Los AngelesSouthwestCollege, Curriculum Committee, Distance Education Committee; Notes, May 1, 2007;Page 1 of 2

Notes: May 1, 2007

Committee Membership:

9/19/06: Committee Members, original volunteers: Pat Lewis, Chair, The Arts; Joe Perret, CAOT; Dr. Ed Hector, Math; Linda Larson-Singer, Chair, Curriculum Committee

10/17/06: Additional volunteers: Linda Brady, Chair, Library; Alfred Reed Jr., Academic Senate President; AFT Representative (vacant); Leige Henderson, Vice President, Academic Senate

4/18/07: Additional volunteer: Dr. Lernik Saakian, Chair, Math

Members Present:

Linda Brady, Chair, Librarian

Leige Henderson, Administration

Linda Larson Singer, Chair, Curriculum Committee

Draft One was distributed and discussed. Leige Henderson stated that the Academic Senate had approved Moodle as the Course Management System. Some other systems are WEB CT, Blackboard, Academic System. Com and SharePoint. The system must be: a valid system supported by the college, a system with which IT work and fix if need be, and have a standardized format. The college needs to provide the best level of service for online classes that will be part of a degree. How students are oriented should also be in a consistent, standardized format. Training of faculty also need to be consistent. Academic Affairs needs a coordinator of online courses. Perhaps there should be reassigned time for a faculty coordinator. Perhaps such coordination should be organized under the Library. IT must be able to support updated websites and software.

Discussion continued. It was stated that there is a new site for the Math Lab. They will be recording student contacts and exploring new security for testing. Systems do exist to verify that the work of a student is their own.

Training of faculty needs to be done on the delivery system. It needs to be consistent, perhaps leading to a certificate. It might be possible to use video cameras to train, including techniques in teaching. Department chairs must observe, but with advanced notice, as with a face-to-face class.

Teachers must foster a “learning environment.” Should there be mandatory student orientations? Required attendance must be stressed and teachers must monitor the thread of discussion and offer help.

Class size must conform to the AFT contract. Teachers may not be profiting in any way through the choice of material or packaged software. Size would vary according to subject and structure of the class. Perhaps there could be a learning assistance who would help in a face-to-face lab with online instruction. There needs to be quality control of delivery and support.

The Distance Education Addendum should require to attach an outline no older than 5 years. The syllabus should also be attached. Should SLO’s be included?

Notes taken by Linda Larson-Singer, Curriculum Chair

CurrComm,DistEdComm,5.1.07,notes