Committee Meetings and Minutes

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Accounting Task Force

Meeting Minutes

Current Status of Minutes: Final
Date	November 9, 2018
Time	12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Location	HLC

Members Present
May Wang, Kelli Blount, Jeffrey Brennan, Kimberly Cameron, Sean Counterman, Kathleen Gott, Yolonda Holland, Cynthia Lovick, Kristy McDermott, Karina Parlato, James Pumphret, La Tasha Roberts, Larry Stephens, Jay Thibodeaux, Virginia Hauser, Denise White
Guests Present
No guest attendance has been recorded.

Item # 1:	Welcome & Introductions
Presenter	Larry Stephens
Discussion	Welcome by Larry Stephens

Item # 2:	Approval of Minutes from September 14, 2018 meeting.
Presenter	Larry Stephens
Discussion	There was confusion about Item 4 of the minutes. After some discussion, we agreed that it should read, “Dr. Peoples mentioned that the Adjunct staffing Phase 1 ended on September 2 would be available to faculty…” Denise White motioned that the minutes be approved with the correction to Item 4 and the corrections to the other grammar errors that are indicated on the copy of the minutes. Kimberly Cameron seconded the motion. The motion passed.

Item # 3:	Mandatory Training: Lighthouse Requirements, Class Climate
Presenter	Larry Stephens
Discussion	Larry Stephens reminded the faculty of the mandatory training requirements for ADA Awareness, Cyber Security Awareness, and Sexual Harassment Prevention. He reminded everyone of the requirement to post syllabi in Lighthouse and suggested that a course’s syllabus for the Spring be posted as soon as possible since Spring registration has started. All faculty must have their classes complete the Class Climate questionnaires in the pink envelopes. Professor Stephens also reminded us about submitting our college committee affiliations to Dr. Peoples. The dean has requested the information. There was a discussion about the proposed changes to the Testing Center policies. Faculty had serious concerns about losing access to the Testing Centers for the upper level courses. Professor Lovick indicated that the original approval from the testing center administrators was based on coursework considerations. The courses involve very rigorous material needed by our students for the CPA exam. Using 2 classes for test-taking seriously affects the amount of material that is covered in depth. There was concern about the negative impact on our nontraditional students. It was agreed that each individual faculty could address the issue in their classes as they saw fit. It was suggested that a memo describing the Task force position on the need for access to the testing centers be prepared and placed in a Google Drive folder for faculty to comment on. Denise White reminded everyone about the need to administer the 2301 and 2302 assessments. The revised 2301 assessment seemed to work well. Ms. White will summarize and share department-wide results. One idea for improving results was to come up with a list of MAL videos to recommend to students for particularly difficult learning objectives. The amount of tools in MAL can be overwhelming. At the last Task force meeting, a subcommittee was formed to review the 2302 assessment. Since a new edition of the textbook will be released soon, it is recommended to wait on revising the assessment. The task force agreed that the new edition of the current textbook should be adopted. No one was interested in considering other textbooks. The task force also agreed that when the next edition is available, both the homework and the assessment should be reviewed for changes.

Item # 4:	Presentation: Accounting as an Indicator of Student Success
Presenter	La Tasha Roberts
Discussion	La Tasha Roberts handed out an article by the Gardner Institute, entitled “Digging into the Disciplines: The Impact of Gateway Courses in Accounting, Calculus, and Chemistry on Student Success.” Ms. Roberts explained that Dr. Cook had shared the article with Dr. Peoples and requested information about the success rates for ACCT 2301. Ms. Roberts presented data that indicated 2301’s failure rate was the same as the national rate of 30%. Discussion ensued. Professor Lovick pointed out that most 4 year schools treat their equivalent of 2301 as a sophomore level course. This means that, to enroll in financial accounting, a student must have enough college credits to be considered a sophomore. At ACC, any student may enroll in 2301, including high school students. Other faculty pointed out that the lack of a math requirement makes success difficult for students, especially when they get to 2302. Currently, the course prerequisites for 2301 state, “Although not required, the equivalent of MATH 1324 provides a good foundation for ACCT 2301.” Faculty discussed whether we should reconsider the prerequisites for 2301. Ms. Roberts agreed to post her data to a Google drive folder for those who may be interested.

Item # 5:	Presentation : Blackboard
Presenter	La Tasha Roberts
Discussion	La Tasha Roberts updated the task force on the status of Blackboard’s Virtual Classroom which is scheduled to be replaced by BB Collaborate Ultra, effective year end. If faculty have recorded any Virtual Classroom meetings, they will need to be downloaded before year-end. Training on Collaborate has not been announced.

Item # 6:	Review of most CPA test results - ACC 3Q 2018
Presenter	Larry Stephens
Discussion	Professor Stephens reviewed the 3rd quarter results for the CPA exam. ACC’s pass rate was 56% which was better than last quarter, but not good enough to place us in the top 10 or even the top15. BEC results were 3 candidates passing out of 9 attempts. It was the weakest of the 4 sections. Discussion ensued about what can be done to strengthen the student experience. With so many changes, faculty again pleaded for ACC support of faculty continuing education. We also discussed using CPA questions from Gleim and/or Roberts for homework and proctored assignments. Jay Thibodeaux volunteered to send contact information for Gleim and Rogers to faculty. Faculty may contact them directly if they want access to those resources. Karina Parlato discussed problems with practice set used in 1371. After many hours of grading this semester’s practice set, she felt that some students must have access to an answer key. The results of the practice sets did not correlate to student performance on other class assignments. She offered to create her own algorithmic practice set. Professor Thibodeaux mentioned that there are vendors now offering algorithmic practice sets. Thibodeaux and White offered to check their TACTYC notes for such vendors.

Item # 7:	Discussion: timed exams in upper-division courses
Presenter	Larry Stephens
Discussion	Larry Stephens opened a discussion of timed exams in the upper level courses. Opinion was split about timed tests. The task force agreed to allow faculty the freedom to choose setting time limits on their tests.

Item # 8:	Discussion: preparation level of certificate students (tax program) in upper division courses (attrition rates)
Presenter	Larry Stephens, McDermott and Thibodeaux
Discussion	Did not have time to discuss. Tabled until the next meeting.

Item # 9:	Update on TSCPA Accounting Educators Conference
Presenter	Larry Stephens
Discussion	Larry gave a report on the TSCPA Accounting Conference.

Item # 10:	New Business Issues
Presenter	Larry Stephens
Discussion	Larry mentioned that the next Task Force meeting will be held on February 8 at the Highland Campus. He also mentioned that the next Advisory Committee Meeting will be on May 3, 2019.

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