eLearning Advisory Council
Minutes
November 3, 2005
NSU’s eLearning Advisory Council was called into session on November 3, 2005, in the Natchitoches Room of Russell Hall, at 3:30.
Present: Emily Perritt, Darlene Williams, Bill Lomerson, Mary Edith Stacy, Lisa Abney, Debra Shelton, Michael Matthews, Joe Morris, Tom Hall, Tom Hanson, Paula Christensen, Cynthia Lindsey
Absent: Jim McCrory, Tara Gallien, Bill Housel, Rocky Colavito, Karen McFerrin, Patrice Moulton, Norann Planchock, Jennifer Long, Matthew Bartley
Item 1: Approval of Minutes
On the motion of Dr. Paula Christensen and a second by Joe Morris, the minutes of the October 6th meeting of the E-Learning Advisory Council were approved.
Item 2: “Guidelines for Online Programs” Subcommittee Report
Debra Shelton reported to the group on the subcommittee meeting. The subcommittee met at 2 PM on November 3, prior to the main meeting. Debra Shelton, Lisa Abney, Paula Christensen, Emily Perritt, and Darlene Williams were in attendance. Tara Gallien had provided comments electronically prior to the meeting. The committee reviewed the Guidelines document and made some revisions. Emily will forward the revised document to the group within the next couple of weeks. At the next meeting, the committee will vote to adopt or to continue to revise the document.
Item 3: Update from Joe Morris
Joe reported that this semester he has asked his course monitors to do a semester report. However, next semester he will ask for weekly reports. He will add entry of attendance and entry of midterm and final grades to the checklist of items for monitors to review.
Joe reported that the number of students per section has increased since fall of 04 to an average of 19 per class this semester. He anticipates an even higher number in the spring, as word gets out about the new CJ courses that have recently been added. Bill Lomerson asked Joe if he was capping enrollment. Joe replied that he set the initial caps to 25 students per section; he will add students to a section until it reaches an enrollment of 30 students. Once a section has 30 students enrolled, he will open a new section.
Bill Lomerson asked Joe if weekly reports may be too much to ask of the monitors. Joe replied that though turning in weekly reports would require more paperwork, it would not be requiring more work of the monitors, who are receiving a course release.
Item 4: Review of Action Plans
Darlene passed out the latest draft of the action plans in response to the SREB review. She reminded the council that the draft had to be completed quickly prior to the NCHEMS follow-up visit. She did receive some feedback from the council that was already incorporated into the plans. She thanked Michael Matthews in particular for his hard work on the action plans related to Watson Library. The draft is posted on the President’s web site. Darlene reminded everyone that the action plans were still a “draft,” and she asked council members to review it once again and provide any further comments/suggestions that they may have. Once the action plans are adopted or approved by the council, implementation can begin. Darlene hopes to begin implementation of the plans by January. Therefore, she asked council members to provide any feedback before the December meeting. On a motion from Dr. Hanson and a second by Paula Christensen, the council voted to accept the action plans.
Item 5: Title II Update
Darlene announced that ECE was currently reviewing applications for the three positions that have been funded by the Title II grant. She stated that she hoped to interview before the Thanksgiving holiday, so that the new people would be ready to start on January 3.
Currently, the process is underway to identify the 20 faculty members who will participate in the grant project next year.
The external consultant visited Northwestern earlier in the week. He determined that we were on track to begin implementation of the grant in January.
The November 3rd meeting of the eLearning Advisory Council was adjourned at 3:46 PM.