DRAFT FA Minutes, 10/4/2017

DRAFT FA Minutes Wednesday, October 4, 2017

 

Began at 1:30 PM

 

13 Years ago there was an academic structure committee (ASEC). Provost has agreed to give us access to any needed data in preparation for the new cmte.

 

Make sure major and minor fair should not overlap with the meetings.

 

Approved minutes.

 

Provost update

 

17 teaching and learning grant applications, and 20 (?) of Europe apps.

 

Tae update

 

Conflicts found in Final Exam Schedule. We tried to change this over the summer, but were unsuccessful. FAEC. The longer exam schedule led to problems. We’re working with Registrar to create 4-exam per day exam schedule.

 

Will now end at 10:05PM, 15 minutes in between.

 

SGA proposed having a liaison to FAEC. They are really on the ball (Jaime Vasquez and Stephan Lolly, veep and Pres. respectively).

 

Get in touch with us about final exam schedule by next Wed.

 

TF on Online Learning

 

Michael Bitz

 

Convened Spring 2017, report delivered Oct 2, 2017

 

Asked to adapt online course manual, consolidate policies, consulted with deans and other stakeholders, considered scale of online and hybrid courses at RCNJ.

 

Distance enrollment is rising nationally, as campus enrollment is declining. Rising esp. at places like RCNJ.

 

Stockton has an office devoted to online teaching. Keane has design team for it. Thomas Edison is completely online.

 

Hybrid courses have increased:

2015: 42

2016: 154

2017: 214

 

Online as well, but not as dramatically.

 

Cmte recommends that ARC have a standing sub-cmte for online/hybrid learning.

 

Wants to create an online Wiki of best practices.

 

Wants alternatives to Moodle. Can’t check for cheating. Other systems use biometrics, for e.g.

 

College should expand its tech support hours. Should be 24/7.

 

Need training for instructors.

 

Also for students. Since online/hybrid courses are not necessary easier than in-class.

 

College should review policies for these courses. If one teaches entirely online, how much time should they be on campus? Unclear if there is an existing policy.

 

College should clarify intellectual property issues. In house counsel did not respond. Who owns the assignments, etc.?

 

Q: What about student evaluations? Person received very few the first time she taught the course.

 

A: All evals. are online for online courses.

 

Martha Ecker: when under contract, the trend is that online materials become the property of the college. What kind of college do we want to be? None of the ones we aspire to have online courses.

 

Q/A: We do not know how many courses were taught in-load vs. out of load.

 

Q: Can we get a better Moodle? Other people have nicer Moodle.

 

Q: Are our online students local to NJ? Most of them are.

 

Q: More concern about cheating. It’s an international scandal.

 

Q: Will there be courses that are ONLY online, vs. having in-class alternatives? Issues of accessibility, etc.

 

Tae: Remedial math class is fully online. Those students are the least confident in their math skills, and the online model is not working for many of them.

 

Ed Saiff: It’s actually very helpful, since it is adaptive for each student.

 

Q: Bergen C.C. has a composition course that meets 2 weeks online for credit. What about Winter course offerings, which couldn’t meet the same time as a semester course?

 

Bitz: Courses are supposed to be equivalent.

 

Q: One person likes Moodle.

 

Q: How often do you have to meet to be hybrid?

 

Q: Concern about final exam schedule for hybrids, which is hard to do given the flexibility of scheduling.

 

Q: All evaluations should be done online?

 

Q: Some students have many accommodation/mobility issues.

 

Q: Need to work with OSS for accommodations for online learning.

 

More Q? Email: mbitz@ramapo.edu

 

================

Coordinator for Senior Presentation Requirement—Nick Salter

 

[didn’t type the others]

 

Unanimous approval of slate of candidates 2:25PM

 

Nov 8 Teach in until midnight

 

We cannot submit proposals for distribution category. There is a freeze. There was no announcement.

 

There will not be any courses reviewed this year.

 

This will be frozen for one year. We have “plenty” of courses in the dist. cats. (Beth)

 

[Something about NJ transfer]

 

Q: It amounts to a 2-year freeze.

 

GECCO is doing final assessment of previous GE. They are also taking time to deal with rejected courses. They are also developing course review procedure.

 

Tae: As is, if your class is not already in GE, then it cannot be taught until Fall of 2020. But if ARC and GECCO accept them now, then we can have them run by 2019.

 

Q: We will have to offer both GEs anyway. Some courses will stay in old GE, transfers will take new.

 

Q: Does this mean we have enough of an option for students to take new GE courses that year. Less choice for them.

 

Tae will consult with Sarah Carberry and Steve Anderson about all of this.

 

[[[[Can we get the last word on the procedure of sit cat courses? My head is spinning]]]

 

Raul Peck I am Not Your Negro film Sharp Theater etc.

 

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