Minutes from Social Sciences Task Force Meeting of September 29, 2006

Minutes from Social Sciences Task Force Meeting of April 17, 2009

The Social Science Task Force met Friday, April 14, 2009 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM at Rio Grande Campus in Room 125. The following faculty members were in attendance: Karen Bell, Jack Bucco, Mary Chipley, Carol Hayman, Sherry Heiden, James Hill, Tony Lee, Lizzie Pintar, Michael Petrowsky, Elizabeth Pintar, Michael Pool, Marianna Sidoryanskaya, Alec Slivinske, Gary Smith, James Sondgeroth, and Don Tompkins.

1. The agenda for the meeting was approved.

1. Approve agenda.

2. Approve minutes from last meeting which can be found at: http://www.austincc.edu/SOCSCI/Minutes/meet_03_06_09.htm.

3. Discuss the progress being made in re-instating the Peruvian study abroad program.

4. Discuss and take action on adopting questions for next academic year’s THECB/SACS pre- and post tests:

A. Cultural Anthropology—Lizzie Pintar;

B. Macroeconomics—Alec Slivinske and Marianna Sidoryanskaya;

C. Cultural Geography—Don Jonsson.

5. Discuss and take action on the request of Lizzie Pintar to teach an honors class in Physical Anthropology.

6. Discuss and take action on Sherry Heiden’s request to teach a hybrid honors class in Physical Anthropology. As a connected matter, Sherry wants to add a lab to this class also. This second part of the request would require that the Task Force discuss and take action on adding a lab course to the college’s course inventory. It is already an approved course that community colleges can offer on the THECB’s Lower-Division Academic Course Guide Manual which can be found at http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/1698.PDF on page 11. This manual states that there are two ways to do this: 1) just add a lab course, ANTH 2101 that can be taken along with ANTH 2301; or 2) offer a physical anthropology joined with a lab, ANTH 2401.

7. Discuss and take action on the Dean’s proposed criteria and approval process for offering Hybrid classes. This document can be found here: http://www.austincc.edu/SOCSCI/HybridStandards.doc. (Should we modify these for honors classes also?)

8. Discuss and take action on approving the Economics Program Review—Geof Andron.

9. Discuss and take action on approving the Geography Program Review—Don Jonsson.

10. Discuss and take action on adding textbooks to the approved lists.

11. Adjourn.

2. Jim mentioned that each Social Science Task Force member should review the minutes and report any inaccuracies to rdayton@austincc.edu. Also please make sure to that you are listed as attending each meeting if you were there. Voting adjunct task force members that attend task force meetings are paid a small stipend of $20.00 per hour at the end of the academic year. The attendance sign- up sheet at the meeting is used to process stipends. After some discussion about possibly deleting a request for agenda item #six the agenda was approved. The minutes from the March 6^th meeting were approved. (http://www.austincc.edu/SOCSCI/Minutes/meet_03_06_09.htm).

3. Agenda item #3 was presented by James Sondgeroth and Carol Hayman regarding the status of the re-instatement of the Peruvian study abroad program.

Discussion: Jim Sondgeroth explained that the Peruvian program has been officially reinstated by the Vice President in March about 10 days after Spring Break. The head of the International Programs office was still uncooperative. Carol Hayman mentioned that the Peruvian Program was finally listed on the International Programs website. Carol asked that all faculty announce the Peruvian Program to the students in their classes. Jim mentioned that Carol was looking into advertising in the Daily Texan and that she had talked to John Kennie about having the information broadcast on ACC’s Channel 19. At this point Carol has two students that have paid for the program and will register. Carol is hesitant about the course making due to all of the problems that she has had with the International Programs office. Alec Slivinske recommended that the Peru flier be put up at each campus. To see the flier please click here!

Action: Carol gave all members a copy of her flier and asked that they make copies and give one to each student that is interested.

4. Discuss and take action on adopting questions for next academic year’s THECB/SACS pre- and post tests:

a. Cultural Anthropology – Lizzie Pintar. Lizzie Pintar presented the questions for Cultural Anthropology to be used in the fall semester. Gary Smith commented that this set of questions were a vast improvement from the last set of questions. Lizzie mentioned that she and Karen Bell tried to include questions that were covered in all the different textbooks that were used for each section. Mike Pool had questions regarding one of the possible answers for question #1. He had some objections to answer d and suggested a different answer that was more accurate. Some discussion followed regarding the use of the word ethnology vs. ethnography. Karen mentioned that the questions had come from the Haviland textbook test bank. Sherry Heiden suggested that d be changed to ethnology/cultural anthropology but the task force felt that would make it look like the more obvious answer. Lizzie mentioned that we could cross out ethnology and put cultural anthropology. It was suggested that question # 3 was too ambiguous and that ethnic-centeredness was too similar to ethno-centrism. Lizzie mentioned that we did not have to have an answer E and that it could be eliminated. Mike Pool questioned number 4b. He felt that we should expand the answer to include “time, item, place not specified. Mary Chipley mentioned that we are redoing these questions to achieve a greater increase in the pre and post test results. Mike Pool felt that if the item was presented as specific in class it should be represented exactly that same way on the questions. He felt the students should know the answer after completing the class. Mary felt that if the answer was too long it would give away to the students that this was the correct answer. Lizzie Pintar made a motion to approve the questions as amended in question one and question three. The task force approved this motion.

b. Macroeconomics- Alec Slivinske and Marianna Sidoryanskaya. Alec Slivinske mentioned that the 1^st four questions were the old SACS questions. The fifth question was proposed by Marianna Sidoryanskaya. He did mention that question #4 seemed to be the most difficult question. He mentioned that he passed out learning objectives before the post test and still the students missed this question. 30-40% of the students do poorly on question four and Alec wanted to task force to look at the wording of this question. Mike Pool asked why the question wasn’t written as “decreasing interest rate”. Jim Sondgeroth mentioned that the Economics department wanted questions that those students coming into the class wouldn’t know until after completing the class. He felt that students might know about interest rates initially but wouldn’t necessarily know about discount rates. Jim mentioned that b is the wrong answer but that it is the most common answer. The task force decided to cross out the words “about inflation” in question 4 and replace it with the words “with reducing the rate of inflation”. Some task force members asked about the possibility of receiving the results from their classes THECB pre and post tests. Jim mentioned that we do not distribute those results because the test is not meant to be an indicator of the effectiveness of each professor. He mentioned that about 60 percent of all students get the right answers on the questions. He is skeptical of those sections that have 100% accurate answers. Michael Petrowsky made a motion to approve the Macroeconomics question as amended.

c. Cultural Geography- Don Jonsson. Don Jonsson was unable to attend the task force meeting so the Cultural Geography questions were presented by Jim Sondgeroth. Jim was concerned that he was able to answer all of the questions correctly without having ever taken a Geography class. Mike Pool mentioned that question # 1 has a problem because Geography is not the study of places. Mike Pool felt that the answer should include subject matter more like studying spatial distribution of culture and natural features. Jim mentioned that since all of the other questions were one word answers students might be tipped off to the correct answer since it would be the longest and most detailed. Mike Pool felt that the answer “Places” didn’t have a significant place in the definition of Geography. He felt that we needed to reword all other answers so that the correct answer wouldn’t seem as obvious. The task force decided to leave item one as it is. Jim mentioned that number five was too easy. Over 70% got this question right on the pretest and 80% got the question right on the post test. This does not leave room for the 20 percent improvement needed. Tony Lee mentioned that we should add harder questions. The task force decided to leave the questions as is for now.

5. Discuss and take action on the request of Lizzie Pintar to teach an honors class in Physical Anthropology.

Discussion: Jim Sondgeroth explained that according to the dean, the process of requesting and approving an Honors class is a very structured process. First the faculty member must ask the department chair for approval to propose the honors course to the task force. Then the faculty member provides a syllabus and explains how this course would differ from the regular college credit course. If the task force accepts and approves the course then the faculty member has to take the proposal to the dean for approval. Once the dean approves the course it is proposed to the Honors program for approval. Lizzie explained that she would like to try getting her students to use higher level cognitive skills. She already implements a lot of these items in her regular classes but would like to focus more on reading primary sources. She has always had a paper or poster presentation in her courses but now she has required that they use our library’s electronic system to access great academic journals and articles that are peer reviewed. Lizzie will be changing from the textbook she normally uses which is Essentials of Anthropology by Jurmain. She will now be using “How Humans Evolved” by Boyd and Silk. She will also be including a set of readings from the Classical and Contemporary Readings textbook but students should not need to purchase this book because the articles that she requires will be accessible through the LRS electronic website. Lizzie will have discussion sessions in her classes that are led by the students regarding the articles they have read before class. The students will receive discussion points based on the amount of participation and the content of their discussions. Lizzie will also be requiring the Methods and Practice Biological Anthropology Lab Book. She will be requiring that 60 exercises be completed from this manual. Lizzie will be requiring “ The Blind Watchmaker” which can usually be purchased at half priced books or other bookstores. She will require a reaction paper for six of the chapters. She will require that the first paragraph tell her what the article was about and that the rest should be a critical analysis of what they think after reading the material. Lizzie attended the University of Buenos Aires and the classes were held on an annual basis. We were required to read scientific articles and to go to the library and copy them. Then our finals would be in front of 300 people whereby the teachers would drill us. Lizzie would like to be able to teach her students how to think. Gary Smith questioned how much all of those textbooks would cost. Lizzie mentioned that students could buy the paperback at Half Priced books and that she would put a copy on reserve at the NRG library. She also reminded everyone that all of the articles that she would be using out of the Classic Readings textbook would be accessible on the LRS electronic database. Lizzie then provided a demonstration to the task force to show them how to use the E-library to access peer reviewed articles and journals. (See direction here). Lizzie will no longer be requiring annotated bibliographies but will be encouraging the students to use them as a guide during oral discussions in class. She will randomly call on students so that they will better be prepared to lead discussions. Mike Pool asked how Lizzie would be giving points for participation. Lizzie explained that she would be determining how much each student should receive based on their participation and based on a maximum of 40 points. The task force had some concerns about whether or not the class would be have enough students enrolled to make. Many task force members were concerned that students might feel the requirements for this class were too difficult. Some asked if the transcript would indicate that a course was an honors course. Mary Chipley mentioned that honors students had a sense of pride. Sherry Heiden mentioned that the two semesters that she taught an Honors Physical Anthropology course a large number of the students had either done poorly or dropped the course. Most students that took her courses were not Anthropology majors but took the course because it met the Science elective.

Action: The task force approved Lizzie Pintar’s honors course.

6. Discuss and take action on Sherry Heiden’s request to teach a hybrid honors class in Physical Anthropology.

Discussion: As a connected matter, Sherry wants to add a lab to this class also. This second part of the request would require that the Task Force discuss and take action on adding a lab course to the college’s course inventory. It is already an approved course that community colleges can offer on the THECB’s Lower-Division Academic Course Guide Manual which can be found at http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/1698.PDF on page 11. This manual states that there are two ways to do this: 1) just add a lab course, ANTH 2101 that can be taken along with ANTH 2301; or 2) offer a physical anthropology joined with a lab, ANTH 2401.Sherry requested a hybrid honors class in Physical Anthropology. Sherry Heiden discussed the need for a hybrid honors class. She said that a lot of students transfer to Texas State and that the three hour ANTH 2301 course will transfer but that they have to take a one hour lab at Texas State. Heiden mentioned that if we are going to do the hybrid without a lab now we should consider adding one in the future. Jim mentioned that the honors Economics and Anthropology classes barely made. The numbers for the honors Economics class were so low that he did not fight to keep the section however the honors program did. During the add/drop period the numbers increased significantly. Jim mentioned that he had Rachel pull up random rosters for an honors section of Anthropology, Economics and Psychology. Rachel looked up the student’s academic records for their GPA and or test scores. Only about 10% were approved by instructor’s permission or by special approval of the honors department. The other 90% met the honors department criteria. Lizzie suggested that we offer one Honors Physical Anthropology a year to gather people and increase the chance of the course making. She worried that there would be difficulty getting lab space for a four hour Physical Anthropology course and that we would need special equipment. Jim Sondgeroth mentioned that Sherry would just be requesting the Hybrid Anthropology course 2301 at this time. Jim mentioned that we would look at a student in Geoff Andron’s class and get his student id# and find out if the honors course is indicated on their transcript. A motion was approved to let Sherry Heiden to teach the hybrid and Sherry asked that we delay the discussion of the lab until the fall semester. There was some discussion on whether or not the course Sherry Heiden taught should be HYC or HYD. Each of these instruction methods had their benefits. If the course is HYD then it will be listed in the schedule with the PCM courses. If the course is HYC then it will be listed with the classroom courses. If HYC then media will stream it but there will be more hoops to go thru. If you have a PCM course you would need to have all tests on Blackboard and they are often treated as open book by the students. If they are hybrid then they have to come to class and take the exams. Sherry Heiden was given two conflicting definitions of HYC vs. HYD. Hybrid distance courses will get streamed but the exams are open book. HYC have to come to class. Sherry commented that for Physical Anthropology she felt the course should be HYC because the students needed to go into the classroom and handle the bones. Sherry mentioned that the video series Our Diverse World was never sent to the library and had not been distributed for student use. The streaming that happens online was too small to see but she has since been given a patch that the students can put into Blackboard so that they can get the image larger.

Action: The task force approved Sherry Heiden teaching a Hybrid course. Jim Sondgeroth mentioned that Sherry Heiden should present a proposal for her hybrid class at the September task force meeting.

Discussion: Jim Sondgeroth reviewed the Dean’s proposed criteria for offering Hybrid classes. Jim asked if the task force felt we should approve these criteria as is or make any changes and or additions. Mary Chipley questioned the criteria to submit samples of student work. What activities will be in distance learning part and what activities will be in the in class section? Mike Pool asked about the out of class activities that will be web based. Mike felt we should remove the wording for “web based” out of class activities. Sherry Heiden commented that she felt it was okay to leave it in if also have freedom to add out of class non web based activities. Jim Sondgeroth mentioned that all PCM courses should include web based activities and not just be considered PCM because they are using email. Instructors need to have students utilize the internet resources. Sherry mentioned that we would not be able to delete this item because the last item puts this rule back in. There was a question as to whether instructors would have to make the classes web based. A vote was taken and the motion passed with 10 task force members voting in favor of approving the criteria.

Action: The task force approved supporting the Dean’s proposed criteria for Hybrid classes with the addition of out of class non web based activities. We will add the term “in addition to web based activities” to the criteria.

8. Discuss and take action on approving the Economics Program Review—Geof Andron.

Discussion: Jim asked the task force to read through the Executive Summary on the third page of the Economics Program Review. Jim asked Geoff to remove the action that the ECS program be cancelled because the State Legislature has mandated the programs and uses it as evidence of closing the gaps. Jim mentioned that we would link the IPR to the Social Science Task Force page so that all members can access the information. Appendix A The Quality Improvement plan is what the dean will use to measure how successful we are. We want things we can accomplish. In regards to hiring new fulltime faculty members, we are about 60% adjunct faculty now. The Economics department was at 70% some time ago but has been lowered due to so many ECS classes and finding adjuncts that would teach them. In Anthropology the proportion of fulltime to adjunct is 35% fulltime and 65% adjunct. Item number one should be corrected from “Increase the number and ratio of FT faculty from 8 up to 11” to “Increase the number of fulltime faculty”. This change was suggested by Michael Petrowsky. Item number two was originally listed as “Double the size of the honors department” and has now been amended to “Increase the number of honors course offerings.” Also in item two we removed the notation that NRG should be suggested so that this change can happen at any campus. Item number four was originally listed as “Backup Storage for ACC faculty Computers. Each ACC Faculty member should have at least 20 meg of online storage, and there should be a computer backup program which automates the backup of selected directories into the background. This recommendation was reduced to “Request an increase in backup storage.” Item number five was approved and Jim mentioned that those that get really high student evaluations could give a presentation to the rest of us.

Action: With several modifications the Economics Program Review was approved by the task force.

9. Discuss and take action on approving the Geography Program Review—Don Jonsson.

Discussion: There was some discussion as to the inclusion of several items and the wording used in the Geography Program Review regarding the swat. Jim mentioned that all minutes from the SWAT had to be included in the review. Item number one is to procure a dedicated GIS Lab and classroom. Jim mentioned that many other programs are in line to get their own rooms and that he felt the current classroom being used in building 3000 was acceptable but was under the Academic Dean and GIS is on the Workforce side. Recommendation #7 asked for the expansion of the study abroad program in Geography. Jim Sondgeroth mentioned that the Merida Study Abroad program for this upcoming summer did not make due to lack of interest. Don Jonsson wanted to offer the study abroad classes in China, India and Paris.

Action: A motion was made to approve the Geography Program Review. The motion was approved.

10. Discuss and take action on adding textbooks to the approved lists.

a. Mary Beth Booth presented two textbooks that she would like to be used for the fall semester GISC 1491 course. She requested the following texts to be added to our approved textbook inventory:

i. Designing Better Maps by Cynthia A. Brewer: http://gis.esri.com/esripress/display/index.cfm?fuseaction=display&websiteID=95

ii. Map Use and Analysis by A. Jon Kimerling, Aileen R. Buckley, Phillip C. Muehrcke, and Juliana O. Muehrcke: http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/spring09articles/map-use.html. Both of these texts were approved by the task force to be added to our approved GISC textbook list.

b. Jim Sondgeroth presented a textbook for Introduction to Microeconomics and Macroeconomics by McEarchern. The text is called the 4LTR Press. It looks similar to a magazine and its cost is significantly cheaper than most of the texts already listed on our approved textbook inventory. Jim mentioned that for $10.00 more the student can purchase Aplia which is an online homework site in which students can get on line at the same time and conduct experiments. Jim mentioned that the book would be $70.00 plus tax for the text and Aplia.

i. Here is the link for the Microeconomics text: http://www.cengage.com/cengage/instructor.do?codeid=965E&sortby=copy&type=all_radio&courseid=EC04&product_isbn=9780324587388&disciplinenumber=413&codeFlag=true

ii. Here is the link for the Macroeconomics text: http://www.cengage.com/cengage/instructor.do?codeid=965A&sortby=copy&type=all_radio&courseid=EC04&product_isbn=9780324587807&disciplinenumber=413&codeFlag=true

Action: These texts were approved by the task force.

11. A motion was made to adjourn. The meeting ended at 3:00p.m.