Curriculum and Assessment Policy Committee Minutes - 1 October 2010

Attending: Sunita Manian, Beauty Bragg, Donna Ingram, Sandra Hancock, Julia Metzker, Cara Meade, Ryan Brown, Beth Broyles, John Swinton

Regrets: Deborah Vess, Barbara Roquemore

Absent: Carol Christy, Diane Gregg

Guests: Hedy Fraunhofer, Olefunke Fontenot

The Curriculum and Assessment Policy Committee (CAPC) of the University Senate began its meeting in A&S 2-16 at 12:30 p.m., with Dr. Sandra Hancock, committee vice chair, presiding. 

Agenda Item:  Modern Foreign Languages Proposal

The committee considered the proposal put forth by the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures.  Dr. Fontenot and Dr. Fraunhofer were present from the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures to discuss the proposal.  Of the several individual proposals the discussion focused primarily on the plan to change all MLC course offerings from three to four hours.  Questions were raised about how this change would affect departments across the University and whether the chairs of the affected departments could accommodate majors.  The proposal includes a description of suggested changes to Area F for those degree programs that have a foreign language requirement in Area F.  The chairs of departments in the College of Arts & Sciences had been consulted but the chairs in other colleges had not.  Additional hours may be required for some majors.  Students in some degree programs with many course requirements may risk exhausting their HOPE scholarship funds if additional hours are required.  Some decisions about implementation will need to be made at the College level. 

The proposal includes a chart describing how to articulate transfer credits and place transfer students in appropriate courses.  Additionally, the language placement exam will help all students find courses at the appropriate level.  The Department of Modern Languages and Cultures seeks to focus more on proficiency in the Enhanced courses.

Faculty workload and credit hour accounting was discussed.  According to the proposal,

In the model detailed in our proposal, students will receive credit for the number of hours worked towards defined learning outcomes and for meeting these outcomes. The fourth credit represents about 150 minutes of additional work expected of students outside the classroom per week.

The committee expressed concerns about how faculty would assess whether or not students engage in the additional outside hour.  The language courses designated as Enhanced will have three hours of lecture and one hour in the language lab.  Participation in the lab can be monitored with software.  Faculty will supervise in the lab and will engage in assessment and other activities intended to achieve the equivalent student contact of the additional credit hour.  Assignments and projects account for the additional credit hours in other courses.  Whether or not students are participating fully may be assessed via written assignments.  The Board of Regents policy on student contact is given in Section 3.4.1 of the BOR Policy Manual.  It states, “A minimum of 750 minutes of instruction or equivalent is required for each semester credit hour.”  The committee expressed concern about whether or not the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures proposal is in violation of BOR policy.

The committee asked Dr. Fontenot and Dr. Fraunhofer to provide additional information before the committee acts.  Specifically, the committee wants each department with a program that will be affected by the proposed change to provide a letter of support for the change.  The committee also wants a letter from each college dean stating which departments are left unaffected by the proposed change.  The committee also wants Department of Modern Languages and Cultures to address how the proposal is in compliance with the BOR policy on credit hour accounting.

Motion to postpone was made and passed.

Adjourned at 2:00 p.m.