CHABOT COLLEGE
Curriculum Committee Minutes
October 17, 2006
Members Present:
Jim Matthews, Clara McLean, Jan Novak, Don Plondke, Milton Rube, Norberto
Ruiz, Patricia Shannon, Connie Telles, Ernesto Victoria
Ex-Officio
Members Present:
Jane Church, Edna Danaher, Kaaren Krueg,
Guests:
Marcia Corcoran, Sally Jahnke, Rebecca Otto, Harjot Sawhney, Patricia Wu
I.
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 2:03 p.m. by committee chair Norberto Ruiz.
II.
Minutes of October 10, 2006
MSC (Matthews/Novak) that the minutes of October 10, 2006, be approved as
presented.
III.
Language Arts Presentation Update
Marcia Corcoran distributed revised outlines for Chinese 50AB and Spanish 50AB. She
reported that the division had rescinded the request to have these courses articulated to
the CSU GE Breadth list.
In response to the Committee’s recommendations, the titles of the courses have been
changed as follows:
• Chinese 50AB, Chinese Conversation and Culture
• Spanish 50AB, Spanish Conversation and Culture
The outcomes have also been rewritten to show growth from the A class to the B class.
Clara McLean noted several typos in the outlines and rationales. Patricia Shannon
replied that she helped Cristina Moon correct these. She doesn’t think that the paperwork
distributed today is the latest version. Norberto asked that final versions be emailed to
the committee.
Marcia reported that Francisco Zermeño has not made the changes that were requested at
the October 10 meeting. When those have been completed they will be submitted to
Norberto and Kaaren Krueg for review.
MSC (Matthews/Novak) that the Language Arts proposal be accepted contingent on
changes being made as noted in the minutes of October 10 and 17.
IV.
Math/Science Presentation
Sally Jahnke introduced faculty members Patricia Wu, Harjot Sawhney, and Rebecca
Otto.
Curriculum Committee
10-10-06, page 2
BIOTECHNOLOGY
Sally reported that Chabot was approached by Ohlone College to join them in a 2+2+2
grant program. These two courses will be the first two courses in the Ohlone
Biotechnology Program. They will be offered at Chabot and at local high schools. She
added that the division hopes to use these courses to develop a full Biotechnology
Program at Chabot. Sally added that there are about 20 biotechnology companies in
Hayward and over 200 in the bay area.
There was discussion on articulation and how these courses might interact with the
Nursing and Dental Hygiene programs.
These courses introduce students to entry-level biotechnology methods. Patricia Shannon
noted that the scope of Biotechnology 20 is limited to human responses.
There was discussion on prerequisites. It was noted that establishing prerequisites for
English and Mathematics would require institutional research. Jane added that if we can
locate courses at 4-year institutions that use courses equivalent to these as prerequisites,
we can use that instead of research. Also, if Ohlone did research to establish the English
and Math prerequisites, we might be able to use their findings. Consensus was to change
the prerequisites to advisories.
There was discussion on rewriting the catalog descriptions. It was noted that phrases
such as “open to all students” and “Also included are classroom success strategies…” are
not generally included in catalog descriptions. Also, the committee found the sentence,
“This course satisfies the requirements of biotechnology.” to be confusing, and suggested
eliminating it.
Jim Matthews explained the 2+2+2 program. Ohlone is recommending that local high
schools start Biotechnology Academies that would teach Biotechnology 20 and 30 and
teach students study and test-taking skills. Edna Danaher noted that we no longer list
2+2 courses on students’ transcripts. They are now listed with a credit by examination
notation.
Biotechnology 20, Chemistry for Biotechnology, 4 units
Harjot Sawhney presented.
Needed:
• Rewrite the catalog description as discussed above.
• Correct “Math 65Y” to read “65L”
• Change prerequisite to “Strongly recommended: Mathematics 65 or 65B or
65L (completed with a grade of “C” or higher) and eligibility for English
1A.”
Biotechnology 30, Basic Biotechnology: Introduction to Cell and Molecular Biology,
4 units
Patricia Wu presented.
Needed:
• Rewrite the catalog description as discussed above.
Curriculum Committee
10-10-06, page 3
•
•
•
•
Change prerequisite to “Strongly recommended: Mathematics 65 or 65B or
65L (completed with a grade of “C” or higher) and eligibility for English
1A.”
Add “or Computer Science 8” to the advisory for CAS 8.
Rewrite the Typical Assignments to be more specific; address them to the
student.
Make the Methods of Evaluating Student Progress less specific; list the areas
considered but not the percentages.
MATHEMATICS
Mathematics 20, Pre-Calculus Mathematics, 5 units
Milton Rube distributed a sheet detailing changes that were made to the Expected
Outcomes and Course Content.
Needed:
• Rewrite prerequisite notation to read “…(completed with a grade of “C” or
higher)…” in both the abbreviated course description and catalog
description.
Mathematics 105, Basic Mathematics, 3 units
The only change being made is the addition of “May not receive credit if
Mathematics 105L has been completed.”
Mathematics 105L, Basic Mathematics, 3 units
The only change being made is the addition of “May not receive credit if
Mathematics 105 has been completed.”
V.
Curriculum SLO Subcommittee Report
Jim Matthews reported that he, Barbara Ogman, Francisco Zermeño and Norberto Ruiz
met on October 16. A workbook from Cabrillo College will be used as a guideline. Five
pilot disciplines (to be determined) will write course-level SLOs by the end of Spring
semester.
VI.
Proposal for Advanced Placement (Jane Church)
Jane referred to her September 26 memo regarding using Advanced Placement courses
that we don’t offer to satisfy elective and GE units, and distributed the AP chart
published in the College Catalog. The chart represents recommendations made by
discipline faculty.
Jane is proposing that we allow AP courses (with scores of 3, 4, or 5), for which we do
not offer a comparable course, to be used:
• as elective units for the AA/AS degree;
• to satisfy AA/AS GE area requirements (where appropriate).
Curriculum Committee
10-10-06, page 4
She would like a notation added to the catalog chart that courses not listed will be given
consideration for GE elective units (and possibly degree applicability, if the committee
approves).
There was discussion on whether the Dean of Counseling should be the authority to
approve credit or whether it should be determined by discipline faculty.
Further discussion was tabled to a Spring meeting, at which time Jane will provide the
latest list of AP examinations offered by the College Board.
VII.
Information Competency (Keith Mehl)
LPC’s request for an information competency requirement was discussed at the May 2,
2006, meeting. Jim noted that many of the proposed requirements are already embedded
in the current Area A.3 of the AA degree requirements. He suggested isolating the new
information and writing a proposal specific to that need.
Discussion included the information that some CSU campuses include information
competency as a graduation requirement, but not as an entrance or transfer requirement.
Jane will do an online search to see which campuses have this requirement [Search
Result: CSU Channel Islands; CSU Monterey Bay; Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo; CSU San
Marcos] Jane suggested that this might be an agenda item for the District Curriculum Council.
Keith added that this is not a unit requirement; it could be cleared by taking an examination, at
a cost of about $20-25. Patricia Shannon responded that that is about the same cost as taking
a class.
VIII.
Good of the Order
Jim distributed “Proposed Revision to Title 5 Regulations Related to Minimum
requirements for the Associate Degree.” He stated that this could eliminate both
English 52A and English 70 in 2008 unless they are revised to have the same rigor as
English 1A. Clara noted that if Chabot chooses not to revise English 52A and English 70,
they would have to be removed from fulfilling our graduation requirements. It would
have to be made very clear to students that if they chose to take these courses and then
decided to pursue a degree or transfer, they would have to take English 1A.
Jim and Norberto reported that this change has been on the statewide Academic Senate’s
agenda for at least five years. There was general discussion on how this would affect our
curriculum. Patricia Shannon stated that this would affect many of our programs,
especially the vocational ones. It was noted that we award few degrees in these areas.
IX.
X.
Next Meeting: October 24
The meeting was adjourned at 3:50 p.m.
kk 10/19/06
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