DE

Minutes November 21, 2006

Attendees: Jan Novak (chair), Des Chun, Scott Hildreth, Andrew Pierson,  Hilal Ozdemir, Lisa Ulibarri, Wanda Wong.

Spring Approval Status:

Jan led a discussion on the status of online course proposals for spring. Norberto Ruiz?s BUS-81, Anne Brichacek?s CAS-72/A/B/C, Noureddine Lalami?s BUS-50A/C, and Wayne Phillips? CAS-54B were all approved. Jan will follow-up with reviewers on the status of Lynn Sandoval?s fast track approval courses. Ramona Silver?s PHIL-2 and Richard Dinwiddie?s RELS-50 proposals will be reviewed by Jan, Scott, Lisa and Wanda on 11/27/06. Andrew Pierson?s proposal review is being scheduled. Jim Baum?s ATEC-52 class will be ready for review by 11/30, and Des will schedule that review.

Jan distributed the next round of proposal reviews (3 spring courses that missed the deadline and 3 fast track proposals for Fall 07). It was noted that Joe Kuwabara PSCN-10 did meet the spring deadline, but for some reason his proposal was not posted on the committee website. Kuwabara?s course requires a demonstration. Jan asked if the committee should request the demo prior to the class. Scott suggested scheduling the demo as soon as possible or the first week of class. The committee agreed. Jan will follow-up on this issue.

A deadline of 12/8/06 is set for the subcommittees (Teams A & B) to review and provide feedback in BOLT on the next round of proposals. Only Kuwabara?s course requires a demonstration, as the other five are all from fast-track instructors.
 

DE Program Review ? Potential ?rocks?:

Jan is working on the basic data review and a draft of potential ?rocks? for the DE Program Review. Jan will send a draft to the committee, and needs quick feedback as well as more definition of next steps on ?rock proposals? by the committee members that previously volunteered to do this. The program review document must be submitted by 12/15/06.
 

Additional Funding:

Additional funding appears to be available to reopen the online course development incentive offer to additional instructors for Fall 07. We?re awaiting confirmation from Dr. Carlson. Scott suggested that rather than make funds available to everyone, we try to target specific under-represented disciplines.

After discussion, the general consensus of the committee is to offer the incentive to everyone. If we have more proposals than we can fund, we will prioritize courses that move us toward an online degree first, and then courses in under-represented disciplines. We also agreed to encourage instructors in certain disciplines to develop online courses. Areas to target are Math, Science, English, Economics, Psychology, Humanities, Administration of Justice and other vocational areas, and Early Childhood Development

Lisa stated the English sub-division has rejected several online courses for Fall 07. The department is concerned that the online courses may not be academically equivalent to the on-campus courses.
 

Revised tracking/proposal form:

Item #1 ? Lisa expressed concern about the word ?better?. She suggested the committee look for a different word to prevent others from comparing online and on site courses. Jan mentioned she was trying to highlight/suggest the uniqueness of course. Jan will revise the wording.

Item #2 ? Scott suggested instructors use a combination of percentages and hours to illustrate how much time will be spent on various types of course delivery. He also suggested allowing for a variety of inputs (video, email, etc) to accomplish equivalent delivery of online course versus on site courses.

Item #3--Scott commented on the use of advanced technology for online courses. This needs to be noted before class starts to ensure software support is in place or to notify the instructor that no support is available. There was a general consensus to add a technology section to the course proposal narrative.

Jan agreed to send the proposal out for feedback and if there are no responses by 12/12/06, the document will be considered final and approved.

Revised DE Committee Charter:

Jan distributed a revised DE Committee charter that incorporates suggestions from the Academic Senate. The Senate reinforced that the DE Committee is not a ?voting? committee but a consensus decision-making committee. The Senate suggested that we include representatives from each division. After some discussion, the committee agreed to invite representatives from Arts & Humanities and Health, PE & Athletics to join us. The committee accepted the revised charter.

Meeting for new instructors:

Jan suggested inviting potential new online instructors to a meeting during college hour on 12/12/06. The new course proposal form, BOLT review process, and incentive plans will be discussed. Des and Wanda agreed to attend with Jan.

Budget:

The committee has the opportunity to submit a unit plan, which will include a budget. The committee suggested requesting additional funding for:

• Student orientations
• Software such as Camtasia and Articulate
• Development of online training course for faculty
• Stipends for outside online teaching experts in our under-represented disciplines to visit Chabot to share their expertise
• Expanded student help desk support. We could hire students to provide after hours phone support for money or course credit.
• Blackboard upgrades (Wanda will investigate major differences between current version and upgraded versions)
• Funds for colleague recognition (exemplary courses, adoption of new technology, etc.)
• Funds for offsite meeting for online instructors to share ideas ($500 for faculty to get pizza & beer)
• Laptops for instructors teaching online courses (offered to them first)
• Thumb drives for online instructors
• Payment for part-time faculty Blackboard training
• Payment for adjunct representative(s) to attend DE committee meetings
• Possible release time for first-time online instructors

Handouts:

Next round of proposal reviews

Revised DE Committee charter