Weber State University
Faculty Senate

MINUTES  
October 17, 2002

MEMBERS - Listed Alphabetically
Tony Allred
Donavan Aoki - Student - Absent
Lee Badger
Brody Barnes - Student - Excused
Rick Bingham
Shared Brady - Excused
Lloyd Burton
Paul Caldarella
Bill Clapp - Vice Chair
Roger Crockett
Gary Dohrer - Chair
Anand Dyal-Chand - Admin
Dave Eisler - Admin.
Ann Ellis
Al Forsyth - Rich Blake representing
Ron Galli - Admin.
Colleen Garside - Parliamentarian
Dawn Gatherum
Richard Greene
Cheryl Hansen
Laird Hartman
Michelle Heward - Excused
Warren Hill - Admin
Ron Holt - Absent
Joan Hubbard - Excused
Pam Hugie
Sheree Josephson
Diane Kawamura
Marie Kotter
Diane Krantz
Kathleen Lukken - Admin.
Marek Matyjasik - Excused
Laura MacLeod
Susan Matt
Kirby McMaster
Chloe Merrill
President Millner
Kathy Payne - Excused
Steve Peterson
June Phillips Admin - Catherine Zublin representing
Kyle Poll - Student
Jared Prisbrey - Student
Jack Rasmussen - Admin
Richard Sadler - Admin.
Dan Schroeder
Monika Serbinowska
Rick Sline - Colleen Garside representing
Molly Smith
Erik Stern
Mali Subbiah
Chris Trivett
Betty Tucker
Michael Vaughan - Admin.
Huiying Wei-Arthus
Lydia Wingate - Admin - Craig Gundy representing
Yu-Jane Yang
Kay Brown, Secretary

ROLL CALL

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Motion: Moved to approve the minutes from the September 19, 2002 meeting.

Made: Warren Hill

Second: Lloyd Burton

Outcome: The minutes were approved.

 

RESEARCH, SCHOLARSHIP AND PROFESSIONAL GROWTH COMMITTEE – Cliff Nowell, Chair

 

Motion: Moved to approve the final report from the Research, Scholarship and Professional Growth Committee.

Made: Dawn Gatherum

Second: Richard Sadler

Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

 

COMMUNITY WRITING CENTER – Gary Dohrer

Weber State has been given access to the Ogden Area Community Action Center located at 32nd and Lincoln to establish a community writing center. This facility has 16 computers available to members of the community. The community writing center will provide non-college attending adults a place to learn how to write, fill out applications, write resumes, and write letters.

The establishment of the center allows Weber State to be part of the community and to serve the community. It provides our students an opportunity to connect with and lift the community. A half-time person will be hired to run the center with students working as tutors. Proposed week day hours are either 2:00 to 7:00 p.m. or 3:00 to 8:00 p.m., and Saturday from 9:00 to 2:00 p.m. The writing center is scheduled to open on October 28.

LEARNING MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE FOR WSU ONLINE – Michael Vaughan

Dr. Vaughan presented information to the Faculty Senate last Spring. Since that report, RFP’s (Request for Proposal) have been distributed. Two responses have been received, one from Blackboard and one from Web CT. On Monday, October 28, Blackboard will be on campus, and on Wednesday, October 30, Web CT will be on campus. They will do a variety of presentations, two of which will be open presentations for all interested parties. Faculty teaching online are encouraged to attend. One of the open presentations will be given mid day, probably at noon and one will be late afternoon around 4:00 p.m. Web sites are available online for both Blackboard and Web CT.

Questions raised -

When will it be available ? It could be available to faculty to experiment with in the Spring. Summer would most likely be the earliest it would be available for courses.

Pricing - Why are we spending this money? Wouldn't it be less expensive to hire additional programmers to support the WSU Online system? Response: We are examining the long-term cost of all the options. While we do not know what the ultimately decision will be, there are course management systems on the market with annual maintenance costs approximately equal to the salary and benefits of one programmer. In fact, there are systems on the market which are even less expensive. It is also important to keep in mind that cost is an important factor in the RFP, but cost is not the only factor we are considering. We want a quality system.

Technical Support? It will have local support, 24/7 with a help desk.

Will Blackboard or Web CT integrate with our student record system? That was one of the requirements given to the vendors. Both companies are working with campuses that are currently using the student record system we are transitioning to.

Was any consideration given to the likelihood that once we adopt a particular line of commercial software, we will become dependent upon it and unable to respond if it becomes too pricy or is no longer supported? Response: It is in the vendors interest to meet our needs.

 

FACULTY ATHLETIC REPRESENTATIVE REPORT – Molly Smith, John Johnson

Molly Smith, Faculty Athletic Representative, presented information on the academic performance of student athletes. Information on graduation rates, athlete grade point data, and athlete academic awards for individuals and teams was presented.

John Johnson, Athletic Director - Our Students are here to get an education. Our students, know that and our coaches know that. Weber State’s graduations rates look lower than other schools due to the two year missions that many of our athletes serve. There is a satisfactory progress rule where students must be on track to graduate within a five year period.

The question was raised if there was information on what student athletes were majoring in. Molly Smith has that information available and will include it in her next report. A copy of the current report can be mailed to interested faculty members.

COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP CHANGES

Online and Distance Learning Ad Hoc Committee membership changes: Scott Wright to replace Jan Van Valkenburg from Health Professions, Desiree Cooper to replace Al Talbot from COAST, and Scott Sanjo to replace Rob Reynolds from Social & Behavioral Sciences.

Motion: Moved to approve the committee membership changes as stated above.

Made: Dan Schroeder

Second: Bill Clapp

Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

ONLINE COURSE EVALUATIONS – Gary Dohrer

The Online and Distance Learning Ad Hoc Committee will be doing a pilot course evaluations during Fall Semester. A letter will be mailed out to all faculty teaching online courses.

CURRICULUM & GENERAL EDUCATION – Jim Wilson, Chair

Curriculum proposals from the Jerry and Vickie Moyes College of Education for Advanced Reading Comprehension - Meduc 6350, Advanced Early Literacy Development - Meduc 6352, Theories of Supervision of Literacy Programs - Meduc 6354, and Reading Specialist Internship - Meduc 6356.

The State Office of Education asked Weber State to design a Reading Specialist Endorsement. The above courses are designed to meet the International Reading Association standards and the requirements of NCATE. The endorsement prerequisites are a teaching license and a Basic Reading Endorsement.

Motion: Moved to approve from the Jerry and Vickie Moyes College of Education for Advanced Reading Comprehension Meduc 6350, Advanced Early Literacy Development - Meduc 6352, Theories of Supervision of Literacy Programs - Meduc 6354, and Reading Specialist Internship - Meduc 6356.

Made: Cheryl Hansen

Second: Chloe Merrill

Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.

WEB DESIGN – Jodi Kilcup and Alan Livingston

Jodi Kilcup and Alan Livingston presented information on the new Weber State Web Design. This project has been underway for the past 18 months. It began with a web advisory group composed of people from across campus representing both faculty and staff. This will go live on November 4. The group wanted to update the page for its look,

feel and messaging about the university, but also they wanted to revamp the search functions and improve navigation. They felt that the main page needed to focus on external audiences: prospective students, alumni, and community member. They also wanted good solutions for internal audiences: faculty, staff, and students. The web site is currently located at: http://new.weber.edu/

Student profiles, examples of student successes where Weber State has managed to change minds, are highlighted on the home page. The student profiles change and rotate to highlight different students each time you log on. Headlines will also appear on the home page. "Explore WSU" is the way you navigate through all pages related to Weber State, "About WSU" is a PR site for journalists, community members, or prospective employees, "Programs and Courses" is the gateway into every educational opportunity offered by Weber State, "Future Students" will connect to Admissions, "Alumni" have a portal that they are developing with an online community, "Campus Life" is basically the Student Affairs site.

Training will be available through CATS for departments to convert and customize their web pages to the new content management system.

ADJOURN

The meeting adjourned at 4:05 p.m.