CURRICULUM:
What Senate Leaders
Need to Know
ASCCC Spring Plenary Session 2013
Irvine, CA
Marie Boyd, Chaffey College
John Stanskas, San Bernardino Valley College
The Role of the Academic Senate
The Governing Board shall ... ensure ... the
right of academic senates to assume primary
responsibility for making recommendation in
the areas of curriculum and academic
standards.
Education Code §70902 (B)(7)
•Academic Senate means an organization
whose primary function is to make
recommendations with respect to academic
and professional matters.
Title 5 §53200 (B)
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TITLE 5 §53203 - AUTHORITY
(A) Governing Board shall adopt policies
for the appropriate delegation of
authority and responsibility it is college
and/or district academic senate.
 (B) Policies in (A) shall be adopted
through collegial consultation with the
Academic Senate.
 (C) Guarantees the Academic Senate the
right to meet with or appear before the
board.
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The “10+1” SECTION §53200 (C)
1. Curriculum, including establishing
prerequisites
 2. Degree & Certificate Requirements
 3. Grading Policies
 4. Educational Program Development
 5. Standards & Polices regarding
Student Preparation and Success
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CURRICULUM COMMITTEE AUTHORITY
Title 5 §55002: Curriculum Committee.
The college and/or district curriculum
committee recommending the course shall be
established by the mutual agreement of the
college and/or district administration and the
academic senate. The committee shall be
either a committee of the academic senate or
a committee that includes faculty and is
otherwise comprised in a way that is mutually
agreeable to the college and/or district
administration and the academic senate.
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ASCCC THE CURRICULUM
COMMITTEE: ROLE, STRUCTURE,
DUTIES, AND STANDARDS OF GOOD
PRACTICES
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“The policies and procedures by which the
committee will operate are determined by
the academic senate, either solely or in
partnership with the board.
Because of this required senate oversight,
there must be a direct link between the
curriculum committee and the senate.”
Discussion #1
How are relations on your campus
between the Curriculum Committee and
the Academic Senate?
Types of Issues – Discussion #2

Let’s examine the Prerequisite
Implementation Standards and Credit
Course Repetition Guidelines as
examples of process.
Prerequisite Guidelines
Require change or review of Board Policy
 Require a choice between statistical
validation + content review or content
review alone
 Require analysis of required entry and
exit skills
 Require enrollment management
consideration
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Discussion #2 a

How does the Academic Senate and
Curriculum Committee work together to
address the work required of Prerequisite
Implementation?
Credit Course Repetition
Requires modification of curriculum
 Requires identification of courses related
in content
 Requires some rather challenging
discussions
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Discussion #2b

How does the Academic Senate and
Curriculum Committee work together to
address the work required of
implementing the Credit Course
Repetition requirements?
Effective Practices

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One way to keep the lines of communication between
the senate and curriculum committee open is through
the curriculum chair.
There are many possible ways of choosing your
curriculum chair:
Current Senate President

Past Senate President
Appointed by Senate President
Member of Senate Exec Board
Elected by the curriculum committee
Elected by Faculty
However the chair is chosen, they must be at every
senate meeting
Effective Practices
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The curriculum chair reports on the work of the
committee at every senate meeting.
Train your senate about what the role of the
curriculum committee is and how the senate works
with the committee to make recommendations to the
governing board.
Train the curriculum committee members to remember
that the senate is the recommending body on all 10+1
items even if the committee is permitted to send things
straight to the board.
Don’t let them believe they are alone on the island.
Fostering a Collegial Discussion

Many of the topics Academic Senates and
local Curriculum Committees may need
to moderate are conversations with
discordant viewpoints
Factors for Creating Collegial
Environment – Communication Styles
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Awareness of Different Styles of Communication:
◦ Closed Style
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More productive working with programs than with people
Seeks little feedback
Prefer to work alone
Appreciate reassurance about working in a safe environment
KEY: Discuss things in a one-on-one setting
◦ Blind Style
 Subject matter experts who can accomplish tremendous tasks with little or no input
from others
 They are usually “right” and their ideas are “better”
 KEY: “piggy-back” on their ideas, validating their contributions and furthering the general
agenda
Factors for Creating Collegial
Environment – Communication Styles
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Awareness of Different Styles of Communication cont’d.
◦ Hidden Style
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Great interpersonal skills
Often hide their true feelings and knowledge from others
Prefer to avoid conflict,
Wishing that everyone liked them; usually very friendly
KEY: Demonstrate the importance of teamwork as being important to success
◦ Open Style
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Use both disclosure and feedback
Are equally interested in people’s needs and productivity
May disclose too much information which may make people around them uncomfortable
Generally are sensitive to the needs of others and realize that conflict can be productive
KEY: Open communicators are best at negotiating and coming up with solutions that
satisfy the needs of all parties
Summary: All communication styles have their
advantages and disadvantages. Awareness of styles
helps in various situations.
Factors for Creating Collegial
Environment – Effective Listening
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Basic Stages of the Listening Process:
◦ Sensing Stage
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The foundation of effective listening
listeners determine the most important information from the multitude of data received
Listener needs to assure that they have completely understood the message
Listener must be genuinely concerned about the message
◦ Interpreting Stage
 listeners assign meaning to the messages that they have seen, heard,
and felt in the sensing stage
 Information is often lost in translation;
 Listener must check that they have understood the communicator
 Some of the errors that occur in this stage occur because the person
receiving the information assumes they understand and does not
check if the information received from the sender is accurate.
Factors for Creating Collegial
Environment – Effective Listening
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Basic Stages of Listening Process, cont’d.
◦ Evaluating Stage
 Listener thinks about the message, add inferences, evaluates, and judges the speaker and the
message
 Listeners’ evaluations are often affected by their attitude toward the speaker
 Listener needs to make sure they are not distracted by non-verbal communication that can
often detract from the quality of the information received
◦ Responding stage
 Listener must communicate their feedback to the sender
 This stage allows the sender to evaluate the messages they sent and whether the listener
correctly understood.This is the stage where errors from the interpreting stage are
identified and corrected
◦ Memory Stage
 processed information is stored and can be transmitted or shared with other people
 People generally tend to remember only 10 to 25 percent of a presentation they have heard
the next day, week, or month
 This is one reason why we need to thoughtfully organize, effectively deliver, repeat, and
present clearly to facilitate the retention of the information presented
Factors for Creating Collegial
Environment – Conflict Resolution
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Strategies for Reducing Conflicts:
◦ Process Conflicts:
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Ask yourself, “How much control do I have over this process conflict?”
Identify the root cause of the problem and analyze the improvement opportunity.
Talk first to the owner of the process.
Describe the current problem and get agreement.
Suggest a workable solution and action plan.
Follow-through on the plan and give recognition to the owner of the process.
◦ Role Conflict
 Ask yourself, “Exactly how do I perceive my role in relation to others
involved in this issue?
 Take responsibility for clarifying your role with others involved.
 Be prepared to change your perception of your role.
 Show your willingness to be flexible in achieving your organization’s
goals.
 Stay positive.View any role change in terms of the opportunities it
presents.
Factors for Creating Collegial
Environment – Conflict Resolution
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Strategies for Resolving Conflicts, cont’d.
◦ Interpersonal Conflicts
 Ask yourself, “How much do my personal biases and prejudices affect this relationship?”
 Write down three behaviors that you could change in order to reduce the conflict in this
relationship. Commit to following through on these changes for at least three months.
 Ask the other person involved how you could defuse the existing conflict. Encourage
feedback that might seem brutally honest.
 Put yourself in their position. How do you think they view your commitment to reducing
conflict in your relationship? Why?
 Make a list of 5 strengths that you see in the other person. Then list five ways that
improving this relationship would benefit you.
Factors for Creating Collegial
Environment – Conflict Resolution
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Strategies for Reducing Conflicts cont’d.
◦ Direction conflicts
 Ask yourself, “Am I clear on the direction or vision?”
 Clarify the discrepancy so that it can be easily described in neutral words and take action.
 Ask permission to address the discrepancy with the other person in a friendly, nonconfrontational way and gain agreement.
 Use “I” and “we” messages rather than “you” messages.
 If there is a difference in values, always go with the higher value.
 Make authentic commitments.
◦ External Conflict
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Ask yourself, “How much control do I have over this factor?”
Choose to fight battles that are worth the price.
Put your energy into things you “can do” rather than complain about what you “can’t do.”
Do something good for others.
Maintain perspective and a sense of purpose.
Talk to someone you trust.
Factors for Creating Collegial
Environment – Conflict Resolution
Create a Conflict Resolution Plan:
1. List specific conflict
2. List people involved
3. Create a plan of action
4. Lists expected results
5. Appoint an accountability partner
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In Closing:
General Effective Practices
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Multi college districts have many different
structures that need to be considered. No
matter what your structure is, all college
senates need to know what is happening and be
involved in all policy recommendations.
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The policies that apply to students should not
be different at the different colleges in a district.
Resources
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ASCCC 1996 Paper: The Curriculum Committee: Role, Structure,
Duties, and Standards of Good Practices May 2006
http://asccc.org/sites/default/files/Curriculum.pdf
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Rostrum Article: Where, Oh Where Does the Curriculum Go? M. Pilati
http://asccc.org/node/176682
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ASCCC Curriculum Website http://www.ccccurriculum.info/
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Oduaran, B. Communication: Effective Ways to Improve Internal and
External Communication in system Development.
http://www.umsl.edu/~sauterv/analysis/Fall2010Papers/Oduaran/
Dale Carnegie Training. Internal Conflict Resolution Guidebook.
http://www.dalecarnegie.com/assets/1/7/ConflictResolution_sm.pdf
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