Voting members present: Tim Alcon, Lisa Madsen, Arien Muzacz, Dave Paoletti
Voting members absent: Marleigh Perez, Kayleen Salchenberg, Nicole von Germeten
Ex-Officio members present: Ecampus – Deborah Mundorff; OSU Libraries – Zach Welhouse
Check-in
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Spring is here? Members reported having a hectic start of term and lots of service commitments, e.g., committees for oral comps exams.
Updates and Resources for Online Teaching
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Ecampus peer review tool
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Center for Teaching & Learning’s (CTL) AI guidance, e.g., use of ChatGPT
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Ecampus Faculty Forum
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Members present reported plans to attend, Arien will be presenting on experiences with alternative grading methods, Tim discussed “specifications grading”.
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Arien also summarized some takeaways from the Ecampus Think Affordable Summit, relating to our committee’s goal to address student access.
Student Voice – 5 mins. discussion
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No undergraduate students have reported interest in serving on focus groups, and graduate and post-bacc students who were interest in serving on the Online Education Committee (OEC) in the fall have likely lost interest. Arien reached out in April to inquire about participation in focus group and has not received responses; admitted a learning curve about institutional policies.
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There is a possibility of recruiting two student members if we plan ahead.
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Members present reported desire to conduct focus group, probably in the fall, and to recruit student members for AY24, if that is feasible to accomplish.
Reflecting on Our Goals for This Academic Year – 15 mins. discussion
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In October, we split into subcommittees that could act as workgroups:
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Faculty equity – Lisa, Dave, Zach, Arien
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Student access (financial) – Tim, Nicole, Kayleen
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In January, we set goals for each subcommittee and discussed possible objective(s). Goals and objectives are listed below with status updates:
Goal for faculty equity subcommittee to create recommendations about disparities between Ecampus faculty and non-Ecampus faculty.
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Objective 1: Create recommendations about including OER in Promotion & Tenure (P&T) (or just promotion?) as scholarly work.
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In January, Arien presented a draft rationale for the inclusion of OERs in P&T guidelines.
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Objective 2: Compare workloads across the University.
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In January, Dave reported collecting information from the faculty union about how different Colleges, Departments, and Units view and calculate faculty workloads.
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Other possible objectives:
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Analyze Ecampus faculty profiles
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Arien reported data from AAUP on faculty composition nationally (70% contingent) and the implication of lacking job security on workload and acceptance of teaching or development overloads.
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Members discussed data publicly available (e.g., salary) and ways to construct a snapshot of profiles of faculty who teach Ecampus courses at OSU.
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Dave reported interest in talking to Ecampus leadership about instructors across the University at the Faculty Forum.
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Hold a panel discussion in the Ecampus Faculty Forum about faculty experiences with Quality Matters (QM)
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Arien reached out to Ecampus in Winter but panels were already planned at the time of outreach.
Goal for student access subcommittee to create recommendations about financial equity for Ecampus students.
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Objective 1: Subcommittee members will learn about Ecampus initiatives to prevent duplication of efforts.
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In January, Marleigh presented an overview of data already being collected at the undergrad level about financial aid and needs and that the Ecampus Research Unit is studying student profiles, e.g., family/employment responsibilities.
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Lisa and Kayleen identified more data it would be helpful to have, e.g., info about the debt load of grad students and % of transfer students.
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Marleigh and Jessica presented data on undergraduate students (see below); notable findings include expense of undergrad degree at OSU compared to other institutions, low 4-year degree completion rates (37% compared to 41% on campus), high stop-out rates and student reports (27%) that finances were the main barrier to degree completion.
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Members present reported need to collect similar data on graduate students. Given that student loans comprise a majority of financial aid to Ecampus students, especially those who attend part-time, and interest rates are higher than on undergrad loans, the debt burden is very high. Also, curious to know if completion and stop out rates are as high for grad students as undergrads.
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Objective 2: Subcommittee members will hold one or more focus groups to gather data from Ecampus students who represent multiple student communities, e.g., undergrad, post-bacc, grad, STEM/non-STEM.
What can we realistically achieve this term before closing out this academic year?
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Members reported not wanting to lose momentum in the areas we’d identified.
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Most members are 12-month faculty and could attend an optional meeting in summer ‘23 to check in on progress toward goals.
Meaning of Online Education Committee Service – Members shared what was rewarding for each of them, highlighting learning about diverse disciplines and hearing other professional perspectives
End-of-Year Report – Arien will take the lead on drafting to submit report in June and welcomes collaboration!
Succession Planning – No one volunteered to serve as chair in AY24. Arien agreed to investigate the possibility of continuing for one additional year in her role as chair with the express purpose of maintaining momentum on the work we’ve started. If this is approved, a new chair will have to be identified for AY25 by Spring 2024.
Action steps
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Arien will send out links to the draft OER proposal and the draft of our year-end report for committee members to review and edit.
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Arien will ask Vickie Nunnemaker about continuing on as chair.
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Dave will speak to Shannon Riggs at the Ecampus Faculty Forum.
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Committee members agreed to review OEC proposal for inclusion in year-end report and give feedback.
Meeting ended by chair at 1:55 PM