Approved 11-30-00

Thursday
November 9, 2000
2:00 p.m.
MA 211K

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

PRESENT 
Bruce Christensen, Gary Dohrer, Dave Eisler, Ron Holt, Marie Kotter, Judith Mitchell - Chair, Dan Schroeder, Gene Sessions, Sally Shigley, Alden Talbot - Vice Chair, Kay Brown - Secretary.

EXCUSED 
President Thompson

MINUTES 
Dan Schroeder: Moved to approve the minutes from the November 2, 2000 meeting.
Second: Bruce Christensen
Outcome: The minutes were approved.

GEN ED ASSESSMENT 
Eric Amsel gave the final report of the two-year pilot study designed to assess the General Education program at Weber State University. "The project complements other program assessments of General Education which either survey students’ beliefs about their General Educational skills and their development at WSU (General Education Assessment Survey Project) or assess them on standardized tests (CAAP, C-BASE Testing)."

"The analyses suggest that there is evidence supporting WSU graduating senior students’ perceptions of their competence and progress in writing ability and numeracy. A large majority of seniors’ numeracy and writing skills were coded as competent. There was a tendency for more WSU Freshman/Sophomore than Junior/Senior students’ written and numerical performance to be coded as below competent. These data remain as only suggestive indicators of any actual progress made by students whose writing and mathematics performance would have to be assessed multiple times over the college years."

"They propose that a team continue to collect artifacts from students from who we already have coded artifacts. This follow-up over the next several years will allow for a longitudinal assessment of real progress in a small sample of students’ numeracy and writing skills. Such a longitudinal analysis will augment the present data and provide a better picture of the impact of a WSU education on students’ general education skills."

MOTION 
Bruce Christensen: Moved to forward the WSU General Education Assessment Portfolio Project report to the Faculty Senate for the November 16, 2000 meeting as an information item.
Second: Gene Sessions
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

ONLINE GUIDELINES 
Peg Wherry presented the WSU Online Guidelines for Good Practice. The University is concerned about the quality of online courses, the development of quality courses and their maintenance. The ad hoc committee drafted standards for online courses. The document has been distributed to the Curriculum & General Education Committee, faculty who are beginning to teach online for the first time and Department Chairs.

"The aim of this document is to help faculty new to online teaching develop quality courses and to assist departments in assuring that online offerings represent the best of local practice. The WSU Online development team in continuing education has been assigned responsibility for providing technical tools and orientation to teaching online and for assisting faculty at all stages of course development; the team is also responsible for providing technical support and assistance to students enrolled in online courses."

A suggestion was made to categorize the information in the document. The possibility of developing a "How To" manual was discussed.

MOTION 
Gene Sessions: Moved to forward the WSU Online Guidelines for Good Practice to the Faculty Senate November 16, 2000 meeting as an information item.
Second: Bruce Christensen
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

CRAO 
Jeff Eaton, Chair of the Constitutional Review, Apportionment and Organization Committee reported on the apportionment figures for 2000-2001.

Results with Colleges Ranked by the Highest Percentage Above a Whole Number

COLLEGE

FACULTY

% REP

Base Seats

Seats Added

Total Seats

Library

10

0.9049

1

0

1

Educ

43

3.8910

3

1

4

HP

63

5.7007

5

1

6

B&E

39

3.5290

3

1

4

AS&T

50

4.5244

4

0

4

Science

69

6.2436

6

0

6

S&BS

68

6.1531

6

0

6

A&H

89

8.0534

8

0

8

TOTAL

431

 

36

3

39

"Net changes since 1999-2000: A&H lost one seat; B&E gained one seat."

MOTION 
Marie Kotter: Moved to forward the apportionment report to the Faculty Senate for the November 16, 2000 meeting.
Second: Gene Sessions
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously

CRAO 
Charge #1
- Draft a proposal for determining how Senate representation will be accomplished if there is a decrease in representation in a college and all members with additional years on their terms wish to serve.

Recommendation - In the event that there is a decrease in representation in a college and all members with additional years on their terms still wish to serve, a runoff election should be held in the individual college.

MOTION Sally Shigley: Moved to forward the CRAO proposal in response to Charge 1 for the CRAO Committee to the Faculty Senate for the November 16, 2000 meeting.
Second: Bruce Christensen
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

C&GE 
Curriculum and General Education Committee – Jim Wilson, Chair.

PERFORMING ARTS
Performing Arts -
New Course Proposal for Alignment and Conditioning for Dance/Pilates - Dance 2250 and 4250.

Eric Stern represented the Dance Department. New course proposal from Dance for Dance 2250/4250. A course which focuses solely on strength and alignment is an essential feature to a well-rounded dance program and provides students with the necessary tools for a host of dance related fields: dance education performance, choreography and dance therapies.

MOTION 
Sally Shigley: Moved to forward the new course proposal from Performing Arts for
Alignment and Conditioning for Dance/Pilates - Dance 2250 and 4250.
Second: Alden Talbot
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

ESL  
English/ESL (English as a Second Language)
- Course changes for Written Communication V - ESL 2510; Course deletions for Interactive Language Learning IV - ESL 2440 and Written Communication VI - ESL 2610.

ESL 2510 and 2610 are half semester classes and are both two credits each. They are proposing combining these two classes into one three hour class. They feel they can cover the same amount of material in a three credit class that runs the entire semester instead of the two existing classes, which run half of a semester each. Course content is not changing.

MOTION 
Gene Sessions: Moved to forward the
course changes for Written Communication V - ESL 2510, and the course deletions for Interactive Language Learning IV - ESL 2440 and Written Communication VI - ESL 2610.
Second: Sally Shigley
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

ADJOURN 
The meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.