Quality Enhancement Committee Meeting
Minutes
9/25/2009
In Attendance: Christy Powers, Holly Hoopes, Gail Burt, Shirley Johnson, Jon Steele,
Nancy Munce, Linda L. Hogans, Alan Shapiro, David Sullivan, Diane Reese, Kim Wolff,
Gail Lancaster, Jesse Coraggio, Chad Mairn, Valerie Polansky, Tom Derzypolski, Eric
Carver, Carol Weideman, Sarah Moseley, Wendy Mitchell, Jane Till, Bonnie Jefferis,
Darlene Westberg, Sharon Setterlind, Katherine Woods, Tim Godcharles, Meg Delgato,
Maggie Tymms, Mika Nelson, Mike Earle, Nerina Stepanovsky, Karen Hesting, Janice
Thiel
I)
II)
III)
Welcome & Introductions
Brainstorming Professional Development Ideas – Gail Lancaster
Critical Thinking Workshops (customized) – headscratchers.com
Scholarship of Teaching & Learning – The Ohio State University
Teaching, Learning & Technology (TLT) – Flashlight (WITS)
How to assess students’ critical thinking (classroom)
CAT Scoring Workshop
Assessing thinking styles – how we process information; how others do it
Sharing Sessions – what our faculty are already doing
MLO’s – identifying/critical thinking assessing
What do we need to do? (new programs to QEP) Use previous Faculty
Champions as Mentors; AS vs. AA (separate process)
Adjuncts professional development
Train students to think critically for problem-solving
Barry University – approach information/problem
Industry-driven problems (scenarios, team-building)
Collaboration of best practices (COR, 3-Year Review)
Writing scenarios/simulations to get students to think (Fink)
Group dynamics/team-building
Building a Center for Teaching & Learning/Mentoring
QEP Update
A) Initiatives & Process Measures – Janice Thiel
1) Student Success
(a) Classroom Activities – Classroom Activities are outlined as part of
the Intervention in the Instructional Portfolios that the Academic
Roundtables or ARTs are compiling currently.
(b) Rubrics – Our Assessment Rubric for Critical Thinking or ARC
has been piloted and there’s a random administration this fall.
(c) ePortfolio – The ePortfolio, on a college-wide scale, is one piece
not yet implemented, and we are documenting how electronic
portfolios are being utilized by the College of Education, Dental
Hygiene, and Paralegal Studies and posting these examples via
the Gateway Website.
(d) Student Activities – the student activities coordinators met last
week to brainstorm ways to use the book “Animal, Vegetable,
Miracle” as a catalyst for critical thinking campus events that will
begin this fall. This is similar to last spring’s SPC-Reads
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Quality Enhancement Committee Meeting
Minutes
9/25/2009
activities except there will be college-wide coordination. Last
spring we implemented an online form and student survey to
collect data about critical thinking events held on the campuses.
2) Professional Development
(a) Critical Thinking Institutes – We will be holding our sixth Critical
Thinking Institute on Friday, October 9 at the St.
Petersburg/Gibbs Campus. And, for the Narrowing the Gulf
Conference in March, there will be a critical thinking tract
included which was very successful last year. Dr. Barry Stein,
who was instrumental in the development of the Critical
Thinking Assessment Test will be presenting the keynote
address.
(i) 10/9, 8:30 a.m., St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus, SA 114
(ii) 3/18-19/2010, EpiCenter
(b) Faculty Champions – We are very fortunate to have ten hardworking, dedicated, and enthusiastic faculty championing the
critical thinking initiative this year. In addition to working with
the members of their ARTs, they also meet regularly with each
other, and are accessing the Faculty Champion Guide in ANGEL
to review tutorials and instructions, submit deliverables, and
construct their Instructional Portfolios.
(c) Academic Roundtables – We are well into our second year of
implementation. We expect to more than double our numbers of
ARTs once the disciplines for 2010 kick off in January. The hope
is that the ARTs from previous years will remain active.
(i) 2008 – College of Education, Ethics, Early Childhood,
Student Life Skills
(ii) 2009 –Business Technologies, Communication, Library,
Paralegal Studies, Nursing
(iii) 2010 – Dental Hygiene, Emergency Medical Services,
Funeral Services, Health Information Management,
Hospitality & Tourism Management, Human Services,
Medical Laboratory Technology, Natural Science,
Orthotics & Prosthetics, Parks & Leisure Services, Physical
Therapist Assistant, Radiography, Respiratory Care,
Veterinary Technology.
3) Critical Thinking Resources
(a) Gateway Website (www.spcollege.edu/CriticalThinking) – Thanks
to the WITS Department, we obtained a stellar design for the
Gateway Website, and we were given an easy Web address. With
editor access, the site stays very current. There are links to
Student Activities, Critical Thinking Institutes, and the
beginnings of our Reusable Learning Object or RLO repository.
So far, we have nine critical thinking activities or RLOs listed
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Quality Enhancement Committee Meeting
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with links to full details for faculty wanting to implement these in
their classrooms.
(b) Reusable Learning Objects – So far, we have nine critical thinking
activities or RLOs listed via the Gateway Web site.
(c) Critical Thinking Resource Centers – The Critical Thinking
Resource Centers at each campus have been up-and-running for
quite some time. If someone has a recommendation for an
addition to the Centers, these are considered for purchase. For
example, we recently purchased the Graphic Organizers software
that is now available from OneStop.
(d) Instructional Portfolios – The ARTs are compiling their
Instructional Portfolios in ANGEL. The Scholarship of Teaching
and Learning method is used as a model for the process. Folders,
one for each discipline, contain the portfolio components. The
portfolios are complete for 2008, and the 2009 ones will be
complete in the spring. Once these are in a more finalized state,
they will be linked directly from the Gateway Website.
4) Process Measures
(a) Student Success
Process Measure
Progress
Participating Academic
The Instructional Portfolios are
Roundtables (ARTs) and
complete for the 2008
individual faculty will have
disciplines. And, the 2009
developed instructional
disciplines are at the
portfolios with disciplineImplementation and
specific activities promoting
Observations stages.
critical thinking.
Students will report an
We can’t yet answer this
increase in instructional
question, but once the new SSI
practices improving critical
is administered, we will.
thinking skills in the pilot
programs.
The ARC will have been
We’re on-track with the
defined, piloted, and critiqued. Assessment Rubric for Critical
Thinking.
Any discipline-specific
We’ve focused on disciplineassessments developed under
specific scenarios to match the
the auspices of the QEP will
ARC, and at this point we do
have been piloted.
not yet have other assessments
developed.
ePortfolios will have been
ePortfolios are a particular
fielded and student ePortfolio
challenge for college-wide
artifacts collected in selected
implementation, and right now
academic programs.
we’re focused on documenting
their current use.
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Quality Enhancement Committee Meeting
Minutes
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Key student organizations
(SGA, PTK) will have
partnered in programs
promoting development of
critical thinking skills.
(b) Professional Development
Process Measure
The Critical Thinking Institute
will have had two completed
sessions with external trainers.
The QEP staff and faculty
champions will have provided
face-to-face and online
seminars or related activities,
including opportunities for
adjuncts and new faculty, on
basic teaching for critical
thinking.
Faculty champions, in
coordination with the QEC and
QEP staff, will have developed
RLO, assessment, and
portfolio checklists to assist
faculty in evaluating their
critical thinking activities.
SPC will have instituted the
“Train-the-trainer” program
and will have trained an initial
cadre of faculty champions.
Faculty champions and the
QEP staff will have offered a
variety of presentations,
seminars, and online classes to
other faculty.
Academic Roundtables
identified in the first two pilot
groups will have completed
development and fielded
critical thinking activities for
their instructional portfolios.
(c) Critical Thinking Resources
Process Measure
The gateway website will be
designed and implemented.
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We’ve had several smaller
campus-based student
programs, and last year’s
college-wide Great Debate, and
the upcoming SPC Reads
program to look forward to.
Progress
We’ve surpassed this goal since
we’ve already held five Critical
Thinking Institutes.
At the Critical Thinking
Institutes and at our monthly
Faculty Champion meetings
there’ve been seminars,
workshops, and other learning
opportunities.
We have an RLO checklist, and
the assessment and portfolio
checklists are in the planning
stages.
We have approximately 16
faculty who are serving or who
have served as Faculty
Champions for critical thinking.
Our Faculty Champions and
QEP team are sharing their
knowledge, like those
participating at the upcoming
Critical Thinking Institute.
Both the 2008 and 2009 groups
have fielded their critical
thinking activities, or
Interventions, in the classroom.
Progress
The Gateway Website is going
strong.
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Quality Enhancement Committee Meeting
Minutes
9/25/2009
B)
An initial collection of existing We’ve got a growing collection
RLOs will have been collected. of critical thinking activities and
Reusable Learning Objects.
Faculty participating in pilot
Research and portfolios are
programs will have been given being shared at the Critical
an opportunity to present their Thinking Institutes and other
research and portfolios to full- events like the Faculty
time and adjunct faculty.
Champion Retreat.
Critical Thinking Resource
The Resource Centers are on the
Centers will be expanded at
campuses, and there’s even a
each SPC library.
virtual resource center being
maintained via the Gateway
Website.
Assessment of Critical Thinking – Carol Weideman
1) Definition: Critical thinking is the active and systematic process of
communication, problem-solving, evaluation, analysis, synthesis, and
reflection, both individually and in community, to foster understanding,
support sound decision-making, and guide action.
2) Direct Measures
(a) CAT: Critical Thinking Assessment Test from Tennessee
Technological University
(i) Administered by faculty champions in selected sections in
Spring 2008; faculty scoring workshop held in July 2008 (n
= 87)
(ii) Administered by faculty champions in selected sections in
Summer 2009; faculty scoring workshop held in July 2009
(n = 62)
(iii) Future administrations in Spring sessions, possibly in
mathematics general education classes (i.e., MAC1105,
MGF1106, STA2023)
(b) ARC: SPC’s Rubric for Critical Thinking – uses discipline specific
scenarios
(i) 2009 Faculty Champions wrote scenarios to be used with
the ARC
(ii) ARC scenarios will be utilized in a random sample of
classes in Fall 2009:
Discipline
Courses
# of Sections
Business Technologies CTS1334
1
Communications
SPC1017,
14
SPC1065,
SPC1608
Library
LIS1002
3
Nursing
NUR2811C
5
Paralegal
PLA4941
1
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Quality Enhancement Committee Meeting
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IV)
(iii) Samples of student responses to ARC scenario will be
collected
(iv) Faculty Scoring Workshop will be held in November 2009
(c) ETS MAPP: Assessment of General Education
(i) Administered in 2007-08
(ii) Administration planned for Spring 2010
(d) ETS iSKILLS: Assessment of Information Literacy
(i) Discontinued by ETS in 2009; replacement assessment will
be identified and administered in 2010
(e) Student Reflection
(i) College-wide E-portfolio system not available yet at SPC
(ii) Selected programs (COE, Nursing, etc) use Live-Text
(iii) May utilize Angel to collect reflections
3) Indirect Measures
(a) Recent Alumni Survey: administered annually
(b) Employer Survey: administered annually
(c) CCSSE
(i) Administered in 2003, 2004, 2007 and paid for by state
(ii) Future administrations dependent on budget constraints
(iii) Questions will be added to SSI’s to replace CCSSE
questions
Faculty Champion Panel Discussion
A) Paralegal Studies – Christy Powers
Christy discussed the rationale behind the development of an RLO to help
students with briefing a case. This assignment relates to the ARC.
B) Communication – Bonnie Jefferis
Bonnie explained how her discipline was split into two areas: performanceand writing-based courses. For writing, critical thinking modules have been
built into the Course of Record (COR). For performance, digital video taping
with faculty feedback is being implemented as a support mechanism for
students.
C) Business Technologies – Holly Hoopes
Holly described the scenarios that are being implemented to help student
practice concepts in order to assess their own learning experiences.
D) Nursing –Sarah Moseley
Sarah explained how for the AS program, students are implementing a
problem-solving model while responding to a patient care scenario. For the
BAS program, students are responding to a hiring scenario to apply course
critical thinking concepts.
E) Library – Chad Mairn & Mika Nelson
Chad and Mika described the particular challenge for students when
attempting to analyze and synthesize information during research. They have
implemented an article with accompanying questions to enhance learning.
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