Criterion 1: Helping
Students Learn
MINUTES
SEPTEMBER 14, 2004
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Truman Bashore, Ann Miller, Susan Brunswick, Becky Telford, Matha
Schleinitz, Maggie Myers, Ruth Barney, and Iden Smith
The minutes of
the April 22 meeting were approved as submitted.
Jane Salisbury
attended to provide an update on the progress of the three action
projects. She reported that the Criterion 1 Team was making good
progress.
The Team
discussed issues carried over from last year and goals for this academic
year.
The Team
discussed several issues related to online and web flex classes that the
Chair will bring to the attention of Dean’s council.
- When 4 and
8 week courses are taught in web flex format, a student who does not
have the necessary computer skills or knowledge of Blackboard may
get so far behind in the class while learning these things that they
may not be able to get caught back up.
- The Team is
concerned that some courses are taught only in the online or web
flex format. Some students might need the extra face-to-face time of
a traditional class.
- It appears
that some instructors of web flex classes are rarely meeting with
the classes so the classes are really being treated like online
classes.
- The Team is
concerned that there is not much oversight of online classes to make
certain that they have good content and that the instructor is
running the class well.
- The Team
would like to get feedback from Dean’s council concerning whether
they would like to continue getting success data after the Team’s
project has ended.
The Team
discussed issues for the coming year.
- It will
continue to collect success rate data and may survey instructors.
- The Team
may prepare a document that describes to students how an online
course will operate, what the requirements will be, and what they
should expect from the instructor. For example, a student should not
expect a response to an e-mail within an hour. This document could
be added to the web sites of all online courses or instructors might
use it as a model for the information that they should provide to
students.
- The Team
will continue to work on the online evaluation of instruction and
the regular evaluation of instruction forms. The Chair will discuss
this issue with Dean’s council.
Ann Miller has
developed a training module for support personnel which teaches them
about Blackboard, ConnectWeb, etc.
A staff member
reported that her spouse encountered a problem when taking an online
course. The spouse received the postcard telling him how to get started,
but he could not find his course listed when he got to the web site.
What to do from that point was not clear to him.
The Team will
review the postcard sent to online students and the letter sent to
students who were enrolled in Blackboard 6.1 classes this fall.
The Team will
meet on October 5, November 2, and November 30 during the fall semester.
The meeting will be in room 228 at 1:30.
