Ken Elder, Diane Dixon, Brett Elliott, Stan Alluisi, Chris Moretti,, Margaret Avard, Buddy Pierce, Wayne Dixon, Dan Althoff, James Britton, Andy Tiger, Dan Benco, Jane Elder, Gerrie Johnson,, Paula Allen, William Fridley, Vicki Hudson, Charles Matthews, Brandon Burnette, Michael Miles
Lucretia Scoufos, David Christy, Wayne Jones, Saudra DiPento
Lisa Coleman, Jerry Polson, Jake Dolezal, Brooks Flippen, Charla Hall, Kimberly Donovan, Kevin Krug, Bruce Johnson, Ken Chinn, Erica Corbett, Doug Wood, Linda Kallam, Loide Wasmund, VP Jessie Snowden The meeting was called to order at 3:05 by Chair Ken Elder.
Diane Dixon made a correction regarding the fee for on-line courses. The corrected minutes for September 14, 2005 were approved unanimously.
Ken then invited Jake Dolezal, President of the Staff Association to speak about a proposed change in the sick leave policy (PDF). The Staff Association proposes that sick leave could be used to care for a family member. The other 5 regional universities already has this policy. He handed out a proposal to add phrase and/or immediate family member(s) and delete the section that says that sick leave cannot use sick leave for family members. Jake wanted the Faculty Senate to endorse the proposal before going to the administration. Vicki Hudson made the motion to endorse the proposal and Brett Elliott seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Ken passed out a handout of memberships for the Faculty Senate Committee. He asked that the first person on the list for each committee call the first meeting before the next Faculty Senate meeting. The handout also had proposed charges for the committees
Ken passed out a handout by Brooks Flippen (PDF) listing some concerns that need to be addressed regarding on-line courses. Since VP Snowden was not at the meeting yet, Jerry Polson, Director of Distance Learning said that he could address some of the issues on the handout. He said that the Distance Learning Council was working on a protocol to make on-line courses. The protocol was linked to the Higher Learning Commission’s criterion for on-line course. In regards to being certified to teach an on-line course, CIDT will train faculty to ensure that they can use the technology. The Distance Learning Council planned on looking a class size. The Distance Learning Council proposed that you needed on-line office hours for on-line course. VP Snowden arrived and presented some information as to why SOSU needs to have on-line courses. Since our sources of income are state appropriations and student tuition and fees, this is not enough to meet the needs that SOSU has. On-line courses is a means of increasing the student credit hour production, therefore increasing the amount of money from student tuition and fees with a minimum amount of resources. He then gave a handout of what schools are offering on-line classes and programs. There were various discussions about some concerns with on-line courses. There was a concern about consolidating programs from other schools but VP Snowden didn’t think that would happen. There was concern about who would teach the courses. Ideally SOSU faculty would teach the courses but if they cannot get SOSU faculty then it would rely on adjuncts. Adjuncts could be selected by on-line services like Faculty Finder. There was concern about faculty loads. VP Snowden proposed that figuring faculty load should be 400-500 student credit hour load vs. the 12 hour course load. There was concern about the amount of time it takes to teach an on-line course and limiting the amount of students allowed in the course. For example University of Phenoix has small classes (12-16) and faculty usually teach only one course at a time. There was a concern that the students are not technologically prepared for the course and that was time consuming for the instructor. The Distance Learning Council is proposing that CIDT have training for students. There was considerable discussion about course integrity. How do you prevent cheating and ensure that the person signed up for the course is the person taking the test? There was some discussion about proctored exams, and randomization of exam questions. The meeting adjourned at 4:52. Diane Dixon, Faculty Senate Recorder