I. General Agenda

• Data Collection

--Average class size for organized classes needs to be calculated in light of number of organized classes reported by deans. Students-to-faculty ratio, adjusted for graduate and undergraduate enrollments, is a better way to represent credit production per faculty FTE. Identification of location of online students is a pressing need.

• Instructional Support Services

--Chari Norgard reported intention to purchase Eiffel Corp.’s documentation of WebCT for both students and faculty. This will considerably speed up development of online training modules.

--Online course requests received by Dec. 10 will be loaded in time for spring semester. After that there is no guarantee they can be loaded in time. Shadow sections were seen as a problem. Deans will remind faculty to identify courses.

--Tammy Hoskings at UH is developing a WebCT course on web design.

--A Tegrity demo is scheduled for Nov. 29.

--Handicapped students have problems with access to WebCT. WebCT is working on the problems but is also passing the buck to universities. There are some techniques faculty and designers can use to improve access.

--Faculty prefer to approve access by non-students to online courses, since access cannot be selective to some parts of the course. Faculty will send librarians information on any library assignments.

--Online courses scheduled for spring are now on the web site.

--Business had a successful experience with web-based book orders, using one form for all bookstore orders. Business is also working on a standard syllabi format for web courses.

• Information Technology

--Joe Ferguson distributed a sheet on ITV contacts on campus and at the centers.

--Effort to learn to operate ITV effectively is a lot to ask. Training sessions for faculty have low turnout, and one-on-one has not been effective either.

--Providing a course assistant was discussed. This would cost about $15,000 per year for one assistant per course. Problem is two or even three sites.

--Putting fax machines in each ITV room may soon be possible.

--Again, ITV was considered to be a limited and expensive medium for instructional delivery, and discussion will continue on how best to make some good use of it, without creating expectations that cannot be fulfilled.

--It was noting that an ITV set-up was being installed in El Campo, through a shared arrangement with WCJC.

--Other issues discussed were proctoring, providing Microsoft software for students, and using lab printers instead of copiers.

II. Specific Agenda

• Student Appeals

--The request of a student to used graduate courses more than ten years old was approved.

--The Council accepted the report of a student being moved to an independent study, having been administratively withdrawn by the instructor from an organized course.

• Faculty Development Grant Requests/Reports

--Approved a request of Mr. Jianjun Du for a travel grant ($1,100) to present at the Academy of International Business Annual Meeting, in Sydney, Australia, in November.

--Approved a request of Dr. Colleen Logan for a travel grant ($1,100) to present at the American Counseling Association Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA, in March.

--Approved a request of Dr. Mary Natividad for a travel grant ($1,100) to present at the American Counseling Association Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA, in March.

--Approved a request of Dr. Cindy Schnebly for a travel grant ($979) to present at the Southeastern Conference on Linguistics, in Atlanta, GA, in November.

--Accepted reports on grant-funded conference travel from Dr. Li Chao, Dr. Horace Fairlamb, Dr. Yong Glasure, Dr. Richard Gunasekera, and Dr. Colleen Logan.

--Accepted a report on grant-funded research from Dr. June Lu and Dr. Chun-Sheng Yu.

• Other

--An interpretation of FERPA regulations by the UHS legal office was shared, concerning issues of including student e-mail addresses in directory information and sharing them in online courses.

--Petitioning to include graduate courses more than ten years old should remain as is, since the catalog merely states the policy and the form indicates a place for making an exception if there is to be one. The catalog statement should include language that schools may have more stringent limitations.

--A revised catalog statement on TOEFL and other options for demonstrating English proficiency had been earlier approved in general; the registrar and provost should settle on the specific catalog language.

--Deans may choose to be on the listserv for the Gulf Coast Articulation Consortium or can rely on OAR or the provost's office to apprise them of issues possibly affecting their schools.

DNS/kw
11/15/01

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