Minutes from Social Sciences Task Force Meeting of November 2, 2007

 

The Social Science Task Force met Friday, November 2, 2007 from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM at Rio Grande Campus in Room 125. The following faculty members were in attendance:  Geoff Andron, Mary Beth Booth, Mary Chipley, Clint Davis, Tod Hamilton, Carol Hayman, Sherry Heiden, Don Jonsson, Livingstone Kumassah, Thang Nguyen, Michael Petrowsky, Mike Pool, Marianna Sidoryanskaya, Alec Slivinske, Gary Smith, James Sondgeroth, Don Tompkins and.

1. The agenda for the meeting was amended to add agenda item #10 to be presented by Mary Beth Booth. The addition to the agenda and change of numbering was approved.


                        Agenda 2.1:

1. Approve agenda.

 

2. Approve minutes from last meeting which can be found at http://www.austincc.edu/SOCSCI/Minutes/meet_09_28_2007.htm

 

3. Discuss and take action on the Anthropology SACS/THECB-EEO assessment instrument --Mike Pool.

 

4. Discuss and take action on the Economics SACS/THECB-EEO assessment instrument --Geoff Andron.

 

5. Discuss and take action on the Geography SACS/THECB-EEO assessment instrument --Don Jonsson.

 

6. Discuss and take action on adding an Intro to Archaeology requirement for the Meso Program--Clint Davis.

 

7. Discuss and take action on adding a new topics course for Meso Program: Mesoamerican Archaeology and Culture--Clint Davis.

 

8. Discuss and take action on adding an honors course in Physical Anthropology to our course offerings--Clint Davis.

 

9. Discuss and take action on adding a textbook to the approved list for the Academic Cooperative course that is part of the Meso2008 program. The textbook is Katun: A Twenty-Year Journey with the Maya (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology) by Cindy L Hull. This link provides a synopsis of the book http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=17-9780534612900-0.  Mary Chipley.

 

10. Discuss and take action on adding Geography 1303 to the core curriculum of the Social and Behavioral Sciences.


10. Adjourn.

 

  1. 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 ensure that you are listed as attending each meeting. The minutes of the last meeting were approved
  2. Discuss and take action on the Anthropology SACS/THECB-EEO assessment instrument. Mike Pool reported that we would have a pre-test and a post-test. There was discussion on whether or not SACS questions would be administered this fall 2007 semester since we were administering the EEO’s in the spring semester. The Task Force wanted to be sure that SACS would be alright with not administering the SACS questions this fall. If we are using the same pre and post tests, some were concerned that the students would already know the answers due to exposure. It was decided that we would randomize the order of the questions. One task force member mentioned that he offered extra credit to his students to encourage them to do their best on these pre and post test questions. One task force member suggested printing the questions in booklets that will be numbered and counted for greater security and so that students are unable to receive the questions ahead of time. There was some discussion on when the questions should be administered in each class so that if an instructor begins lecturing it would not affect the test results. A motion was made to have all instructors complete the pre tests the first day of classes, before they begin lecturing. There was discussion about the possibility of putting the SACS/THECB-EEO questions in Blackboard but IT has said this is not possible. The task force decided that the test results would be more secure if done in the classroom anyway. A motion was made to approve the assessment instrument for Anthropology. The motion was approved. There was some discussion regarding using scantrons for the tests and including each students name in order to match up the results for the post tests. It was decided that all pretests would be kept regardless of whether the student dropped the course and therefore didn’t complete the post test. The task force agreed that they could analyze the results without the dropped student’s statistics or with them. Each faculty will do two calculations, one including the drops and one without. Slivinske proposed just doing the one calculation and then keeping the scantrons in case we needed to provide a comparison. It was decided that Rachel would file these exam results for up to one year after the semester. Jim explained that Rosalyn Wallace requested the SACS processes and the EEO processes be combined into one assessment tool. A motion was made to accept the pre and post test using the existing SACS questions. A motion was made to complete these tests on green scantrons and that all scantrons would be stored for a year. These motions were approved.
  3.  Discuss and take action on the Economics SACS/THECB-EEO assessment instrument. Geoff Andron proposed using the list serve to discuss any issues with the questions. There was some slight editing in the wording of the questions to make them more clear to students. Question #3 has been reworded. There was some discussion on the decision to have five possible answers rather than four. If you have four questions you will get 25% increase and a maximum improvement of 75%. If you have five selections you can get an 80% improvement rating. The questions had been changed to include Economics terms and jargon to make them a little more difficult to answer in order to ensure that students were learning the objectives that were set. After several minor editing suggestions the SACS/THECB-EEO assessment instrument was approved. This will be assessed on the first day of class before any lecturing has taken place and will be completed on green scantrons. The green scantrons will include the students name and all will be stored for a year in the department chair’s office in case more statistical analysis is needed.
  4. Discuss and take action on the Geography SACS/THECB-EEO assessment instrument. Don Jonsson presented the questions for Physical Geography. Mr. Jonsson mentioned that the task force had decided to use Physical Geography 1301 classes to complete the SACS/THECB-EEO questions since the enrollment in this course was much better than Cultural or World/Regional Geography. Jim Sondgeroth mentioned that Physical Geography and Physical Anthropology would be part of the core of the Natural Science list and therefore the EEO’s that we are testing might change but should be similar. The Task force approved the use of green scantrons with the student’s names recorded and keeping them for one year. They will use the class average and if there are any objections we will have the test results to calculate other statistics if we need to. Jim mentioned again that we are not doing SACS this fall. The task force was informed in mid August that they would need to come up with SACS/THECB-EEO’s which did not leave time to administer SACS this fall. The Task Force asked that the department chair make sure that it is okay with SACS not to complete the SACS assignments this fall. Jim Sondgeroth explained the process of entering results and objectives in the ULEAD site. All new entries will replace the previous SACS objectives for improvement. https://www3.austincc.edu/it/ulead/. Jim explained that the task force only needed to assess one course and then at least one objective from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Exemplary Educational Objectives for that course per semester. The objective for the SACS/THECB-EEO that had been selected by the department Task Force at the last meeting was as follows: In Physical Anthropology, Principles of Microeconomics, and  Physical Geography to have a 20% improvement in the average grade between the pre and post test on the objective selected. Several task force members questioned why we were no longer using the SACS criteria we had created. Jim mentioned again that the old SACS objectives have been rescinded. Jim explained that it was an administrative decision to combine the SACS and the THECB-EEO. A motion was made to approve using green scantrons during the 1st class period prior to lecturing for the pretest. A motion was made to use green scantrons for the post test which would be administered during the last two weeks of class. A motion was made to keep all scantrons for one year for comparison analysis if need be. A motion was made to include a 20% improvement on the pre and post test comparison analysis. These motions were approved
  5. Discuss and take action on adding an Intro to Archaeology requirement for the Meso Program--Clint Davis. Mr. Davis explained that the students in the Meso Program should be required to take Introduction to Archeology because after completing this program they should be prepared to step right into the field. Clint felt he had enough ties in the community to put the program to the test. The motion was approved.
  6. Discuss and take action on adding a new topics course for Meso Program: Mesoamerican Archaeology and Culture presented by Clint Davis. Clint explained that the Mesoamerican Archaeology and Culture course was needed to provide students with information regarding hieroglyphics, complex religions, and much more. There has been a good response by UT and other schools about accepting this course as a transfer course. This course will be a special topics course. Clint would like the approval to submit a proposal to UT to see how they will accept it and then forward to the core curriculum committee and coordinating board for approval. A motion was approved to add a Mesoamerican Archaeology and Culture course to the Meso Program.   
  7. Discuss and take action on adding an honors course in Physical Anthropology to our course offerings presented by Clint Davis. Mr. Davis mentioned that he would be working with the Honors Program to add a Physical Anthropology course if approved by the task force. Hopefully there will be increased enrollment in Physical Anthropology now that it is considered a Natural Science course. Clint mentioned that there are numerous forms and information that the Honors Program and then get the approval of the campus that the class will be held at. A motion was made to approve adding an honors Physical Anthropology course. This motion was approved.
  8.  Discuss and take action on adding a textbook to the approved list for the Academic Cooperative course that is part of the Meso2008 program. The textbook is Katun: A Twenty-Year Journey with the Maya (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology) by Cindy L Hull. This link provides a synopsis of the book http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=17-9780534612900-0.  Mary Chipley. The motion to add this textbook to the approved textbook inventory for Academic Cooperative in Anthropology 2389 was approved.
  9. Discuss and take action on adding Geography 1303 to the core curriculum of the Social and Behavioral Sciences presented by James Sondgeroth. Jim was approached by Kathy Grimmett of the General Education and Core Curriculum Committee. Kathy Grimmet mentioned that Education Majors are required to take World and Regional Geography 1303 in order to complete their certification. The General Education and Core Curriculum Committee recommended adding this course to the core curriculum so that education students can get core credit for this mandatory course. There was some discussion as to whether this course was required or the knowledge obtained in this course was required in order to pass the exit exams. Jim Sondgeroth mentioned that we would need to know as much information as possible about the transferability of this course to other institutions and whether or not it was counted as a core course at these institutions. Mary Chipley offered to find out more about whether this course was required or whether it was simply required information to know in order to do well on the exit exam. A motion was made to request that World and Regional Geography be placed in the core curriculum. The motion was approved.
  10. A motion was made to adjourn at 2:30 p.m.