Committee Meetings and Minutes

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Distance Education Committee

Meeting Minutes

Current Status of Minutes: Final
Date	October 4, 2013
Time	1:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Location	HBC 214

Members Present
No member attendance has been recorded.
Guests Present
No guest attendance has been recorded.

Item # 1:	Introductions / Committee Charge
Presenter
Discussion	Attending: Al Purcell. Ashley Carr, Azzurra Crispino, Becky Villarreal, Carleen Sanchez, Carole Pierce, Clark Peterson, Gaye Lynn Scott, Harris Bell, Judy Sanders, Laura Lucas, Mary Parker, Michelle Escudier, Neelam Noorani, Robert Bermea, Shelley A. Attix, Theresa Glenn Committee members introduced themselves. Committee Charge was out to committee members prior to the meeting, via e-mail.

Item # 2:	January 25 Minutes – approval
Presenter
Discussion	January 25 Minutes were reviewed and approved

Item # 3:	DLC Co- Chair selection
Presenter	Al Purcell was nominated as DLC Faculty Co-Chair, the motion seconded and voted upon. Al will be the DLC Co-Chair for FY 14.
Discussion

Item # 4:	Updates: ACC 101 & 103 Distance Learning modules
Presenter	Clark Peterson
Discussion	Distance Learning modules 101 & 103 were discussed by Clark Peterson. Their development timeline was mentioned. When it was stated that they were begun in 2011 a motion was made that Student Services move the modules up in its priority. The completion and implementation of both these modules is important for DL students. Robert Bermea would write up a memo and send to Kathleen Christianson. (See Attachment A)

Item # 5:	Updates: Distance Learning Task Force (update)
Presenter	Robert Bermea
Discussion	Robert Bermea provided an update on the Distance Learning Task Force. He said that both faculty and student focus groups would be held in November in order to get information about the current DL program, with the focus groups utilizing a series of questions developed by the Task Force. Robert mentioned that due to lack of interest, the planned “DL Sharing Day” for SP 13 was put on hold. Carleen Sanchez volunteered to reinitiate this project and asked for those who are interested to contact her. During the SP 13 meeting, the DLC discussed Canvas (CMS) and the possibility of bringing it to ACC. When Robert inquired about this, it was pointed out that ACC was in the middle of a five year contract with Blackboard and changing CMS would be costly. A question was raised as to the status of Distance Learning Faculty Evaluation instrument. Robert Bermea indicated he thought the same instrument was being used and that the recommended changes by the DLC in the summer of 2012 were still being discussed by either the FE Committee or by ACAC. He said he would follow up with Kirk Kelly. See attachment B for Kirk’s update.

Item # 6:	Updates: Student Services for DL Students Update
Presenter	Voncille Wright
Discussion	Another Student Services issue that was addressed was the lack of attendance/participation by Student Services representatives. It was mentioned that with no Student Services representatives present the committee was unable to address Student Services (DL) issues with them, nor obtain Student Services information related to DL students. When there was no report on the Student Services DL Taskforce by Voncille Wright, there was discussion as to why this Task Force did not report to the DLC as per the committee’s official charge. A motion was made, voted on and approved that the SSDL should be absorbed and officially report to the DLC. That motion was to be forwarded to Kathleen Christianson also.

Item # 7:	Updates: Admin Rule 4.01.001- Distance Learning Best Practices & Guidelines/Procedures
Presenter
Discussion	Admin Rule 4.01.001 Distance Learning Best Practices & Guidelines/Procedures for Admin Rule 4.01.001 (August 1, 2013) was reviewed, discussed and revised by a DL Sub-committee comprised of Phylis Molina, Scott Gibby, Ladori Lara, Clark Peterson, Al Purcell, Gaye Lynn Scott and Robert Bermea. The document’s Admin Rule was reviewed and discussed, as well as the Guidelines and Procedures portion. A motion was made to accept it, seconded and voted upon. The committee voted to approve as written and to send it forward to ACAC. (see attachment C)

Item # 8:	Updates: Distance Testing
Presenter	Clark Peterson
Discussion	Distance Testing and visit to Western Governor’s University The Distance Testing process employed by Western Governor’s University was discussed. One component of their Distance Testing process is using Online DT Providers – Remote Electronic Proctoring such as ProctorU. Clark Peterson provided a chart that looked at and compared Proctor U, Examity, Proctor101 and Remote Proctor Now. While the current ‘status’ of Distance Testing for ACC ---------------Distance Learning courses continues to be discussed, the committee felt that the College could be looking at these products to determine whether they could be used at ACC as an option for Distance Testing and/or local Testing Centers. Clark Peterson will be contacting these vendors about providing product demonstrations to the DLC in the coming months.

Item # 9:	Attachment A
Presenter
Discussion	Oct 9 (8 days ago) Robert Bermea To Kathleen, Richard Kathleen, The Distance Learning Committee met on October 4, 2013 and there were several discussion items that centered on student services. The following two motions were discussed and voted unanimously on by the DLC: Motion 1) DL 101 (Admissions) and DL 103 (Orientation) have been in the planning/development stage since 2010. There have beenseveral versions of these modules during this process, but they are not yet available for student use. The DLC made a motion that suggested that Student Services move up in its priority, the completion and implementation of both these modules for DL students. Currently there are no Distance Learning student workshops; though DL has the following on its website. Motion 2) The DLC made a motion that the Student Service Distance Learning Committee/Taskforce) be consolidated into the Distance Learning Committee.The idea behind this motion was twofold: One is that the SSDL fits into the official functions of the Distance Learning Committee. Two - this ties in with the College’s current review of shared governance committee(s) functionality and purpose. Though there was no motion made, one of the other discussion items was that there was no one from Student Services at this or other meetings. The Committee felt there needs to be someone from Student Services at each DLC meeting to hear faculty concerns and share information from the Student Services side of the house. As an aside, at the present time, there are no official Advisors or Counselors on the Distance Learning Committee, I would personally like to see Carol Townsend be made an official member / appointee to the DLC. Thank you and I look forward to discussing these issues with you.

Item # 10:	Attachment B
Presenter
Discussion	Forwarded message From: Kirk Kelly Date: Thu, Oct 10, 2013 at 11:31 AM Subject: RE: Status of DL Faculty Evaluation revision SU 2012 To: Robert Bermea Robert, I’ve tried to provide responses to your questions shown below. What is the status of the revision to the Distance Learning Faculty Evaluation instrument that the DLC worked on in the SP/SU of 2012? Has it been approved by ACAC? At ACAC the Faculty Senate asked to review the Distance Learning Faculty Evaluation instrument as part of an ad hoc committee to review the Faculty Evaluation Procedures manual and related forms and documents. The work of the Senate ad hoc committee will be included in this year’s work by the Faculty Evaluation Committee. My goal is to separate out the Distance Learning Faculty Evaluation instrument as a separate item for ACAC to review and approve given that the DLC and FEC have already voted to approve this instrument. Is this currently being used? Or is the previous instrument still in place? The previous Distance Learning Faculty Evaluation instrument is still in use through Online Services. If this is still at ACAC, what are the plans for moving the recommended changes forward? My plan is to unbundle the Distance Learning Faculty Evaluation instrument from the work being done on the Faculty Evaluation Procedures manual and other related forms. The Distance Learning Faculty Evaluation instrument needs to be approved for use by Spring 2014, at least as a pilot project, so that we can also move Distance Learning course evaluations from the Online Services approach to Online Class Climate. In addition, we have a professional services request in process with Class Climate to develop the Faculty Rating report that shows the percentage of faculty in each rating category per department. Currently that report is only available through the older Online Services DIL reports. For some reason that report was not part of the original Class Climate migration and the Faculty Evaluation Committee wants that report available for all departments. I apologize for the delay in getting this important revision approved for use. A great deal of effort was spent in complying with HB 2504 this past academic year, but we now have approval to add another FT person to the evaluation office. The attached document is a differential analysis of the workload changes to course evaluations before and after both HB 2504 and the staffing changes that occurred with the 7/9/2012 reorganization. The College-wide Technology Committee has approved the funding of the integration module that will allow students to use hyperlinks within Blackboard to access Class Climate course evaluations. That module should be tested this fall with a goal of making that feature available for Spring 2014. The addition of this feature within Blackboard hosted DL classes does not preclude the use of email based online Class Climate course evaluations for those faculty who teach at a distance but not through Blackboard. While Fall 2013 continues to use the older DL course evaluation instrument through Online Services, we have added email notifications to faculty and students to try to raise awareness of when the course evaluations are available for each online course. Please let me know if you have other questions or concerns. Kirk Kirk F. Kelly Faculty Evaluation Supervisor Office of Faculty Evaluation Austin Community College District 5930 Middle Fiskville Road, Austin, Texas 78752

Item # 11:	Attachment C
Presenter
Discussion	Robert Bermea Oct 17 (4 days ago) To Mike, Joann, Richard Mike, This past summer a subcommittee of the DLC looked at the DL Best Practices Admin Rule and updated it to have a 1 paragraph Admin Rule and used the existing rule to become guidelines and procedures. The DLC reviewed it at our last meeting and voted to approve it, as written and send forth to ACAC. I was wondering if it would be possible to put on the Nov 1 Agenda for discussion and 1st reading? Thanks, Robert

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