Faculty Council 2006-07 Committee Summary Reports
COMMITTEE ON COLLEGE POLICY
Committee 2006-07 Objectives:
· Review College policies during the 60-day comment period and offer feedback to the administration
· Suggest policy changes where warranted
Accomplishments or Status:
· Board policies were monitored and reported on to Faculty Council.
COMMITTEE ON TEACHING AND LEARNING
Committee 2006-07 Objectives:
· Examine student retention in order to make recommendations to the Faculty Council Executive Committee accordingly on a course of action
· Develop a working definition of academic freedom for Collin College
· Discuss ideas on how to alleviate the high cost of textbooks and help disseminate the district Cost of Textbook Task Force findings
Issues/projects tackled this year:
· Retention
· Academic Freedom
· Cost of Textbooks
· Definition of Scholarly Community
· Brown Bag Lunches
Accomplishments or Status of each issue/project:
· Committee met in the fall to organize and to brainstorm retention, academic freedom, and cost of textbooks issues.
· Sonja Andrus served as chair of the retention subcommittee and met with Thom Chesney to discuss formulation of a district-wide advisory committee with input from the Faculty Council. The Advisory Committee on Retention was formed and has met once to address the complexity of retention issues. Meetings will be ongoing throughout the upcoming year.
· A faculty round-table discussion on academic freedom was held in March. The current CCCCD policy on academic freedom was e-mailed to all faculty. Input from the brainstorming session was collected in order to draft a brief statement for Faculty Council.
· A round-table discussion on cost of textbooks was held in March to disseminate information to faculty and administrators on the findings of the Textbook Task Force, headed by Brenda Kihl and Board Member Brenda Goodell. Brenda Kihl elicited ideas from faculty in the fall and included the input in the final document summarizing the findings. The document generated by the task force to outline the issues and findings was e-mailed to all faculty. Amina El-Ashmawy and Joan Kennedy represented faculty on the task force.
· Levi Bryant, chair of the subcommittee on academic freedom, spearheaded a round-table discussion on defining a scholarly community. Information from the session will be summarized and presented to the Leadership Team.
· Carrie Bottoms organized a brown bag lunch activity, GABB (Get Acquainted Brown Bag), for PRC in April. This provides opportunity for faculty to get acquainted and exchange ideas.
Recommended issues/projects for Committee in 2007-08:
· Finalize the academic freedom statement and post on website
· Brown bag lunch sessions need to be expanded to all campuses
· More round-table events for faculty to explore issues like Scholarly Community, Retention, etc.
· Address the issue of making classrooms more efficient for faculty and students—i.e.—add more whiteboards, replace tables and chairs with armchair desks for disciplines that prefer this setup, add podiums and elmos, etc.
COMMITTEE ON FACULTY COUNCIL PROCEDURES
Committee 2006-07 Objectives:
· Research and propose various faculty governance models
· Develop the Faculty Council Procedures Manual
· Annually review and revise the FC Procedures Manual as needed
Accomplishments or Status of each Objective:
· Faculty Council governance structure set
· Faculty Council Procedures Manual completed and posted on the website
Recommended action for Committee in 2007-08:
· Review and update Procedures Manual as needed
COMMITTEE ON THE COLLIN COMMUNITY
Committee 2006-07 Objectives:
· Monitor changes in legislation and the impact it has on both the college community (faculty, students, and staff) and/or the greater community and make recommendations to the Faculty Council Executive Committee accordingly on a course of action.
· Develop ways to encourage faculty and students to become more politically and civically active.
· Consider community oriented practices (e.g., Adopt-A-Highway, etc.) that demonstrate our commitment to the local community.
Issues/projects tackled this year:
· Raised funds for $1,000 contribution on behalf of the faculty to the Collin Scholarship Fund.
· Implement district-wide celebration for graduating students
· Assist faculty in facilitating brown-bag lunches
· Provide faculty with information on how to participate in legislative process as private citizens
Accomplishments or Status of each issue/project:
· Solicited funds to make $1,000 contribution on behalf of the faculty to the Collin Scholarship Fund.
· Planned and implemented district-wide celebrations for graduating students (attended by both faculty members and students)
· Would have assisted faculty in facilitating brown-bag lunches had the initial one not been cancelled due to illness
· Put TCCTA document on this issue on FC website for faculty to access
Loose ends:
· Institutionalize fund-raising for Scholarship Fund
· Plan bigger and better attended celebrations honoring student graduates
· Advertise the CCC more widely to the CCCCD and greater community
COMMITTEE ON TECHNOLOGY
Committee 2006-07 Objectives:
· Address college technology selection, use, implementation, and review
· Research past procedures for technology feedback from faculty and technology decision-making
· Work with Collin administration and faculty to establish well-known published procedures for decision-making regarding technology
· Enhance faculty awareness of technology use to accomplish college goals and meet accountability measures (e.g., student learning outcomes and retention).
Issues/projects tackled this year:
· The WebCT Crash
· Backups: Server backups; WebCT faculty backups; Email backups
· Groupwise email system; Remote access issues
· H: drive storage space limitations
· WBA: Removal of outdated courses
· A video server: To deliver web video content
· Intranet access remotely (VPNs); VPN remote access for faculty
· Office 2007 upgrades and compatibility patches for Office 2003
· Microsoft Vista implementation
· Computers in podiums in training labs; Updated hardware and software;
Long USB extension cables for easier access to the USB ports
· Banner: Reclaiming lab space used by Banner; Purpose of Banner
· Cougarmail student access issues; spam filters
· Centra Downtime issues
· Future IT plans: VoIP; Meeting Place Express
· Faculty assistance with various technology students logins
Accomplishments or Status of each issue/project:
· WebCT:
WebCT is now backed up on a separate server and now installed on new hardware. The TLC department has revised the helpdesk system for WebCT and faculty support issues.
· Backups:
Backups are now scheduled for all servers, following industry Best Practices guidelines. RAID drives are implemented.
· Groupwise email system:
Remote access issues are being addressed by AT&NS.
Archived files stored on our H: drives can be restored, but those archives stored on a crashed local drive cannot.
· H: drive:
AT&NS is looking at increased space and cheaper storage space.
· WBA:
AT&NS is working to reorganize the course listings.
· A video server:
AT&NS will consider budgeting for a video server.
· Intranet access remotely (VPNs):
VPN remote access requires a laptop computer that can be configured by AT&NS. Faculty may request VPN access from them. Personal insurance for off-campus laptops is available for less than $60 per year through some insurance companies.
· Office 2007
Upgrade to Office 2007 will be scheduled as software licenses are acquired. Faculty need to request upgrades through their deans. There are several issues, including backwards compatibility with previous versions. Patches will be available so that student submissions in Office 2007 can be read in Office 2003.
· Microsoft Vista
The school will not implement Vista college-wide until at least SP1, perhaps SP2
· Computers in podiums in training labs
Hardware and software in these computers is being updated. Long USB extension cables for easier access to the USB ports are being added.
Banner:
The Banner lab room will be available after Banner is implemented, in 2008.
Banner is a single-person Oracle database, regardless of role (student, faculty, staff, etc.) There will be progressive additions of functionality. Luminous will be the portal to these functions, moving towards a single sign-on for all college services.
Cougarmail
Students will be able to keep their access to Cougarmail – forever if they use it at least once every 6 months. The IT dept. is working on spam filters for it.
Centra
Centra is back. The application has been moved to another server and re-configured.
Future plans
VoIP is being implemented on all campuses. The speakers on the Cisco phones should allow 2-way talk and listen. Meeting Place Express allows us to conduct conference calls. Call the Help Desk for information.
Faculty assistance on with various technology students logins
A table with student login information for various technology services has been created.
Loose ends:
The student login information table has not been posted on a web site yet.
Recommended issues/projects for Committee in 2007-08:
Continue an awareness of college technology issues. Continue a dialog with David Hoyt and Shane Ammons regarding student retention issues relative to college technology.
COMMITTEE ON FACULTY COUNCIL PROCEDURES
Committee 2006-07 Objectives:
· Research and propose various faculty governance models
· Develop the Faculty Council Procedures Manual
Accomplishments or Status:
· Finalized the Faculty Council Procedures Manual
· Manual has been posted on Faculty Council website
Recommendations for 2007-08:
Expand committee function to include Faculty Council nominations.
Honor Code Committee
Committee 2006-07 Objective:
· Draft and finalize District Honor Code
Accomplishments and Status:
· The committee completed a draft of the Honor Code, which was emailed to the faculty for review and comments. After a two month period, the finalized draft of the document was written and formally approved by the Faculty Council. Student focus groups were conducted during this same period in order to obtain input on the student’s Bill of Rights. These finalized documents will be presented on May 14th to the Leadership Team by the college Honor Code Committee co-chairs, Barbara Money and Cameron Neal. The target date for implementation is slated for Fall 2007.
· Committee has completed its work and is officially disbanded.