Minutes – Humanities Meeting May 6, 2015
Present: James Jervis, Pota Kanavaros, Paul Catanu, Steve Hawkins, Mike Tilli,
Randolph Jordan, Jim Morris, Jason B. Crawford, Alison Tett, Bruce Toombs,
Michel Gagné, Jean Lachapelle, Gabriel Flacks
Regrets: Heidi Quinsey, Philippe Beauchamp, Jonathan Powers
Absent: Robert Lemay, Darren Bifford, Denise Albert
Chair: Gabriel Flacks
Secretary: Bruce Toombs
1. Agenda
The agenda was modified to add the following items:
Information:
E – fall workload
F – born this way club
Business arising: IT Tickets
Item 5 becomes syndical representative (changes to the agenda as needed)
Item 7 becomes committees (changes to numbering)
Agenda was approved
2. Minutes: approved without changes
3. Business Arising
a. IT Tickets: if you have had problems with IT please let Gabe know by Tuesday so
they can be fixed, or report any problems that you have fixed yourself so that Gabe
can present the problems to admin.
4. Information
a.
b.
c.
Course outlines – we no longer need to include a bibliography of resources used for
course development on course outlines. This requirement is not in the IPESA and
the requirement was removed by admin at the request of the coordinator. A
bibliography of resources will be added to the generic outline to satisfy admin
needs.
Availability starts on August 17th and first class is the 19th
Committees - were approved
d.
e.
Failures – the coordinator will ask for Fall 2014 and Winter 2015 failure numbers
in an upcoming email after marks are due for the winter 2015 semester.
Fall Workload: department members have not received workload for Fall because
our workloads have not been formally approved yet by the college. These details
will be provided when admin makes them available.
5. Syndical Council Representative: Bruce outlined the role of a syndical council
representative, and a volunteer was requested. It was clarified that a non-permanent
department member could hold this position and that the union would value that
input. This request for a volunteer will be offered in email and brought to the next
meeting if necessary.
6. Curriculum and Evaluation Committee report:
1.
Recommendations from the Committee:
a. Recommendation 1: Change the first objective in 101 courses from " To
reflect on the concept of knowledge and your development as a “knower”
to “To assess and justify your own claims to knowledge”.
Recommendation Approved
b. Recommendation 2: Given ministerial requirements that we help
students develop oral communication and presentation skills, the
committee recommends that we keep on all three course generic outlines
and evaluation questionnaires the question, "did this course help you
communicate effectively through clear oral communication?"
It was proposed that the word, “clear,” be deleted from the
question. After discussion, the department retained the wording
as presented.
Recommendation approved
It was noted that course evaluations are normally scheduled between weeks 10 and
13. However, they can be postponed until weeks 14 and 15 if justified. For example,
if oral presentations have not happened until week 13, perhaps having the
evaluation in week 14 will better enable students to judge if oral communication
skills have been helped via the course.
c. Presentations/Debates (text from agenda): We have no course with a
required presentation. It is a ministerial requirement that students, via
their Humanities courses, improve “oral communication” and
“presentation” skills. Further, there is a ministerial requirement that all
ethics courses include "debates”; no further clarification is provided. The
committee discussed the fit for presentations in the 101, 102, and Ethics
courses and couldn't come to a recommendation of how/where to require
presentations, if in any courses. The department discussed the issue.
Many members appeared satisfied with the status quo but it was pointed
out that the ministry does require students to do oral presentations at some
point in their Humanities education. It was proposed that the department
bring their pedagogical materials and strategies to the next meeting to
directly consider pedagogical issues and strategies around presentations,
debates and oral communication skills in each Humanities course.
Moved by Jervis, seconded by Lachapelle: that oral presentations or formal debates
be required in all Humanities BMB courses.
Moved by Toombs, seconded by Hawkins to table the motion to the next meeting
and refer it back to the Curriculum committee in the interim in order to produce a
recommendation for department consideration around “debates” in Ethics courses.
7. Committees
The coordinator thanked the various committees for their hard work; Steve
Hawkins for work in developing a protocol that was adopted by the mark review
committee and has improved workflow for that committee; Jim Morris and James
Jervis for their hard work on the website; the curriculum committee for ongoing
work regarding agenda item 6.
He also wished to let it be known that Paul Catanu will represent Humanities on the
dais at Convocation, but that other members of the department may also attend and
be on the platform if they wish.
8. Symposium Update
The Coordinator reported that the symposium committee was unable to obtain
release time to prepare and organize the proposed Humanities Symposium. The
committee has thus decided to delay offering the Symposium until such time as the
release time is available. The committee will continue its work and offer critical
thinking (or other) assessments of the type that might be offered by the
Symposium, which teachers may use if they wish, and which might make it easier
to obtain RT next year in order to prepare the full event.
9. Next Department meeting: Wednesday, August 19 during free block.
-
Hope was expressed for a department social event before the end of May.
10. Varia - the next Ontological Fight Club meeting will be in Early June.
The meeting adjourned at 14h04