Minutes
Curriculum Committee
September 11, 2007
Members: James Swartz (Chair), Gerald Adams, Eliza Willis, Karla Erickson, Erik Simpson, John Stone, and Zach Wegermann.
1. The committee had a general discussion about possible additional agenda items at this time. The dean would like to talk about the registration process for new students.
2. The committee reaffirmed the recommendation made last year by the committee that periodic meetings between the EKI advisory committee and the CC should begin this fall.
3. The committee will begin with the following agenda items:
a. Registration and Pre-Registration procedures
b. Consideration of the following with regard to MAPs:.1. Have a standard college-wide process that each department/concentration would use to vet MAP applications.
2. Re-evaluate the present limits placed on the number of MAPs directed by faculty per semester and per summer.
3. Develop an evaluation process for MAPs by students similar to end-of-course evaluations.
4. Develop an evaluation process to evaluate the effort by faculty directing MAPs.
5. Reconsider the policy of faculty course-credit for academic year MAPs.
6. Including MAP supervision in the faculty merit review system.
7. Re-examine the concept of research with respect to MAP projects among the various divisions
Additional agenda items to be discussed:
A. Frequency of Special Topic courses taught by part-time term faculty.
B. Policies concerning how students are cut from over-enrolled courses.
C. The issue of the arrangement of chairs and tables in classrooms where these are moveable.
D. A proposal to create a category called Interdisciplinary (INT or INTD) for all courses that are being offered as interdisciplinary courses. Any course such as GDS/HUM 251 or SCI/HUM/SST 350 would be labeled INT. Intra-divisional courses would still carry the label of the specific division and courses that serve two disciplines would still be cross-listed. Interdisciplinary courses would be listed in the catalog in a section titled Interdisciplinary. If the college wished to track EKI then having a category of INT would be an easy and efficient way of doing so. In addition, it would provide an identifier for transcripts and other external documents in describing EKI to external audiences. How these courses would be counted in determining teaching loads of faculty and departmental course offerings are mechanical questions that can be worked out in discussion with the Dean’s Office and/or the Executive Council. Note: Any course can count as cognate credit towards a major if the department says so.
E. In order to provide for better continuity the committee will consider a proposal to FOC that faculty appointments to the committee be two years instead of just one year.
F. Modification in the application process for summer internships for credit in order to reduce the burden placed on the faculty members of the committee late in the spring semester.
4. There was a general discussion regarding registration. There were some who felt that first-year students had more trouble finding classes this year then in previous years. It was also felt that those who came in later were at a greater disadvantage then those who came in first. It was noted that there were too many classes closed early. The greatest difficulty with closed classes occurred in the social studies division. It appears that there are a number of factors that may be contributing to this problem. The capacity of classes continues to decrease, more release time has been given to faculty, and the EKI proposal may be impacting the number of 100-level course offerings. It was felt that more 100-level sections are needed and we need to raise the capacity of some 100-level courses. The question came down to a resource issue and/or an allocation issue. It was felt that the resource question was an Executive Council issue while the allocation question is our issue. What is a realistic goal for student satisfaction after any registration process? The committee will continue this discussion.