Taft College Academic Senate Minutes

Taft College Academic Senate Minutes Monday, Sept. 7, 2016 Cougar Conference Room

Members Present: President Geoffrey Dyer, Vice President Vicki Jacobi, Ammar Abbott, Jennifer Altenhofel, Kanoe Bandy, Michelle Beasley, Eric Berube, Darcy Bogle, Jill Brown, Kamala Carlson, Jon Carrithers, Joe’ll Chaidez, Candace Duron, John Eigenauer, Juana Escobedo, Carly Flowers, Tori Furman, Greg Golling, Leigh Golling, Jessica Grimes, Dan Hall, Mike Jiles, Diane Jones, Danielle Kerr, John Kopp, Kelly Kulzer-Reyes, David Layne, Julian Martinez, Mike Mayfield, Tina Mendoza, David Mitchell, Michelle Oja, Ruby Payne, Robin Polski, Joy Reynolds, Debora Rodenhauser, Terri Smith, Lori Sundgren, Tony Thompson, Don Thornsberry, Melissa Thornsberry, and Veronica Van Ry.

The meeting was called to order at 12:09 PM.

Public Commentary

Review of Aug. 18, 2016 Senate Minutes  The date of the Aug. 18th minutes should have been Aug. 18th instead of May 2nd. Jennifer Altenhofel made the motion to accept the minutes with that correction. Kelly seconded the motion and the motion carried.

Commentary on Electronic Committee Updates  There were no questions or comments about the committee updates that were sent via email.

Basic Skills Overview - Sundgren  The Basic Skills Initiative is going away and is being replaced with Student Success for Basic Skills.  We will have a planning year while we merge BSI, Student Success, and Equity.  Instead of $20 million being available for Basic Skills, there will now be $50 million, but there are strings attached.  We will have a new allocation formula which will in part be performance based. We will also now have to apply for the funds instead of the funds just being given to us.  There will be more requirements, but there will also be more things that are “allowable”. Up to 5% of the funds are to be used for faculty development.  The new requirements are more extensive. We still need to assess our programs and activities, but we are also required to include strategies to improve the successful transition through the sequence of courses. The application needs to show an evidenced based plan that shows the adoption and implementation of multiple measures.  Of the $90,000 spent last year for Basic Skills, $60,000 went towards funding tutors and SI’s.  Lori will head up the effort to apply for the new funding.

STEM Pathways Grant Updates – M. Thornsberry  This is the final year of the STEM Pathways grant.  The External Education Lab (EEL) will consist of a light-oil treatment tank farm, and a safety training facility. The lab will give students the opportunity to apply what they are learning in the classroom to what they will encounter in the industry, or to better prepare them if they do transfer.

1  The EEL would promote collaboration across various disciplines.  The EEL has a current budget allocation of $400,000 to $450,000 and will come from the STEM Pathways grant.  The Electromyography (EMG) and the electroencephalography (EEG) lab would promote active learning in the areas of physiology, kinesiology, anatomy and areas of psychology such as biopsychology and cognitive psychology.  This lab will be available for faculty and student research. It will also enhance our athletic training program and promote preventative medicine. The lab also has instructional potential for our TIL program, our exercise courses, and our ECE courses.  There is a potential for a certificate program for students who can operate the types of equipment in the lab.  The lab will reside in G10 and cost around $300,000. The Dental Hygiene classroom will move to G9.

ISLO Data – Jacobi  We are still working on the Community and Global Consciousness ISLO. Vicki had the senate score the twenty “What if…” items that the faculty brainstormed at the SLO day. Vicki put all of the “I wonder…” items in the report that she is working on.  Many of the “What if…” items seemed to center around common assessments, common definitions, and common rubrics in order to ensure that we are measuring the same things in the same way.  We have four Institutional Student Learning Outcomes and we should be focusing on one each year.  This year we will evaluate the Critical Thinking ISLO. In preparation for that, we are looking to develop some common definitions, common assessment, common rubrics to be used, and to work on interrater reliability.  Vicki will add our responses to the report and send that out to us. Vicki would like for us to give her feedback on the report.

SLO Data Integrity – Jacobi  Geoffrey noted that there were a lot of questions about the data collected for the Community and Global Consciousness ISLO. Geoffrey wanted to hear from the senate about what sort of things we need to be thinking now regarding the Critical Thinking ISLO in order to prevent the same level of frustration with the data we collect this year.  How can we do a better job of getting the data in the first place so that is more meaningful and actionable when we sit down together to analyze the data?  Mike Jiles said that part of the problem with last year’s ISLO data may have been that we didn’t understand what we were looking at. Is there better way to represent the data?  Vicki suggested that we could try to use a common ISLO rubric for some instructors to use on their individual assessments (along with a norming session), and others could use a common ISLO assessment. We could then compare the data from both groups.  Veronica Van Ry asked whether using a common rubric is an infringement on academic freedom. Vicki responded that the use of a common rubric for the ISLOs would not be used for grading purposes.  Is this topic more of an Institutional Research issue? IR is involved on the backend of the data collection. Assessments are under the purview of the Academic Senate.

Distance Education Update – Hall 2  We are currently using 131 course shells in Canvas and 113 course shells in Etudes.  Please let your division chairs know what LMS (CMS) you would like to use for your classes, if any.  There will be more Canvas training offered soon. @One will offer their own “Intro to Teaching with Canvas” and Dan will be facilitating our own “Intro to Canvas” training sometime in November.  Etudes and Moodle will be going away in Summer 2017. Canvas will be our exclusive LMS at that time.  You can still earn a stipend if you go through the Canvas training and either teach a course using Canvas in the spring, or in the summer. If you switch over to Canvas in Fall 2017, you will not receive the stipend.

Other  Ruby Payne would like to make sure that there is a campus wide discussion about the Dean of Grant position before it is institutionalized.  If the position did end up being institutionalized, would it have to be opened up for applicants?  Geoffrey suggested that if this is something that we need to take action on, or to make a recommendation on, that Ruby talk with the Math/Science AS Council representative, Greg Golling, about bringing this before the AS Council.

Meeting adjourned at 1:01 PM. Respectfully submitted by Dan Hall