: March
17, 2008
PERSON PRESIDING: Linda
Wolfe
REGULAR MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE: Stacey
Altman, Mark Richardson, and Yazid Finn (Student Body President Representative)
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE: George
Bailey, Michael Brown, Linner Griffin, and Mark Sprague
OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE:
Dr. Barbara Memory (Department of Music
Therapy and Music Education), Dr. Michelle Hairston (Chair of the Department of
Music Education/Music Therapy), and Dr. Michael Poteat
CALLED TO ORDER: 2:00 PM
ACTIONS OF MEETING
Agenda Item: Approval of the minutes from the 2/18/08
meeting
Action
Taken: Minutes approved
________________________________________________
Agenda Item: Discussion with Michael
Poteat on The Academic Standards Committee Report of Proposed revisions to
Appendix C, Section II, Evaluation in reference to the Student Opinion of
Instruction Survey and evaluation of classroom teaching.
Discussion: It was agreed by most of the committee that
the SOIS is given too much weight in faculty evaluations; hence the need for
the revision to the evaluation of classroom teaching statement seems justified
and needs to be adopted as soon as possible by the faculty senate. Also agreed was with regard to the evaluation
of faculty teaching, the SOIS instrument result should be moved further down
the list of materials to be considered (after peer-review evaluations and
review of course materials such as syllabi, reading lists, examinations, etc). Further discussion centered on the how the
SOIS results should be evaluated. It was
agreed that the data from surveys should be relevant only when an individual
faculty member’s data differs consistently (more than two semesters) and
significantly (more than 1 mean absolute deviation) from the unit’s median for
similar courses.
Thus the proposal to revise Section
III. Evaluation 1. Teaching in Appendix C of the ECU Faculty Manual is as
follows:
“The quality of teaching must be
evaluated by means of:
Action Taken: Motion to approve was made and seconded. The committee has approved the revised
statement, so it will now be taken on to the Faculty Senate for their review.
_______________________________________________
Agenda Item: Discussion of teaching
outcomes and assessment for Foundations courses
Discussion: Final discussion of the Outcomes Assessment
of Foundations Courses prepared by George Bailey with the support of others on
the committee and its new revision.
Action
Taken: The committee approves the
Outcomes Assessment of Foundations Courses document. Linda Wolfe will present this document along
with the document outlining revisions to the evaluation of classroom teaching
at the Faculty senate meeting on April 22, 2008.
________________________________________________
Agenda Item: Consideration of the request for Music in
Therapy (MUSC 3677) for Foundations Credit in the area of the Arts
Discussion: Dr. Barbara Memory, Professor of Music
Therapy at School of Music, introduced this new course to the members of the
committee as a course for which she is seeking Foundations credit in the Fine
Arts. She explained the nature of the
course as one that reaches out to different disciplines such as the health
sciences, psychology, early education, etc.
Music, she said, can be used to change behavior of individuals—to reach
them in ways not available to other types of therapy. The course would incorporate some elementary
discussion of musical elements but more with regard to how these elements are
discussed in the field of music therapy and how the research in music therapy
can be helpful to a variety of other fields that try to reach out to
people. Memory explained that the course
is not designed for music majors, but rather for non-majors that might be
interested in music as it might help them in their discipline. Dr. Brown asked about when music fundamentals
would be covered in the course (as they are not listed in the syllabus or
course outline) and those are necessary topics to cover in any introductory
course taking the place of a course already receiving Foundations credit in the
Arts (such as music appreciation). Dr.
Memory explained that the music fundamentals (such as melody, rhythm, harmony,
etc.) would be addressed as these topics come up with specific musical examples
used to illustrate music therapy concepts.
She said that music fundamentals would be introduced within the first
three weeks of class. Dr. Brown
suggested that the music fundamentals be listed and covered specifically on the
course outline as the course should be more of an introduction to music (if it
is to receive Foundations credit in the Arts) rather than a course better
organized for individuals seeking entrance into the field of music
therapy. Dr. Bailey suggested that this
course is better suited for a course in the field of Social Science rather than
in Music—especially with regard to courses at the Foundations course
level. He stated that Music should be
the core of the course—not an auxiliary element—if the course is to receive
Foundations credit in the Arts. Here, he
stated, it seems that music therapy is the aim of the course. Several members of the committee suggested
that the course would need extensive revision—especially to the core of the
course itself to include the necessary coverage of musical elements, its
genres, culture, history, and organization that lead to an appreciation of
music as an art form—before the course could be reconsidered for Foundations
credit in the Arts. It would need to be a
course designed in Music Appreciation with some secondary emphasis in Music
Therapy to work. Dr. Wolfe stated that
it might not be worth Dr. Memory’s time to seek Foundations credit if the
revisions would so change the nature of the course that she envisioned.
Action
Taken: The committee agreed that the
course could NOT be approved in its current state for Foundations credit in the
Arts. Dr. Memory said that she would
like to talk further to Dr. Brown and Dr. Bailey about ways the course might be
revised so that the committee might reconsider it in the future.
________________________________________________
_______________________________________________
ADJOURNED: 4:00 p.m.
NEXT MEETING: April
21, 2008 (Last meeting of the academic year)
ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED: Discussion
of service-learning course designation and a revised course for Foundations
credit in the area of the Humanities—INTL 2004 (Introduction to Japanese
Culture).