Academic Senate Committee on WID/WAC 2/13/19

The Academic Senate Committee on WID/WAC met on 2/13/19, 12:10 pm

Committee Members in Attendance:

John Talbird (Committee Chairperson, English), David Humphries (OAA Liaison), Daniel Garbin (Mathematics), Areti Tsimounis (Bio/Geology), Elizabeth DiGiorgio (Art & Design), Jeff Hall (History), Chris Mooney (Business), Ian Schanning (Physics), Henry Davis (CETL), Elise Denbo (WID/WAC), and Raymond Lam (Committee Secretary, Engineering Technology).

Liaisons in Attendance:

See above.

Business:

The meeting was called to order at

Minutes of the Meeting of the WID/WAC Committee

 

Date: February 13, 2019 (Wednesday)

 

Location: Room H-324 Conference Room.

 

Start Time: 12:10 p.m.

 

Attendees:

John Talbird (Committee Chairperson, English), David Humphries (OAA Liaison), Daniel Garbin (Mathematics), Areti Tsimounis (Bio/Geology), Elizabeth DiGiorgio (Art & Design), Jeff Hall (History), Chris Mooney (Business), Ian Schanning (Physics), Henry Davis (CETL), Elise Denbo (WID/WAC), and Raymond Lam (Committee Secretary, Engineering Technology).

 

1. Welcome

John Talbird, Chairperson of the WID/WAC Committee, welcomed everyone. Every member introduced himself/herself to the committee. The chairperson distributed the meeting agenda and syllabus documents from three WI courses to all attendees.

 

2. Current Status with Writing Intensive Syllabus Review

• Fifteen to twenty syllabi had been received. The syllabi and related assignments were uploaded in the WI drive. A syllabus folder and an assignment folder were created in the drive.
• The following concerns of the Writing Intensive Syllabus Review were raised:

1. Schedule,

2. Charge of the committee,

3. Workload,

4. Checklist.

• Writing Intensive Syllabus Review Checklist has been revised according to the items approved by the Senate to include required items and recommended items.
• Discrepancy was found between listing of a course in CUNY First and the way the course was taught by the instructor in the past. A course was listed as WI in CUNY First, but the course was not taught as a WI course.  Criminal Justice 106 was the course having such discrepancy.
• WI syllabus review was important because CUNY lowered the standard of reading and writing for students.
• There were about 88 WI syllabi.  15 of them were not reviewed; therefore, there were approximately 70 to 72 syllabi for review.
• Those who had been submitted WI syllabus for review will be exempted for another review in one to two years.
• Senate specified WI workload is 30% of the final grade. 30% WI workload was designated in Art & Design and Business courses. WI workload of 30% was expressed as excessive in Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science courses. The WI workload was suggested to be decided on a case by case basis with recommendations from respective department.
• An abbreviated training session by CETL was recommended to re-certify WI faculty members, as 40% of the WI instructors were trained before 2009. 
• WI instructors, who were not requested to submit syllabus for review, were not aware of re-certification training. All WI instructors will be notified of the re-certification. WI instructor will be paid if he/she participates in the re-certification training.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Syllabus Norming Session

• Chairman requested every attendees to review the first syllabus documents, one from Department of Speed Communications & Theatre Arts, and fill out the Writing Intensive Syllabus Review checklist. The syllabus document was complete and thorough.
• Second syllabus, one from Department of Social Sciences, was reviewed by all attendees. Many issues were found in the documents. WI was not clearly identified. WI grading system was not clear. Rubrics was not available.  Description was vague.  The document did not meet all the requirements. Efforts from the instructor should be recognized. Comments to the instructor should be positive and constructive. Revision and resubmission were recommended.
• All WI instructors will be notified of recertification and Writing Intensive Syllabus Review checklist.
• David Humphries and John Talbird will be the ones who communicate with all WI faculty members.
• Each committee member will be responsible to review approximately 5 to 6 syllabus documents.
• All syllabus documents of a course will be saved in one folder.

 

4. Other Business

There will be one more meeting this semester. Election of chairperson and secretary of next year will be held in the next meeting. The chairperson will notify committee members of the next meeting.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Ray Lam

Respectfully submitted,

Ray Lam
Committee on WID/WAC, Secretary