2007-2008 FACULTY SENATE
The eighth regular meeting of the
2007/2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008, at 2:10 in the Mendenhall Student Center Great Room.
FULL AGENDA
REVISED 4-17-08 to include additional committee reports added
at the end.
I. Call to Order
II.
Approval of Minutes
March
18, 2008
III. Special Order of the Day
A. Roll
Call
B. Announcements
C. Steve
Ballard, Chancellor
D. Deirdre
Mageean, Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies
Carnegie Classification on the Engaged University and UNC
Tomorrow Commission
Link to the UNC
Tomorrow Commission Final Report (December 2007)
Link
to membership of ECU’s
Response Team
E. Mark
Taggart, Chair of the Faculty
F. John
Cope, Faculty Assembly Delegate
Written
report on the April
4, 2008, Faculty Assembly Meeting.
IV. Unfinished Business
V. Report of Committees
A. Academic
Awards Committee, Patricia Dragon
Response to the UNC Tomorrow Report
(attachment 1)
B. Academic Standards Committee, Linda Wolfe
1. Proposed Revisions to ECU Faculty Manual, Appendix C, Section III.
in
reference to the Student Opinion of Instruction Survey (attachment 2)
2. Proposal for Posting Student Opinion of Instruction
Survey Results on the
Web (attachment 3)
3.
Guidelines for Outcome Assessment of
Foundations Courses (attachment 4)
C. Admissions and Retention Policies Committee,
John Kerbs
Resolution
on Undergraduate Retention (attachment 5)
D. Continuing and
Career Education Committee, Jocelyn Nelson
Response to the
UNC Tomorrow Report (attachment 6)
E. Educational Policies and Planning
Committee, Dale Knickerbocker
(See additional committee reports added at the end
of this agenda.)
1. Request for a new
Concentration Area in Theatre for Youth,
of
Theatre and Dance,
2. Request
for a Name Change of the Minor being offered, from “Management of
Recreation and Facilities Services”
(MRFS) to “Recreation and Park Management” (RPM), Department of Recreation and
Leisure Studies,
3. Notification
of an Intent to Plan a Master of Science in Sustainable Tourism, North Carolina
Center for Sustainable Tourism, Division of Research and Graduate Studies
F. Faculty Governance
Committee, Puri
1. Response to the UNC Tomorrow Report
(attachment 7)
2. Proposed revisions to the ECU Faculty Manual, Part XII.B.2.a. (attachment
8)
G. Unit Code Screening Committee, Garris
Conner
(See additional committee reports added at the end
of this agenda.)
1. Approval of
the New Department
of Hospitality Management Unit Code of
Operation.
2. Approval
of the Revised School
of Communication Unit Code of Operation.
3. Approval
of the Revised School
of Medicine Unit Code of Operation.
H. University Budget Committee, Ralph
Scott
1. Response to the UNC Tomorrow Report
(attachment 9)
2. Resolution on the Transparency of
the so-called “BD-119” (attachment 10)
1. Curriculum matters contained in the minutes
of the March
27, 2008 and
April 10, 2008
committee meetings.
2. Response to the UNC Tomorrow Report (attachment 11)
J. University
Environment Committee, Charles Hodson
Response to the UNC Tomorrow Report
(attachment 12)
Summary
of reported energy conservation and efficiency efforts (for information
only).
VI.
New
Business
April 22, 2008
Attachment 1
ACADEMIC AWARDS COMMITTEE REPORT
Response to the UNC Tomorrow Report
As requested
by the Chair of the Faculty, the Academic Awards Committee at our meeting on
March 6, 2008, discussed the UNC Tomorrow Report and formulated this response
to the areas of the report that were related to our charge.
Our
discussion centered on recommendation 5.3:
“UNC should lead the campuses in a refinement and adjustment
of the tenure, promotion, and incentive system to place greater value on
faculty involvement and engagement in applied research and outreach that will
enhance the state’s competitiveness without decreasing support for teaching,
basic research and scholarship.”
Viewing our
committee as part of the incentive system for faculty, we had a discussion of
how the scholarship of teaching, learning, and engagement is evaluated in the existing
awards.
The
committee agreed that the creation of a new award(s) for scholarship of
engagement (in the sense of applied research and teaching) should be pursued in
order to give faculty incentive to be productive in this area. However, in order to preserve support for
basic research and scholarship, the committee felt that existing criteria for
research awards should remain as they are.
April 22, 2008
Attachment 2
ACADEMIC STANDARDS COMMITTEE REPORT
Proposed revisions to ECU Faculty Manual,
Appendix C. Section III. Evaluation
in reference to the Student Opinion of Instruction Survey
Revise Section III. Evaluation, 1. Teaching to read as follows:
(addition noted in bold print,
deletion noted in strikethrough):
“The quality of teaching must be evaluated by means of:
a. data
from surveys of student opinion, when such data have been gathered in
accordance with established
procedures of the department or the university which guarantee the integrity
and completeness of said data. As part of the effort to evaluate the teaching
of faculty members, each unit shall either: develop and use its own
instrument(s) as approved by the chancellor to determine student opinion of
teaching or utilize the instrument developed by the Teaching Effectiveness
Committee to determine student opinion of teaching.
b.a. formal methods of peer
review, including direct observation of the classroom teaching of new and
tenure-track faculty.
b. review by the unit administrator and/or peers
of course materials such as syllabi, reading lists, outlines, examinations,
audiovisual materials, student manuals, samples of student's work on
assignments, projects, papers, examples
of student achievement, and other materials prepared for or relevant to
instruction.
c. data from surveys of student opinion when an
individual faculty member’s data is consistently (more than 2 semesters) and
significantly (more than 1 mean absolute deviation) from the unit’s median for
similar courses.
c.d. other procedures provided for in unit codes.”
April 22, 2008
Attachment 3
ACADEMIC STANDARDS COMMITTEE REPORT
Proposal for Posting Student Opinion of Instruction Survey Results on the Web
In an effort
toward conservation and to facilitate reporting the results of the SOIS, IPRE
would like to implement online access to SOIS data for faculty members. This
would allow a more secure way of handling this sensitive information and
provide easy access for faculty to review the results for all their courses in
one location and ultimately across numerous semesters. Providing online access
to the results would also allow for a quicker turn around time thus enabling
faculty to utilize the feedback in a more timely fashion.
The most
important issue is safeguarding access to the results. For Fall 2008, the instructor reports (and
comments) would be available for access online so that instructors can see
their own results and comments. The supervisor would be enabled to access the
instructor reports only (but not the comments). In the future summary reports
would also be accessible online to the appropriate administrator with
comparable security safeguards in place.
April 22, 2008
Attachment 4
ACADEMIC STANDARDS COMMITTEE REPORT
Guidelines for Outcome Assessment of Foundations Courses
Before
setting out the general procedures to be followed in doing Outcomes Assessment
on Foundations Courses, it is useful to review the purpose of the Foundations
Curriculum at ECU, as stated in the approved Foundations Goals document.
It should be noted, however, that as UNC Tomorrow is implemented, there could
be added required assessment goals. Because of the pending Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) reaffirmation, it is necessary that
we begin to assess Foundation Curriculum courses now so that there is a body of
assessment data to present to the SACS investigation team.
Once
approved by the
The overarching
goal of the Liberal Arts Foundations Curriculum is to provide students with the
fundamental knowledge and abilities essential to their living worthwhile lives
both private and public. The Foundations curriculum reflects the faculty’s
belief that the best way to prepare students for living worthwhile lives is to
provide them with a solid foundation in the core disciplines (the Humanities,
Arts, Basic Sciences, and Basic Social-Sciences), in conjunction with a
multi-disciplinary education in the specific areas of health promotion and
physical activity and mastery of writing and mathematics competencies.
Together, these disciplines provide the core knowledge base in which all other
scholarship is grounded, including applied disciplinary, multi-disciplinary and
interdisciplinary scholarship. The foundations curriculum thus exists to
provide a common, unified body of knowledge and skills to students who will
major in widely different subjects and who come from diverse cultural
backgrounds.
Foundations
courses have the following learning objectives:
1. Students shall master the subject matter of
one or more of the disciplines in each of the four core areas (Humanities,
Arts, Basic Sciences, basic Social Sciences).
2. Students shall master the research methods
utilized in one or more of the disciplines in each core area.
3. Students shall master the relevance of
scholarship in the discipline to the matters outside the discipline
4. In the required multi-disciplinary areas
(Health Promotion and Physical Activity) and competency areas (writing and
mathematics), students must meet the knowledge and performance Foundations
goals specific to each of these areas.
Outcomes
Assessment of Foundations Courses
1. What is Outcomes Assessment?
The purpose of outcomes assessment is enhancing quality. Assessment shall improve student learning by
improving the quality of Foundations courses.
Outcomes
Assessment for quality enhancement is an ongoing, standard operating procedure.
Outcomes assessment for quality enhancement requires (1) assessing learning
outcomes to identify where improvements in quality are needed or possible, (2)
implementing steps to enhance quality, (3) assessing learning outcomes to
determine if quality was enhanced and (4) repeating this cycle for new areas
and/or for the same areas as appropriate.
ECU is required to document its Outcomes Assessment
activities. Hence assessment activities must at each stage yield results that
can be documented. Standard approaches to this utilize course-embedded assessment,
pre-and-post testing, assessment of student portfolios, assessment of student
theses and assessment via direct observations of performance.
2. Who
conducts Outcomes Assessment of courses earning Foundations credit?
Every department or school responsible for offering one or more courses for
Foundations credit.
3. Which courses are assessed?
At least one section of each course whether face-to-face or by distance
education at the 1000 and 2000 level offered for foundation credit or 20% of
the sections of courses with multiple sections, whichever is greater.
4. How often?
We will resume outcomes assessment on Foundations courses in Fall 2008. (We
last did learning outcomes assessment on
5. What must be assessed?
Assessment activities determine if improvements can be made in student learning
outcomes that address course information content or behavioral tasks.
Outcomes Assessment must evaluate student knowledge and skills with respect to
information or tasks that fall under each of the three general goals for the
each category.
6. How many learning outcomes per course must be
assessed?
At least one assessment is needed for each Foundations goal. (See appendices at the end of this document
for examples.) While none of the
assessment examples in the appendices includes a portfolio as an assessment
tool, it would be acceptable as long as it assesses foundation curriculum
goals. A variety of approaches to learning outcomes assessment are acceptable.
Some of these will be emphasized by the SACS committee on Foundations
assessment in the Fall of 2008 and later.
7. Who determines the assessment methods used,
who determines what constitutes a need for improvement, who conducts
assessments, who identifies learning outcomes that need improvement, who
determines how to make improvements, who implements attempts to improve and
assesses attempts to improve?
Faculty in units offering Foundation Curriculum courses will, in consultation
with the unit administrator or his appointee, determine the assessments
method(s) (see the appendices for examples). The goals to be assessed are the
appropriate Foundation Curriculum goals.
The faculty member(s) or an appointee are responsible for conducting the
assessment of the unit’s Foundation Curriculum courses based on the agreed up
method(s). Once the assessment results are tabulated, the unit’s faculty,
in consultation with the unit administrator or his appointee, will identify the
learning outcomes and determine needed improvements. It is the
responsibility of the faculty to improve the Foundation Curriculum courses
based on the outcomes assessment.
8. What must be made available to the
administration in the form of a published report?
Initially, a statement, by goal area, of each learning outcome that will be
assessed, for each learning outcome to be assessed, a description of how that
outcome will be assessed and a specification of how the difference between
“needs improvement” and “does not need improvement” will be determined.
By the
end of the semester following the first assessment, a statement of the results
of the initial assessment and a statement of what will be done to improve
outcomes identified as needing enhancement, along with an enhancement plan to
be implemented in the next semester.
By the
end of the second semester following the identification of outcomes needing
improvement, a statement of the success or failure of the attempts to improve
outcomes identified as needing improvement (the success of the enhancement
plan). Outcomes still needing improvement are carried over to the next
assessment period. New learning outcomes are introduced.
9. What is to be done with the report given to
the administration?
The procedure for reporting the outcomes assessment is under consideration by
the university administration.
10. What record keeping will be required by each
program conducting Outcomes Assessment of Foundations courses?
A copy of all reports generated by the program for the previous six academic
years and a copy of all materials used to conduct assessment in the future will
be on file in the department carrying out the assessment.
Appendix
A: Humanities Example
Outcomes
Assessment in the Humanities, for example, must evaluate student knowledge and
skills with respect to information or tasks that fall under each of the three
general goals for the Humanities. Philosophy is presented here as an
example.
Here are
three examples of specific learning outcomes that a philosophy might assesses
in order to see if improvements in student learning are needed.
Goal
1. Students will learn the subject
matter of at least one discipline in the humanities.
What is the student’s knowledge of a Mill’s theory of morality.
Goal
2. Students will learn the research
methodology applied by disciplines in the humanities.
What is the student’s ability to write a coherent justification for a moral
judgment.
Goal
3. Students will learn about the
discipline’s contribution to general knowledge.
What is the student’s knowledge of how discoveries in moral theory impact on
the recommendations made by hospital ethics committees.
Appendix
B: Social Science Example
Outcomes
Assessment in the Social Sciences, for example, must evaluate student knowledge
and skills with respect to information or tasks that fall under each of the
three general goals for the Social Sciences. Anthropology is used as an
example of outcomes assessment for the social sciences (biological anthropology
is excluded from social science outcome assessment).
Anthropology
will use embedded multiple choice question administered the first day of class
and embedded in the final but will not count toward the final grade on the
final. It is expected that 70% of the
students will answer 70% of the embedded multiple choice questions on the final
correctly. The same questions will be
asked the beginning of the class and embedded on the final.
Goal
1. Students will learn the subject
matter of at least one discipline in the basic social sciences.
Sample questions
1. Which of the following is NOT one of
the characteristics of culture?
a. culture is learned, b. culture is shared, c. culture is inherited, d.
culture is constantly changing.
2. One of the key features that makes
anthropology unique from other social sciences is that:
a. Anthropology
studies human behavior, b. Anthropology
takes a holistic perspective, c.
Anthropology has lots of subfields, d.
None of the above.
Goal
2. Students will learn the research
methodology, principles and concepts required to understand and conduct undergraduate-level
research in the social sciences.
Sample questions
1. The main research
method used by cultural anthropologists or ethnologists is:
a. statistical
comparisons, b. controlled excavations,
c. participant observation, d. skeletal analysis.
2. Statistical tests
of significance can help us to:
a. measure variables, b. prove theories, c. determine the
level of importance we should attach to
a theoretical construct, d. determine whether our results are attributable to
chance.
Goal 3. Students
will about the discipline’s contribution to general knowledge.
Sample questions
1. The study of
anthropology may be useful for all of the following EXCEPT:
a. helping us avoid misunderstandings between people, b.
giving us a better understanding of humankind, c. helping us determine which
culture traits are the best, d. giving us a sense of humility about our own
culture’s failings.
2 Now that you have
completed this course, what would you say is the relevance of anthropology in
today's world? a. the discipline helps us understand what human behaviors are
shared as a result of our common biological nature and what variations are
produced by culture, b. the discipline helps us avoid misunderstandings between
peoples that arise from cultural differences, c. the discipline combats racism
by demonstrating that physical differences between groups are the results of
adaptations to the environment and are not markers of intellectual inferiority,
d. exposure to anthropology helps individuals identify their ethnocentric
assumptions and therefore promotes tolerance, e. all of the above.
Appendix C:
Basic Sciences Example
Outcomes Assessment in the Basic Sciences, for example, must
evaluate student knowledge and skills with respect to information or tasks that
fall under each of the three general goals for the Basic Sciences. Physics is used as an example of outcomes
assessment for the Basic Sciences.
Physics will administer a multiple-choice pretest on the
first day of class, and the questions from the pretest will be embedded in the
final examination. It is expected that
the average scores on the outcomes assessment questions in the final
examination will be greater than the average scores of the same questions on
the pretest. Furthermore, it is expected
that the students will answer 70% of the outcomes assessment questions on the
final examination correctly.
Goal 1. Students will learn the subject matter of at least
one core discipline in the Basic Sciences.
Sample questions
1. What are the four
fundamental forces?
a. Gravitational, Electric, Magnetic, and Nuclear, b. Centripetal, Frictional,
Contact, and Gravitational, c. Strong
Nuclear, Weak Nuclear, Frictional, and Chemical, d.Gravitational,
Electromagnetic, Strong Nuclear, and Weak Nuclear.
2. Energy is:
II. An
abstract quantity with many different forms.
III. Always
conserved for an isolated system.
a. I only, b. II only, c.
III only, d. I and III, e. I,
II, and III.
Goal 2. Students will
learn the research methodology, principles and concepts required to understand
and conduct undergraduate-level research in a basic science.
Sample questions
1. What could
we do if an experimental result violates our scientific hypothesis?
I. Reject the hypothesis.
II. Modify the
hypothesis to correctly explain the result.
III. Accept the
hypothesis by treating the result as an isolated occurrence.
a. I only, b. II
only, c.
III only, d. I or II,
e. I, II, or III.
2. What distinguishes
science from other areas of learning?
a. The use of
mathematics, b. Experimentation as the ultimate test of truth, c. No prior assumptions, d. The use of
technology.
Goal 3. Students will
learn about the discipline’s contribution to general knowledge.
Sample questions:
1. A scientific
theory is
a. A well-tested and
verified hypothesis, b. An unproven
hypothesis, c. An educated guess,
d. The result of a single experiment.
2. How can you
describe energy use in the
a. We have used
energy at a constant rate, b. Our energy
use has increased at a constant rate, c.
Our energy use has increased exponentially, d. Our energy use increased every year until
2001, when it began to decrease, e. Our
energy use has increased in some years and decreased in others, with the net
result being a slight increase.
April 22, 2008
Attachment 5
ADMISSIONS AND RETENTION POLICIES COMMITTEE REPORT
Resolution on Undergraduate Retention
WHEREAS, East
Carolina University’s Admissions and Retention Policies Committee is charged
by the
WHEREAS, East Carolina University (ECU)
currently has a retention rate of 77% for first-year students, and
WHEREAS, ECU is committed to increasing
first-year retention rates to over 82% by the fall of 2011, and
WHEREAS, ECU has a four-year graduation rate
of 30% and a six-year graduation rate of 54%, and
WHEREAS, ECU is committed to increasing both
the four-year and six-year graduation rates, and
WHEREAS, ECU is committed to implementing a plan
to address the ten points in the UNC-GA Template for improved retention and
graduation rates, and
WHEREAS, ECU recognizes that there is sound
scientific evidence to suggest that study skills training1 and class attendance2 improve student performance by raising grades,
increasing student retention, and raising graduation rates.
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY
RESOLVED AS FOLLOWS:
BE IT RESOLVED that the Admissions and Retention
Policies Committee and the
BE IT RESOLVED