ESL Department Meeting

11-1; 10/30/09, ESL 104

Present: Janet Harclerode, John Hoover, Melody Nightingale, Sharon Jaffe, Tracey Ellis, Elena Garate, Emily Lodmer, Toni Randall, Keith Graziadei, Andrea Kahn, Andrea Spector, Jessica Plotner, Shawna Kimmel, Debra Levitt, Paul Dykman, Molly Labarge, Kip Hinton, Mike Laib

1.  General Information

a. Full-Time New Hire Requests (2) update – Cmmt meets 11/20 to rank. We’ve requested one position for all skills in the credit program based on 6:1 ratio of part-time to full-time faculty in our high demand courses (21A/B) and a second position to primarily serve our basic skills population (noncredit, 10G/W, 11A) and assist in the many projects planned.

b. Reminder that, according to FERPA regulations, we may not put student papers that contain any personal information (student I.D.’s or student grades) in places where other students are able to view them (office door boxes, classroom desks).

c. Evaluations – Please have the peer evaluations completed ASAP. Tracey reminded us not to have students fill out the back side of the student evaluations because there is no mechanism for reading them. They should be distributed to students in the last quarter of the semester. Results will be posted in ISIS on instructors’ class roster page (under miscellaneous reports) in the spring.

d. Course updates – ESL 23 sent to Curriculum; awaiting 16C.

e. Textbooks – no changes for W10 or Sp10; however, piloting of NorthStar and Interactions 2 in W10 and Sp10 for 11A/B and piloting of America Now for 21B. Make sure to get hardcopy Sp10 textbook orders to PAM by Nov. 20. Instructors using their own handbooks sold through the bookstore must fill out a copyright form each semester. 21B instructors using They Say I Say should get together to create activities to enhance it. Jessica, Emily, Elena, and Paul already have materials, which we’d like to compile in a handbook that instructors could have students purchase in the bookstore (as well as posting these on our ESL website under course materials).

f. Spring 2010 schedule is still a work in progress, but most assignments have been made. The new section numbers are now available, and Toni will send those around in an email to each instructor.

g. Facilities – the giant desk in ESL104 will be exchanged for a smaller one from either ESL103 or ESL125. The gray desks (without side arm) will be exchanged from one of the other classrooms and ESL104 as they allow students easier exit and entry to them. The file cabinets in the back of ESL123 will be removed. The foul smell that sometimes pervades ESL125 and ESL104 (due to kitties doing their business under and next to the building) will be reported to facilities.

h. The Department voted unanimously in favor of allowing F1-visa students to claim their study abroad experience in this country as meeting the Global Citizenship AA degree requirement. Emily will transmit this information to Curriculum Committee next Wednesday when they meet to discuss this resolution.

i. Eric Oifer, Academic Senate President, will visit us during our last departmental meeting (12/11). Toni has asked that he review the agreements that his department (Social Sciences) currently has with publishers to see if the ESL Department might want to negotiate similar agreements with its publishers. Sharon will talk with Eric about senate issues that are of obvious concern to our department and that we want to weigh in on with Eric during his visit.

2. Faculty Reports

a. Tutoring and AS task force – Janet announced that we have hired four new tutors scheduled to begin at staggered dates between now and February. The issue of offering noncredit students the services of our tutors is problematic. By law, noncredit students must have equal access to such services, but we have limited personnel and funds. Suggestion that we have a tutor conduct a conversation group at Bundy on Fridays. Reminder that, while students should bring a specific assignment to work on with the tutor, they should not expect the tutors to correct and revise their assignments for them. Tutoring appointments may be booked one week in advance. The tutoring task force is discussing several issues, including online tutoring and physical centralization of tutoring services.

b. Non-credit - Melody reviewed some of the projects that we’d like to conduct for the noncredit program including the possibility of assessment, cross-listed courses (so that F1-visa students could take noncredit courses), tutoring/mentoring of noncredit students, urging credit students who are too low for 10G/10W to the noncredit program.

c. Online grammar reference page update – Keith and Andrea K. continue to work on the pages, which will be linked to the front of the ESL Department homepage this weekend. It is a work in progress that will be beneficial to students and instructors alike. Many thanks for their diligence and great work!

d. Jing videos – Keith demonstrated the eCompanion/eCollege orientation he has created to help students unfamiliar with the program navigate its features. He will send us all the links. Please post these on your eCompanion shells and dupe them to your new shells every semester. This will save instructors from having to spend so much time doing this with their students themselves. Instructors who employ Wimba and Jing or other similar programs to communicate information to their students should let Toni know – they will be given a headset for their personal use at home.

e. Common essay update – Be on the lookout for information and materials sent from Emily and Elena, and please email them with any questions. Those instructors who are NOT able to attend the norming session but would like to participate in essay exchange and grading with other instructors in the same situation should let Emily know so that she can send around an email to all of them, notifying them to contact one another and make suitable arrangements.

f. Faculty Association – Tracey announced that we should be on the lookout for a survey coming out next week. The new contract negotiations will soon be underway and FA is soliciting comments and suggestions from all faculty through this survey.

3. New Business

a. ESL24 – Possible configurations and content – this will be discussed at our last departmental meeting (Friday, Dec. 11th).

4. Announcements – Julia Morgan is presenting a workshop on preparing for the common essay, Friday, Nov 6, from 11:30-12:30, ESL103. 21A/B/25 instructors, please encourage your students to attend!

Remind your students who would like to practice their conversation skills of the tutor-led conversation groups, every Friday.

5. 12:30 - Guest: Amber Katherine, Environmental Affairs Cmmt – greening the curriculum. EAC is using Keith’s description of ESL23 as an example of the sorts of courses they’re hoping to see across the curriculum. Amber will send us all a link to their site. Also, Janet showcased what the ESL Department has already been doing in this regard. Go to her homepage for the link or go to the ESL Department password protected site of course materials and click on “water.”

Next F09 Department Meeting:

Friday, December 11, 11-1, ESL 104

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