UCC Minutes, Sept. 29, 2010

UCC Minutes, Sept. 29, 2010

In attendance: Ken Farr, Barbara Funke, Caralyn Zehnder, Ryan Brown, Stephanie McClure, Deborah Vess, Roxanne Farrar, Cara Meade

Guest: Kay Anderson

Minutes approved with one correction from last week, 9/22.

I)  Update on courses moving from current to new core:

-          Dr. Jordan asked if we could send forth courses already approved. Ken sent a course list to be forwarded to BOR today.

-          After discussion, committee voted to include Philosophy 2200 in C1.

-          Discussion of English 2110. They should be willing to add an ethics outcome(s) to be included in C1. Chair has committed to including such an outcome in this course. Committee voted to include 2110 in C1 pending ethics outcome is included.

-          Committee clarifies that C1 will meet both (ethics and fine arts) outcomes.

-          Committee clarifies that C2 will meet the fine arts outcome.

-          Caralyn added Astronomy and IDST 2405 to the list of Area D courses now that their outcomes have been updated and map to the area outcomes.

II) Area B courses:

-          Two generic ‘placeholder’ courses have been established to submit to BOR for our new Area B (1 and 2) courses. Courses have generic prefixes (GC1Y, GC2Y) but there will be a way in the system to eventually tie courses back to the department although they will have this generic prefix. Dept. will get ‘credit’ for the course.  The department affiliation will be indicated after the semi-colon (:) in the course title. Kay clarified this process.

-          Motion was made and seconded to approve the proposal that was presented to this committee for consideration. Committee voted unanimously on the Area B proposal. Ken will sign off on behalf of the committee that we approve these courses to go forth to BOR.

III) Speaking and Writing overlays:

-          Discussion regarding these two overlays. Can all capstone courses across the institution meet either or both of the writing and/or speaking? Not sure we can confirm this by today’s deadline to get courses submitted. Deborah will speak to the Provost about treating these two overlays as degree requirements since part of the exposure is required to occur outside of the core.  We will postpone this discussion until further informed.

IV) Forms for new course proposals to be included in the redesigned core:

-          Deb expressed concerns that the rubrics do not contain enough clarity. She feels they need examples of what we are looking for, for example, how we are looking at mapping. Also concerned that there is a discrepancy between what we are asking for and what the rubric assesses.

-          Proposed drafts to be considered today were modified as explained below.

-          Committee discussed a better process that uses current documents that perhaps will allow for more clarity.

-          Proposal: Use New Course Approval Form that is being currently modified. We are asking that a question be included on that form asking (1) if this course is to be considered in the new core and (2) which course outcomes map to the core area outcomes. Suggested that this be area specific and on the online form, actually link to the area for which the course is being proposed.  This link will take faculty directly to the Core and Course Outcomes Alignment Form (CCOA - as titled today) with the 3^rd column dropped.  Rubric will be attached as an informational item to the CCOA form.  Until all of this (above) happens, we will put forth current packet and request New Course Approval Form to accompany CCOA form that is found in the packet.

-          This will follow the exact same process on the Course Update Form for existing courses.

-          Other discussions:

o   Area B Form is going to need more information on the CCOA Form.  Area B is going to have to require extra narrative regarding LBTC (B1 and B2) and the speaking and writing emphasis (B1) that we will ask for in the form of a text boxes after the two columns on the CCOA Form.

o   This committee will have to assess course by course but not section by section.

o   This committee needs send forth some implementation issues to consider:

§  Who is going to ensure uniformity of particular course sections in Area B?

§  Who is going to decide seats? Number and availability.

§  Will need to be available to students the description of this course as they choose which Area B courses they want to take. They will need to decide this and make this available by February as students start making decisions.

-          Ken will work on cleaning up forms to get out to the campus and email them out to UCC for final consideration.

-          Meeting adjourned.