Tri-County Technical College
Faculty Senate Minutes
Date: 10-11-2010
Location: OC301
Time: 1:34 PM to 3:20 PM
Members Present: Penny Edwards, Amoena Norcross, Marilyn Vickery, James (Jimmy)Walker, Jennifer Beattie, Marla Roberson, Phil Smith, Keri Catalfomo, Donna Shannon, Deborah Brock, Katy Goforth, M. Yvonne Vinson, John Woodson, Scott Brabham
Members Absent: Susan Curtis Matt Woodall
Guests: Scott Harvey, Tom Hiebel, Harriette Dudley
Presided: Katy Goforth
Approval of Minutes:
· Approved with the following changes:
o Reflect a more complete discussion of the Professional Development Day.
o Reflect that Penny will create a flyer to advertise the Faculty Senate.
· Katy will send the corrected minutes to the Faculty Senators.
· Amoena moved to accept the minutes with the above changes.
· John seconded the motion.
· All approved with the corrections noted.
1. Issue discussed and major points of discussion: Drop/Add Period (DA) – Scott Harvey
· Length of DA has been discussed in ADG. Recommendation is for drop to be 5 days and add 3 day. Also discussed having no DA period similar to what York Tech is currently doing.
· With appropriate justification to the Division Dean, the student is eligible to have WebCT access on the 4th day.
· Question: What happens if the first meeting time is Thursday? Answer: No solution considered with this policy.
· Question: Any changes to “no show” policy? Discussed in Agenda Item #4.
· Question: Can Add/Drop be tied to meeting pattern of class? Answer: Per Scott it can’t be done administratively in Banner.
· Add/Drop time has no impact on Financial Aid.
· No idea what Administrative impact this change will be at this time. ADG recommends the change to go into effect Spring, 2012 with a review to see what the impact is on the Divisions.
· Question: Why 3 days? Why not 4 days? Answer: We started with 5 days. Some want to stay 5 days; some want 0 days. Compromise of 3 days in ADG meeting.
· Question: In Banner are Add/Drop linked? Answer: No
· Phil questioned if changing the DA time is the actual problem or if there is an ultimate problem that we should locate the answer to. It was determined that the ultimate problem is to free up seats for new students.
· Scott noted that he thinks students should have an opportunity to drop a class.
· Concerns that changing DA info from Fall to Spring could create student confusion. Faculty Senate would prefer it to start in Fall not Spring.
· Question: Is there a report on success of late registered students? Answer: Yes, see attachment provided by Chris Marino.
· Per Scott, the waiting list feature is being implemented.
· Impact considerations of Divisions:
o Safety (IET)
o Benchmark numbers impacting accreditation (HE)
o Possibly DA should be a departmental (Division) decision rather than a college decision.
Action to be taken as a result of discussion, person(s) responsible, and timeline:
Katy will take the following to ADG on October 12, 2010:
The Faculty Senate agrees that the 3 / 5 should be implemented in Fall, 2011, with review of the process of 3 / 5. A number of the Faculty Senators support 0 / 5.
2. Issue discussed and major points of discussion: Catalog Software – Scott Harvey
Scott brought information to the Faculty Senate regarding the cataloging solution software Acalog that he recommends TCTC purchase. Product website is http://www.acalog.com/solutions/acalog.php, Per the website:
· Empower departmental editors to make changes in the system, while keeping a comprehensive audit trail of every edit.
· Support any number of editors, working on their own schedule, or concurrently.
· Leverage built-in tracking-and-approval workflow to end the paper chase associated with your current curriculum change-approval process.
· Attach critical curriculum documents administratively to courses and programs.
· Dynamically integrate course information with your e-catalog and online schedule, or course equivalency system.
· Publish your revised e-catalog with the push of a button, and make critical corrections in real-time.
· Contribute to campus sustainability objectives by replacing massive runs of printed catalogs with an interactive e-catalog.
· Export directly to Microsoft® Word.
· Deliver your revised and updated e-catalog to students months ahead of your current schedule.
Tom Heibel, Chair of Curriculum Committee, says that CC approves the support for the purchase of this software. Both Tom and Scott feel that the implementation of this catalog software will improve the CC process.
Cost is approximately $30,000 with a possible annual maintenance fee. Scott had previously added this purchase to the budget last year but it was not approved. He is hoping with the support of the Faculty Senate the odds for approval next year will be greater.
Action to be taken as a result of discussion, person(s) responsible, and timeline:
The Faculty Senate supports the purchase and implementation of this product.
3. Issue discussed and major points of discussion: Attendance Policy – Scott Harvey
Should we create a new policy? Are we creating ambiguity with both faculty and students by not having a mandated policy of attendance? What are the actions and consequences of a policy? Per Scott and Deborah the current attendance policy is confusing to new faculty.
Current policy from catalog, page 15:
Attendance Policy
Class attendance is crucial to student success. Therefore, any student who accumulates more absences during the term than the class is scheduled to meet in a two-week period is subject to being withdrawn from the class. The number of allowable absences during the summer term or other sessions of varying length will be 10% of the total number of class meetings. Students who arrive late may, at the discretion of the instructor, be marked absent for that class. Students who continually arrive late to class are subject to being withdrawn from the class. In extenuating circumstances, a student may request readmittance to class by meeting with the instructor and explaining the circumstances of the absences. If the instructor agrees to re-admit the student, the student will be informed of the requirements which must be met to successfully complete the course.
· Scott would like the wording to be stronger in our current policy to include that you have to attend the first meeting of the class. In other words: mandate first day attendance.
· Reminder: Faculty should be taking attendance the first week.
· An attendance policy has no impact on the student’s financial aid.
· Receiving “F” or “W” is based on last day of attendance (LDA).
· Phil suggests that we need to reword policy and make it a definitive policy. We agree that we need a standard.
Action to be taken as a result of discussion, person(s) responsible, and timeline:
1. Faculty Senate says that “Failure to attend the first class after you have registered results in an administrative drop.”
2. Faculty Senate says that “W” is currently left up to instructor and should stay that way.
3. Scott will check with IT so see when the automatic letter feature can be turned on.
4. Go back to your Division and ask:
Do you believe the attendance policy should be mandated? Comments?
Bring this information back to the November meeting.
5. November meeting will discuss this and the current 0/1 policy.
4. Issue discussed and major points of discussion: Professional Development Day - All
Penny created a draft flyer. Corrections were noted. Katy will send corrections to Penny. Katy will ask that Marketing create the flyer in the college colors. This will be placed in all the faculty mailboxes.
Faculty Senate will have a table at the Professional Development Day. The table will have copies of the Faculty Senate constitution, fliers, membership list, and a suggestion box. Amoena, Marla, Phil, Donna, Deborah, Marilyn, Katy, and Kari will staff the table. Marla will send out a sign up schedule.
Concerns about Professional Development Day including specific dates:
· “Best interest to attend” mandated attendance.
· Child care
· Other arranged plans
· Causes concern with child care and other arranged plans.
· Faculty feels students also need a fall break earlier in the semester.
Katy has passed on Faculty Senate concerns to ADG.
Action to be taken as a result of discussion, person(s) responsible, and timeline:
Marla – contact Sharon to find out where the table is.
Marla – set up table schedule
Katy - flier
? - Suggestion box
? - Copies of Constitution
Announcements/Concerns:
No additional announcement/concerns that were not already included on the agenda.
Next meeting date, time, and location: November 15, 2010 at 1:30 in CD 142. Donna Shannon is scheduled to be recorder.
Name of recorder: Marla K. Roberson, Library Director