C
ALL TO
O
RDER
C OMMUNICATION I TEMS

Natalie Peeterse, the new UPWA Program Assistant was welcomed and members introduced themselves. Natalie has an MFA from the University of Montana and has been teaching online
 courses for 8 years. She has also participated in both sides of assessment.
The revised committee charge was approved by ASCRC and will go to the Faculty Senate on
November 12 th .
B
USINESS
I
TEMS

Nancy asked for clarification with regard to student Moodle submissions. There are several students enrolled in more than one approved writing course. In order to ensure students submit a paper for each writing course the papers will need to be identified in some way to minimize confusion. The Committee agreed that this was necessary, but would like a clear statement to be sent to instructors informing them of the need for identification and assurance of their anonymity for the purpose of program-level assessment. The statement could direct faculty to the report from last year if they have concerns.
The Committee reviewed the additional survey questions- there are now 8. After some discussion the open ended information literacy question was removed.

The draft communication to instructors was reviewed and edited. It will also be sent to directors and department chairs.

The reservation of the Adam Center Sky Club cannot be confirmed due to a possible concert on
April 24 th . The Canyon Club is reserved as a back-up. Members also suggested inquiring about
Brantley Hall, or rooms in the Payne Family Native American Building. Camie will follow-up with these suggestions.


The Workgroup reviewing the Transfer Appeal has not yet made a decision. The papers submitted were simplistic and did not integrate information into the analysis beyond primary text.
The Committee also considered the question asked by the Registrar’s Office: Whether WRIT 201 would require an appeal for the writing designation since all WRIT courses are designed to teach students to write? It seems that this would eliminate an unnecessary hoop for students.
Students are also exempt from the approved wiring course if they transfer with 27 credits, so at some point the curriculum of transfer institutions should be honored. The Committee would like to know how many students transfer with this course. Camie will contact Admissions.

Professor Glendening reported on the progress of Group 1. All the courses were approved
(appended below). There is an alignment issue with the rubric that will need to be addressed in the spring. A number of the forms did not have details on all the writing samples. The new course, CLAS 180 can be used as a good sample form. The Subcommittee is concerned that the form for HONR 121 was filled out by the dean, not the instructors. It is not clear whether the instructors are provided with the writing expectations of the course. The review details still need to be entered into the Google Doc survey.
Professor Weix questioned whether students are required to take WRIT 101 before the approved writing courses. There is an intended sequence but it is not enforced.

Group 2 has not yet completed its review. Some of the forms did not define page lengths in assignments. Often a more concise paper is preferred to a lengthy assignment. The proposer can make an argument for condensing the length. Many of the syllabi did not include the writing specific learning outcomes. A letter reminding instructors to include this should be sent.
The draft from a few years ago will be sent to members for comment.

Group 3 approved all the courses (appended below) with the exception of Math 499. A followup request has been sent to the instructor. It also had a form that could be used as a sample. It asked for follow-up on one of the Journalism courses and is interested to learn how the writing requirements are communicated to the instructors for the distributed model in DBS. It also had several courses that did not have writing specific learning outcomes on syllabi.

Group 4 will follow-up with regard to unclear page counts. Chair Chin suggested inviting instructors to explain how the course meets the criteria with regard to page counts. It would be helpful to have a rubric to review the upper-division courses. The assignments should be authentic within the discipline. The Committee may need to consider how to define or offer examples.


Director Ratto-Parks is taking the Ponderosa training to learn how to create a website. She is in the process of gaining permission to setup the site.

Professor Stark reported that the Workgroup is moving out of information gathering mode and will start working on recommendations.
G OOD AND W ELFARE


Professor Raiford was asked by the Bio-Chemistry Department whether it would be possible to pull the aggregated scores for the BioChem students. Director Webster reported that the
Information Technology Office is working to build a Table in Banner so that the data analysis can include the relevant information from students’ records in Banner. The Committee will be looking into how to mine deeper into the data. Eventually the UPWA Program Assistant will be able to pull this information, but we are not there yet.
A Working Group consisting of Appelbaum, Webster, and Andrews will work on identifying sample assignments for disciplines. The Working Group was encouraged to recruit additional members from the Professional Schools.
A
DJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 12:02 p.m.
CSCI 315E Computer, Ethics , and Society
DBS Distributed Model
GRMN 351H German Culture to 1900
JRNL 362
JRNL 370
JRNL340
M 429
PHAR 550
PHYS 330
Feature Writing
Public Affairs Reporting
Intermediate Audio
History of Mathematics
Drug Literature Evaluation
Communicating Physics
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