Committee on eLearning Meeting Minutes for September 10, 2020

The Academic Senate Committee on eLearning met on September 10, 2020 at 3:00PM via Zoom (Online)

Committee Members in Attendance:

In Attendance: Randelle Sasa (2022), Susan Lago (2022), Punita Bhansali (2023), Svjetlana Bukvich-Nichols (2021), Merlinda Drini Prelvukaj (2023), Lakersha Smith (2021), Zhou Zhou (2022), Denis Bejar (IT Academic Applications Director), Sandra Palmer (President's Designee)

Not present: Eugene Desepoli III (2021), Sebastian Murolo (2023), Zivah Perel Katz (Steering Committee Designee)

Business:

The meeting was called to order at 3:02PM

Minutes of May 14^th, 2020 meeting – approved by unanimous vote.

1. Introduction and welcome to new and old committee members.

2. Congratulations to the Office of Educational Technology and Professor Denis Bejar for this Summer’s E-Learning Institute. It was delayed instead of canceled. There were two sessions with record breaking attendance.

3. Review of Committee Charges and achievements of the past administration, which is posted on the website.
   
   The charges haven’t changed much. We are waiting to see if there will be changes for this year. We have developed evaluation tools. We didn’t have a Tech Fee meetings last semester due to COVID. The committee coordinated with Dr. Beckford to assess online classes.
   
   The Annual report of the previous eLearning Committee Chair was accepted by the committee with minor revisions.

4. Goal setting for academic year 2020-2021

   Denis Bejar noted that OET faculty and staff have worked really hard to transition to distance learning. He said that we really need more guidance for how to conduct evaluations and teaching observations even though we’ve gotten some guidance from CUNY Central. He said it’s difficult to come with short-term plans because every day brings new challenges. The guidelines that were created two years ago maybe should become a place where faculty can find answers. The guidelines need to be updated to reflect the new situation. There is a lot of interest from faculty to attend the Institute, but it’s difficult to draft a plan since we don’t know in what form it will be offered.
   

   Randelle said for the next eLearning Institute Denis should assign things for the committee to do. Some faculty has supported the eLearning program on a volunteer basis. He said we should identify people in each department who can be the go-to person for help with the transition. The challenge is when things go wrong, OET is bombarded with emails, but if we have other faculty point people, they can help with OET’s workload. He will send out a Google spreadsheet for us to fill in with our suggestions for such individuals.

   Denis asked what the role of the committee would be in supporting ideas coming out of OET. Randelle said that the charges should include that the committee serves and supports OET.

   Sandra said that OET falls under Academic Affairs so they have to be included in the mix between the committee and OET in terms of decision making.
   
   

   Marketing of online courses. Randelle will assist Gene in creating the newsletter. Virtual E-Learning Sessions for Faculty We should try to do a virtual session. Susan will do a presentation on Pear Deck some time in October. Randelle and Susan will figure out a time. Policies and Standards for eLearning at QCC Randelle said that he found several documents that pertain to evaluation forms for f2f, PNT, and FNT. Susan will look for the most recent forms in her email and put them in our shared Google Drive folder. Sandra added that there are student evaluations that are used. There is a Senate committee, Academic Development Committee, that has the charge to revise the student evaluation form. She said we need to contact that committee to see where they are in the process. Randelle said the previous Chair’s report mentions that she attended a Senate meeting. He will reach out to the previous Chair to check about the forms that have been developed.

5. Other Business
   
   Denis said there is a Blackboard upgrade that will happen in December, which has been confirmed by CUNY Central. CUNY is acquiring a license for an online proctoring service, but it will be a limited license. Denis said that faculty should follow CUNY’s legal guidelines when it comes to proctoring. The students need to accept the User Agreements and some students didn’t feel comfortable accepting the terms. We don’t know if Proctor Track, CUNY’s proctoring app, will be integrated into Blackboard. When he learns more, Denis will discuss with Sandra and Tim. It will be available in late October. Zoom is also available, but we don’t have the resources to fully support it. He cautioned about having students put personal information on cloud-based applications not supported by CUNY. OET is only supporting Collaborate.
   
   Svjetlana said the music department, and the arts in general, needs Blackboard to have better sound.
   
   Svjetlana said we should develop a fully online evaluation form. Susan and Sandra said that only a small number of students tend to fill them out, in their experience. Sandra said fully online evaluation forms will have to be approved by the Academic Senate and that we should work with the Academic Development Committee.
   
   Randelle asked if we can require students to turn their camera on when faculty is proctoring exams. Sandra said we would have to consult with legal to see if that’s possible. Denis said that the response from legal seems to tend toward students being allowed not to turn on their camera. Denis recommended that faculty should have an alternative type of assessment, such as portfolios. Randelle said that last semester he developed a Camtasia demonstrating to students how exams are proctored. He said he will run the video by Administration.
   
   Denis said that the eLearning Institute is still open to previous participants who took it last summer. He wants to have an online faculty support community to help faculty to perform better in their classes. He proposed having members of the committee be added to the committee as instructors at the Institute. The online community might be a more efficient way to provide support instead of just email. Randelle said he will send out an email asking for volunteer leaders with the caveat that they be certified themselves.
   
   
6. Adjournment
   
   Meeting was adjourned at 3.53 by Randelle Sasa. The next general meeting will be at 3:00 on October 15, 2020, in via Zoom.
   
   
   

Respectfully submitted,

Susan Lago
Committee on eLearning, Secretary

Minutes typed on September 10th, 2020