1 First-­‐Year Council Meeting Minutes October 4, 2010 Present: Amber Blackmon, Ken Brown, April Chatham-­‐Carpenter Linda Corbin, Lyn Countryman, Adam Haselhuhn, Inez Murtha, Chris Neuhaus, Melissa Payne, Lyn Redington, Paul Shand, Donna Vinton, Kristin Woods Absent: Jon Buse, Deirdre Heistad, Ana Kogl, Pierre Damian-­‐Mvuyekure, Linda Walsh 1. April asked Kristin Woods to introduce our new student member, Amber Blackmon. 2. Kristin Woods gave an update on the Transfer Foundations of Excellence (FoE). This FoE process is similar to the first-­‐year FoE self-­‐study, using the same 9 dimensions (with different performance indicators, specific for the transfer experience). Complete reports should be done by the end of the Fall semester, 2010. 3. Donna Vinton led a discussion about the learning outcomes document distributed at the September FY Council meeting. Members were asked to contribute other ideas on “touch points” for the learning outcomes are happening in the first year. Donna distributed an additional first-­‐year outcomes/activities map which can be used in the future. Paul Shand summarized ideas on the looking inward and critical inquiry items he sent to Donna in an e-­‐mail, with suggestions for things we could do in the future to collect data for these outcomes. Chris Neuhaus mentioned the importance of the continuity of knowledge over the years, with multiple contact times not only in the first year, but throughout a student’s career at UNI. Melissa Payne noted these outcomes and touch points were an introduction to the rest of a student’s career. Inez Murtha talked about the importance of continuing support (for example academic and social support) not only in the first year, but also in later years. If we spend all of our energy on just the first year, we may burn out our staff on first-­‐year issues and not have enough staff energy for the sophomore year. April mentioned the advantage of having the transfer focus following up on the first-­‐year self-­‐study. Linda Corbin talked about the role of the CBA professional skills sequence, and in particular, the “All about business” course, in helping CBA students meet these outcomes. There was discussion about where we are assessing these outcomes already. Some examples mentioned were orientation surveys, MAPworks, satisfaction surveys, retention surveys, ACHA-­‐
2 NACHA surveys, NSSE, senior surveys, etc. Many of these surveys are still available on the FoE-­‐
tec Evidence Library. It is difficult to assess some of the outcomes (for example, those on the last page). Lyn Countryman talked about different ways to grade (e.g., rubric standard-­‐based grading vs. A, B, C, D, & F grades), which could be used as embedded assessments in classes, if we had first-­‐year student classes. 4. First-­‐Year Website Status – University Relations is working on the Current Students page. With the new SIS system being implemented, the university will be converting to a new student portal. What specifically needs to be done for the first-­‐year on a current or new website needs to be discussed in the future (?at our next meeting). [Check out new “UNI I Am site” at http://iamuni.net .] 5. Updates from Sub-­‐Committees a. MAP-­‐Works Implementation: 85% response rate; no students coding as “red-­‐reds,” and only 48 students showing up as “reds.” The next step will be to contact the non-­‐responders, who may be at more risk than the responders. In the future, we may want to have a joint session between the MAP-­‐works staff and the FY Council. [There is a social, co-­‐sponsored by both groups, on Wednesday, Nov. 3, at 4:00 p.m. in the Seerley Great Reading Room.] b. Cornerstone Course: They have divided the committee into two subgroups – one developing a syllabus, and one investigating the possibility of a common read. April noted that the LAC-­‐RSC committee is in favor of the cornerstone ad hoc committee going ahead & developing a pilot course to serve as a cornerstone. Some on the LAC-­‐RSC committee are in favor of having a two-­‐semester first-­‐year academic inquiry course, incorporating the Oral Communication and Writing/Research courses into a six-­‐hour cornerstone course, around an academic inquiry topic. c. Faculty Development: Chris Neuhaus gave an update on the work Dave Marchesani’s office is doing with the graduate assistant, Shannon Erb, on a first-­‐year student portal for instructors of first-­‐year students. He provided handouts from Linda Walsh on resources which could be given to new faculty during new faculty orientation. 6. Next meeting – October 18 at 3:15 p.m. in Gilchrist 009.