Baccalaureate Core Committee

Voting members present: Aidas Banaitis, Daniel Faltesek, Colin Johnson, Matthew Kennedy, Michelle McAllaster, Ifeoma Ozoede, Rene Reitsma, Kari-Lyn Sakuma, Kaplan Yalcin
Voting members absent: Geoffrey Barstow, Kelsey Emard, Justin St. Germain, Jack Istok, Lori McGraw, Randy Rosenberger
Ex-officio members present: Assessment & Accreditation – Heath Henry; Ecampus – Karen Watte; WIC – Sarah Perrault
Guests: McKenzie Huber, Michael Jefferies, Caryn Stoess, Kristin Nagy-Katz, John Edwards

Course Reviews

• BI 205/206 – Introductory Biology II/III
  • Adding the first course in the sequence as a pre-requisite (BI 204). Is adding it a limiting factor? It already has two chemistry pre-requisites.
    • Students are taking the courses out of sequence and taking BI 204 first would give students a stronger foundation
    • It is already majorly restricted as to who can take it.
    • Could potentially delay graduation for students as they wait for 204 to come around
      • They are planning to offer the course more often, but can this be guaranteed?
  • Syllabus does not address critical thinking
  • Relies on naming an outside document to explain how the course aligns with the Baccalaureate Core. There is no other link or reference to the document.

Action: Motion to send back for clarification about alignment of and attention to learning outcomes; seconded. The motion passes with 7 votes in favor, 0 votes in opposition and 1 abstention.

• ENT/HORT 331 – Pollinators in Peril
  • Have they hired the necessary number of Teaching Assistants (TA)s?
    • One instructor does not appear to have any TA support.
    • The other instructor says they have it queued up, but it is not clear if TAs have been hired.
  • 1 instructor/70 hours. If we’re willing to assume that a TA is as effective as an instructor – 2.85 for every 70 students.
    • What kind of support are the TAs providing?
    • For WIC, it is a large assumption to make that a TA could be comparable to an instructor.
    • The Writing Advisory Board also has advice on this.
      • Start with FTE hours for each TA.
      • Subtract the hours they will spend doing all the job duties except responding to student papers; these may include some or all of the following:
        • Attend class and/or lab/field
        • Read course materials and assignments
        • Hold office hours
        • Respond to students’ emails/questions
        • Be normed on responding to each assignment
        • Attend class team meetings
        • Perform other duties in job description
      • Take the number of hours left and multiply by 3 to get the number of paper drafts a TA can be expected to respond to each week. Call that “T”.
      • Divide the number of students by “T.” That is the number of TAs needed for the class.
• GEOG 300/301
  • They would like to add 50 students and will be adding .6 of TA support for each group of 50, if approved.
  • What sort of multiplier will we be applying? For the same math, they would need more support.
    • What kind of support are the TAs providing?
    • What kind of labor is being used to offset?

Action: The Bacc Core Director will reach out to the instructors for ENT/HORT 331 and GEOG 300/301 to ensure that TAs have actually been hired and the courses are being adequately supported.

GenEd Policy Discussion

• Expertise
  • Discussion moved to the May 8 meeting.
• Learning Outcome Assessment – Kristin Nagy Catz, Heath Henry
  • Part of the proposal and design features as instructors work on courses for the new gen ed program:
    • A key/signature assignment that would reflect all learning outcomes in the course.
    • Embedded in the course, alongside an institutional rubric, developed by the instructor.