Chabot College
Basic Skills Committee
MINUTES
October 13, 2009
Present: Carolyn Arnold, co-chair, Marcia Corcoran, Katrin Field, Sandra Genera, Hisake
Hintz, Dhruv Joshi, Matt Kristcher, Deonne Kunkel, Jennifer Lange, Stacy Moore, Shirley
Pejman, Rajinder Samra, Patricia Shannon, Cynthia Stubblebine, Michael Thompson, Tram
Vo-Kumamoto, Jane Wolford, Kristina Young
CALL TO ORDER
The BSC was called to order at 12:05 p.m. Carolyn welcomed everyone and introductions
were made. The September 22, 2009, minutes were approved.
Carolyn reported on the Strengthening Student Success Conference, noting in particular
Logic Modeling and two BSI resources:
a. Statewide network: http://cccbsi.edulounge.net (logic modeling –
http://cccbsi.edulounge.net/logic-modeling/)
b. Bay Area Network: http://bain.edulounge.net
PRESENTATIONS
Sharing Instructional Methods in Math – Cindy Stubblebine
The Math Division offered a Saturday mini-math conference for full-time and part-time
faculty in order to reach out to adjunct faculty who can not attend sub-division meetings.
Approximately half of the full-time and a quarter of the part-time faculty attended. They
followed their regular sub-division agenda:
a. Announcements: new course
b. Issues: underprepared students
Solution 1: Require copy of final exam to be submitted during staff evaluation
process.
Solution 2: Have common finals--instructors volunteered to pilot a common final.
Result – did not make a difference in grades or student preparedness and was
logistically demanding.
c. Projects: workshop report, new proficiency requirement, new business calculus
course, computer software programs
Questions for Cindy
Q: How much time did it take to put together?
A: Ten to fifteen hours, not sure.
Q: How did you decide what to cover?
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A: We wanted to cover on what went on in subdivision meetings and report on what work
was being done.
Q: Have you felt a lasting affect?
A: With respect to common finals, we reached a concrete result. This semester, not so
much with adjunct faculty, we are not crossing paths.
Q: How could you increase adjunct participation?
A: I don’t know. They were compensated and fed.
Suggestions:
a. Communicate outcomes to those not attending (mail).
b. Pay for a counselor-coordinator to substitute for faculty so the meeting can be
scheduled during the week.
Sharing Instructional Methods in History – Jane Wolford
Jane offers a 50-minute bi-weekly workshop for one of her history courses. As a result,
student success and persistence has improved.
Two years previous to the workshop, statistics were: approximately a 50% success rate, 15
to 20% persistence rate, and a 20% withdrawal rate. In fall 2008, withdrawals spiked to 35%
and this prompted the workshop.
From spring 2008 following the workshop, statistics were: 58.5% success, 21.9%
persistence, and withdrawals below 20%.
Workshops cover the following topics:
a. First Session: Notetaking and Organizational Skills
b. Second Session: Learning Tools - how to approach multiple choice test questions
and reason answers
c. Third Session: Laying the Foundation for the Essay – scaffolding/compare and
contrast graph
Jane introduced a question: How do we institutionalize workshops?
Suggestions:
a. Use office hours to offer/fund lab time (from Life Sciences).
b. Do some of this during regular class time (from Patricia Shannon)
c. Encourage General Studies 115, assignments must require critical thinking (from
Michael Thompson).
d. Offer 4-unit courses, the extra unit for workshop component (from Deonne Kunkel).
e. Incorporate pedagogy training into orientation of new full-time and part-time faculty
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ADJOURNMENT
The BSC adjourned at 1:00 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted by
Deonne Kunkel
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