At our discipline meeting yesterday we discussed the
following topics and decided on a plans of action regarding several.
1. SACS preparation: Current discipline assessment averages by course.
Our goal is to see averages for all instructors at a (C) level. While classes
taught by term-to-term, tenure-track, and tenured faculty reflect acceptable (C)
assessment averages, it’s clear from a review of the assessments that the
unsatisfactory averages across our course array reflect:
a. Academic year 2009-10 as the first one in which ALL history faculty gave
a weight of 5-10% to their course assessments; the previous two years’ numbers
thus drag down averages.
b. Communication and enforcement of adjunct participation in the assessment
process has been wanting; we have no idea how well adjuncts prepare their
students for the assessments.
To address these problems the
history faculty has decided on the following plan of action:
i. Mario Bennekin and David Moon (with assistance) will re-crunch the
numbers and remove the extreme highs and lows from the cache of assessments.
Typically the lowest scores represent instances where students tossed off the
exam; only one student got all 20 questions correct.
ii. History faculty will tweak the prose for questions most often missed by
the students and compose an amended assessment; there has been concern about the
accuracy of a couple questions.
iii. History faculty and adjuncts will get the revised assessment tool by
August 1, 2011 so as to incorporate both a Pretest and the course-end
assessment into their syllabi. Both tests will be the same so as to better
measure student learning.
iv. Professor Simson asked all faculty to contact their mentees and remind
them of the importance of preparing students for the assessment and to weight
the assessment appropriately.
v. The faculty agreed that this last effort will need Department Chair
support for its success.
2. SACS/GPC hiring and teaching accreditation requirements. Professor
Simson assured faculty that the draft of the hiring credentials forwarded by
Dean Brown were not going to be used to limit current faculty members’ ability
to teach a course, that the credentials were not an invention, but based upon
previous GPC faculty SACS recommendations and state guidelines. Furthermore
there was room in the proposed teaching requirements for chair and VPAA approval
of personal and professional experience.
3. Preparation for Textbook selection for 2012-13 academic year. At
present there are no changes (2011-12 year), but the history faculty agreed to
let Salli Vargis (world) and Robert Alderman (American) continue as the textbook
selection committee chairs for future selection; Marc Zayac and John Farris will
assist Vargis and Alderman, respectively. Selection will take place by poll,
Fall 2011.
4. Tom Graham reviewed his idea for the WWII Veterans Commemorative
symposium and dance for Fall 2011 term; faculty suggested the event
be mid-term and Tom (has now) agreed on an 11 November (or thereabouts) date.
Simson encouraged all faculty to participate and faculty began brainstorming
about panels, subjects, etc. As a whole, the faculty are excited about this
event.
5. Future events: Faculty decided that the academic year 2011-12 see
GPC put on a Georgia and the World history symposium—more on this to
come.
6. GPC budget effects on term-to-term faculty explained and
discussed.
7. Professional Development: Colleagues discussed recent and future
conference attendance, presentations, articles, and pertinent upcoming
student/faculty events. Simson stated he would request all faculty to forward
such information for him for distribution among colleagues. Simson will renew
use of the History Matters blog at www.gpc.edu/history for such purposes.
-Will
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