COMMITTEE: Academic
Standards Committee
MEETING DATE: January
22, 2007
PERSON PRESIDING: Linda
Wolfe
REGULAR MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE: Bauer,
McConnell, Smith-Canter, Lorenzo, Thomas, Wolfe
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE: Brown,
Bailey
OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE: Dr. Charles
Garrison, Chair of the Department of Social Sciences, faculty members from the
Department of Social Sciences, Dr. Nancy Spaulding representing the Department
of Political Science, Dr. Lynn Roeder, Dr. Dorothy Muller, and Dr. Michael
Poteat.
CALLED TO ORDER: 2:00 PM
ACTIONS OF MEETING
Agenda Item: Approval of Minutes of 11/20/06
Action
Taken: Approved
________________________________________________
Agenda Item: Consideration of
the following courses from the Department of Social Sciences for Social Science
Foundation Credit: SOCI 3025 (Sociology
of Mass Media), SOCI 3219 (Sociology of
Immigration), SOCI 4300 (Sociology of Emotion), and SOCI 4400 (Sociological
Perspectives of Sport)
Discussion of
SOCI 3025 (Sociology of Mass Media):
Questions from the committee were raised concerning how research
methodology would be addressed in the course.
The instructor responded that the textbook for the course contains
information on research methodology and she would be working with each student
individually throughout the course on their research as well as giving out
handouts in class. Michael Brown
suggested that the foundation goals could be incorporated clearly within the
course description and that the issue of research methodology and how it would
be addressed in the course should be improved within the syllabus.
Action Taken:
SOCI 3025 was approved by the committee for Foundations Credit; the revisions
requested by the committee can be made without resubmitting for committee
approval.
Discussion of
SOCI 3219 (Sociology of Immigration):
Questions arose from the committee concerning the clarity of the
foundation goals within the syllabus.
George Bailey stated that the syllabus did not make it clear that the
course was a sociology course, and the foundation goals should be clearly
expressed in the course objectives. He
further explained that two of the three foundation goals were not addressed in
the syllabus and that the intent of a foundations course in this area should be
to provide an introduction to the discipline of sociology. The committee agreed that there needs to be a
new syllabus written to propose this as a new Foundations course; the syllabus
provided was from a course of similar content previously taught.
Action Taken:
Dr. Rebecca Powers, the instructor of SOCI 3219, agreed to create a new
syllabus following the committee’s directives and return for committee review
and approval.
Discussion of
SOCI 4300 (Sociology of Emotion): The
committee requested clarification from the course instructor about the
objectives of the course. A question was
raised concerning whether courses approved for Foundations Credit must include
a research paper (for this course lacks one); George Bailey responded that
courses approved for Foundations credit only require that students be trained
in the discipline’s research methodology, not that they be required to write a
research paper using that methodology.
The committee agreed, however, that this course proposal did not
adequately address the issue of research methodology.
Action
Taken: The committee recommended that
revisions be made to the course proposal and syllabus and that both be
resubmitted for approval.
Discussion of
SOCI 4400 (Sociological Perspectives of Sport): The committee agreed that the
foundation goals are clearly stated in the overview, but that the instructor
needs to also include these within the syllabus.
Action Taken:
SOCI 4400 was approved by the committee for Foundations Credit; the revisions
requested by the committee can be made without resubmitting for committee
approval.
________________________________________________
Agenda Item: Consideration of POLI 3042 (American Politics
Through Music) for Social Science Foundations Credit.
Discussion: Dr. Nancy Spaulding presented the information
about the course on behalf of the instructor who could not attend the
meeting. She explained the course
objectives, how the course would blend the students’ interest in music with the
study of political expression, and how the foundation goals for social science
would be met.
Action
Taken: The committee agreed to approved
POLI 3042 for Foundations Credit.
________________________________________________
Agenda Item: Report from
Michael Brown on Service Learning
Discussion: Michael Brown shared with the committee the
results of recent meetings of the Service Learning committee: a definition of
service learning within the academic environment. The definition states:
Service-learning is a method of
instruction used to instill a sense of commitment and an understanding of
community leadership in students, most of who are undergraduates at ECU. All volunteer hours and community service
hours are not service-learning.
Service-learning courses meet the following broad guidelines:
1) service-learning is structured within a
course and has a formal, academic curriculum that is rooted in the discipline
in which the course is being offered.
2) the course contains a set of organized
community-based learning activities through which students directly serve a
constituency as a means to address an identified community need; and
3) the course provides structured opportunities
for students to formally connect their service activities to the course curriculum.
Action
taken: N/A
_______________________________________________
Agenda
Item: Consideration of the proposed
policy on how to handle classroom disruption
Discussion: Dr. Lynn Roeder presented the Policy on
Academic Disruption that had been drafted by Maggie Olszewska, Office of
Student Rights and Responsibilities. She
expressed how the policy has to be designed to protect the instructor as well
as consider the rights of students.
George Bailey suggested that the Governance committee rather than
Academic standards might better regard this issue. He recommended that
our committee could write a letter that recommends that the Policy on Academic
Disruption be considered by both the faculty and administration.
Action
Taken: The committee recommends that we
should put forward a recommendation to the faculty and administration that asks
for their consideration of the Policy on Academic Disruption.
________________________________________________
Agenda Item: Consideration of the revised Peer Review of
Teaching Instrument and Procedure
Discussion:
Dr. Dorothy Muller stated that the faculty resolution that approved the revised
Peer Review Procedure and sample Peer Review Instrument called for an
evaluation of the revised procedure after three years. Dr. Mark Taggart, Chair of the Faculty, had
asked that the Academic Standards committee review the Peer Review
Procedure. She explained that her
department had been trying to complete a survey by contacting each department
and asking specific questions about the instruments and procedures used. There is still great variety in instruments
(there are, for instance, 3 different peer review instruments for Music), and
she is trying to compile a summary table that will display indicate specific
variations in what instrument each department uses and how often reviews are
taken. She said she would prefer to
return when she had more complete information.
Linda Wolfe asked what the role of our committee would be in this
review—whether we are being asked to make recommendations or to recommend the
formation of a new committee to review this.
Action
Taken: The committee agreed that the
topic should be reconsidered at a future meeting (perhaps the 2/19/07 meeting).
_______________________________________________
Agenda Item: Consideration of assessment for foundation
courses
Discussion:
Dr. Michael Poteat presented information regarding the federal Department of
Education and their recommended changes.
He said that it is difficult at this point to be able to tell what we
will be required to do, but we should follow SACS requirements. He detailed how ECU will conduct a small
pilot of the Collegiate Learning Assessment using 20 freshmen students and 20
seniors beginning in the Spring semester (from Feb. 5 through April 15)—though
the problem will be in find freshmen students that begin university study in
the spring semester. George Bailey
raised concern that the move toward using the CLA had not been discussed nor
approved by the faculty senate, and that the faculty should have some input in
what instrument was going to be used for learning assessment. Dr. Poteat stated that there would still be
time for discussion, but that the administration wanted to move ahead with the
pilot study for more data to explore if this might be a possible assessment
option.
Action
Taken: The committee will hear further
reports on assessment in the future. In
the meantime, George Bailey said that he is working on a draft of outcomes
assessment to be used for Foundation Credit courses.
_______________________________________
ADJOURNED: 4:00 p.m.
NEXT MEETING: Monday,
February 19, 2007
ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED: Reconsideration
of Social Science Foundation Credit for SOCI 3219 and
4300; consideration of MATH 2151, MATH 2152, and MATH 2153 for
Foundations Credit; continued discussion of the Classroom Disruption Policy,
the Peer Review of Teaching Instrument and Procedure, and Assessment for
Foundation courses.