Academic Senate Committee on WID/WAC 2/26/20

The Academic Senate Committee on WID/WAC met on 12/04/19, 12:17 pm

Committee Members in Attendance:

1. John Talbird (Committee Chairperson, English)
2. Liz DiGiorgio (Art & Design)
3. Jeff Hall (History)
4. Linda Meltzer (Business)
5. Ian Schanning (Physics)
6. Rommel Robertson (Social Sciences)
7. Chris Leary (English)
8. Elise Denbo (WID/WAC)
9. Raymond Lam (Committee Secretary, Engineering Technology)

Liaisons in Attendance:

See above.

Business:

The meeting was called to order at 12:17 pm

1. Welcome, Agenda, and Distribution of Documents

• The chairman distributed writing intensive (WI) guidelines – WIDWAC program, writing intensive syllabus review spring 2020 checklist, and two sets of intensive writing class syllabus and writing assignment to committee members.
• The secretary distributed the minutes of WID/WAC meeting on December 04, 2019.
• The chairman announced an agenda of the meeting to all committee members. The agenda included approval of the WID/WAC meeting on December 04, 2019, norming session for recertifying writing intensive class syllabi, and other business.
• The chairman called the meeting in order. There was no objection to the call.

 

 

2. Vote on Approval of WID/WAC Meeting Minutes of December 04, 2019

• Vote counts were unanimous; nine “YES” votes and zero “NO” vote.
• The meeting minutes dated December 04, 2019 were therefore accepted and approved by the committee.

 

 

3. Recertification in 2019 and Writing Intensive Guidelines – WIDWAC Program

• The writing intensive guidelines – WIDWAC program provided the base for recertification of WI courses. The writing intensive syllabus review checklist is the form for evaluation of WI syllabus documents.
• Writing intensive courses had not been recertified in the last 20 years. Some courses might be doing very little writing. The committee was responsible to evaluate and recertify writing intensive courses.
• One third of the WI courses were evaluated last year. Another one third will be evaluated this year, and the last one third next year.
• Faculty members, who ignored the request for syllabus documents last year, had been again requested to submit the documents by the committee chair via email this year. The request included a carbon copy to their respective department chairperson.  Some ugly responses were received from faculty members.  The request will no longer be made by the committee chairperson in the future. The Office of Academic Affair will therefore take up the task of communicating with faculty members next year. The committee will perform the tasks of evaluating WI syllabus documents and recertifying WI courses.
• Approximately half of the requested WI syllabus documents had arrived. The chairman will distribute them to committee members for evaluation.
• Committee members were advised not to communicate with any faculty members who are being evaluated and recertificated. The chairman or Dr. Arthur Corradetti will be the proper channel of communication with the faculty.
• A WI course is recertified if the course satisfies the requirements stated in the writing intensive guidelines – WIDWAC program.
• Failure in mentioning Campus Writing Center in a syllabus is not a cause for failing the recertification as Campus Writing Center is not a requirement in the guidelines.
• A WI paragraph should be stated in a syllabus. It explains what it means to be writing intensive.
• At least 30% of the total grade is required for writing according to the checklist.
• Writing assignments in lab part of a Physics course usually accounted less than 30% of the total grade. Significant writing was assigned in the lecture part of the Physics course.
• Some faculty members who did not submit any syllabus documents last year were asked to remove WI from their courses last year. Some WI courses were recertified, while others were not recertified. It is still unclear what the consequences are for a course that was not recertified last year.
• It is not certain that the recertification process of WI courses will continue after 3 years. The frequency of the WI recertification process had not been determined.
• A recertification training will be available to faculty members who want to be refreshed.

 

 

4. Norming Session for Spring 2020 Recertification

• The chairman requested committee members to evaluate two sets of syllabus documents, fill out the writing intensive syllabus review spring 2020 checklist, and determine if the course is recertified.
• The chairman urged committee members to keep the results of the recertification confidential. Names of those who passed or failed the re-certification were not to be disclosed to anybody.
• The chairman also asked committee members to give positive reinforcements if the committee members found someone was doing well in the documents.
• MA-336, Statistics, was the first set of syllabus documents for evaluation. The documents failed to state that the writing assignments was allotted at least 30% of the total grade and the minimum of 10 pages of writing. The documents did not meet all requirements. Revision and resubmission were recommended.  The course was not recommended for recertification.
• MUS-101, Introduction to Music, was the second set of syllabus documents for evaluation. The documents failed to mention a minimum of 10 pages of formal writing, opportunity of revising students’ work, and Campus Writing Center in the syllabus. The document did not meet all requirements.  Revision and resubmission were recommended. The course was not recommended for recertification.
• The chairman will exam all revised syllabus documents and make a decision on whether the course documents meet all requirements and the course is re-certified.
• Each committee member will be responsible to review approximately 3 to 4 sets of syllabus documents.
• The syllabus documents will be distributed to each committee member by the chairman when they are received from faculty members.
• A digital copy of the writing intensive syllabus review checklist will be emailed to committee members and it is to be filled out by typing.
• The evaluations of syllabus documents are due by the final examination period of this semester.

 

 

5. Other Business

• The committee will meet one more time this semester by the end of the spring 2020 semester to discuss what we learn from the recertification process and election of a new chairperson and a new secretary.
• The terms for the current committee chair and secretary will expire this year. New people are needed to fill the two positions.

 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 1:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Ray Lam
Committee on WID/WAC, Secretary