Date: 
02/13/2013 9:00 am to 11:00 am
Location: 
120 Waldo Hall
Agenda: 

  1.  Introductions and Agenda Review

  2.  Approval of October 18, 2012 Minutes

  3.  Course Reviews (BCC):
        83647 – for Western Culture
        85221 – for Cultural Diversity

  4.  Information Item: WIC Class Anomalies – Vicki Tolar Burton

  5.  Category Review Statistics and Communication Plan – Marion Rossi and Kerry Kincanon

  6.  Revisiting the Review of Writing Report
        Relationship to Synthesis Category Review
        Identifying Priorities

 7.   Other Business

    Next Meeting: March 1, 2013 – 10:00 AM-Noon – 120 Waldo Hall
 

Minutes: 

Voting Members Present: Jaga Giebultowicz, Trischa Goodnow, Uta Hussong-Christian, Lori Kayes, Kerry Kincanon (co-chair), Mike Lerner, Melinda M. Manore, Marion Rossi (co-chair), Ken Winograd
Ex-officio Non-voting Member Present: Vicki Tolar Burton (WIC)

Summary of Discussion/Action Items

  • October 18, 2012 minutes approved
  • Two courses, GER 231 (Western Culture) and PHL 214 (Cultural Diversity) were approved for addition to the Baccalaureate Core.
  • Some WIC courses inadvertently made it through the Category II process last year without BCC and WIC director approval. The BCC will be asked to look at these courses in spring term.
  • The Co-Chairs provided an update on the Category Review Communication plan.
  • The BCC started preliminary conversations around identifying which recommendations from the 2011-2012 Review of Writing report we want to champion.
    1. Minutes were approved from previous meeting: October 18, 2012

 

    1. Question raised by one committee member: What to do with routine notices to committee regarding courses subject to review? Individual members of committee should wait for direction from committee chairs regarding individual review assignments.

 

    1. Course Reviews:
      • GER 231: German Dictatorships (83647): approved for Western Culture with syllabus recommendations and follow up regarding assessment plan for the course
      • PHL 214: Intro Islamic Traditions (85221): approved for Cultural Diversity with follow up regarding assessment plan for the course

 

    1. Vicki Tolar Burton report on WIC: Due to a system glitch in the Course Proposal System, some WIC courses proposed in 2011-2012 skipped BCC and Vicki’s review and approval and were subsequently approved by the Curriculum Council.
      • Bill Bogley has asked Vicki to determine status of these courses. She indicated that most would not have been approved had they been reviewed. Bill has agreed to temporarily redact the approval until such time as the BCC and Vicki approves the courses. These reviews would occur offline as the courses cannot be resubmitted through the Course Proposal System.
      • It appears that the system has been fixed so WIC-proposed classes will be caught by the BCC and Vicki’s office.

 

  1. Kerry Kincanon report on Category Review statistics and communication plan: An If/Then Flow Chart was shared showing the various letters that will be sent to individuals who submitted Synthesis Reviews. School/Department heads will be cc’d on this communication, and Associate Deans in the colleges will receive a summary letter outlining results relative to courses in their college. Units with courses with incomplete files (e.g. missing syllabi or webform) will be asked to submit missing information by April 1. Proposals/courses that received a ‘no’ initially will be asked to submit additional information by April 15. The BCC will use spring term to review this new information.

    With a few files still awaiting final review, we currently have:
    25 that require additional information
    20 incomplete files
    52 recertified
    6 recertified and exemplary
    25 not offered in 2011-12, had no data

    Marion noted that, hopefully, the follow-up process goes smoothly and that it is clear what the BCC needs to complete the review. He reported some general crankiness out there about this and that there are units out there questioning the value of what we are asking units to do now with category review. Kerry shared that he presented the communication plan at the University Assessment Council where many of the Associate Deans were in attendance. The co-chairs will also be meeting with Faculty Senate President Kevin Gable later this week to share the communication plan. An update on that conversation will be provided at the next meeting.
  2. The committee revisited the Review of Writing report to start the process of prioritizing what recommendations we might want to champion. One logical possibility is a recommendation in the report centered on uneven execution of the writing outcome (outcome #3) for each of the Synthesis Categories. Preliminary indication from our category review anecdotally supports these findings. Vickie noted that she has an intern, trained in teaching of writing, who is poised to get us more info on this. The intern is going to drill down into data from the Category Review to offer recommendations on any relationships she might find between class size and the role that writing is playing in the course. A discussion also ensued from the recommendation in the report regarding information literacy and how it should be interwoven in the Bacc Core. It is currently an essential part of the Writing I category curriculum in WR 121, but Vicki presented a statistic that some 40% of OSU students take their WR 121 elsewhere. She expressed concern about this, particularly as it related to community college. She was at a recent statewide meeting where she learned that many Oregon Community Colleges are now without a degreed librarian. Uta Hussong-Christian reported the perspective from the library that Information Literacy should not necessarily be a stand-alone course or category. Information literacy needs to be tied to the discipline to be most relevant and effective.


Next meeting: March 1, 2013 ~ 120 Waldo Hall
      Update from faculty senate president on assessment issues

Minutes recorder: Ken Winograd