Academic Delivery Group Meeting
September 27, 2011
1:00 p.m.
Personnel Conference Room
(Revised October 6, 2011)
Members Present: Jackie Blakley, Tim Bowen, Eugene Grant, Scott Harvey, Lynn Lewis, Gwen Owens, Donna Shannon, Sarah Shumpert, Brian Swords
Members Absent:
Others Present: Richard Smith
Length of Meeting: 1.75 hours
Topics Discussed:
Dr. Buckhiester noted his pleasure that Brian Swords has accepted the Easley Campus Director position, and welcomed him to the Academic Delivery Group. Dr. Buckhiester also welcomed Richard Smith and thanked him for his willingness to provide information and answer questions about Blackboard.
Sarah reminded the group that the recent change in Blackboard was a major upgrade, and we are still filtering out the issues and trying to determine if they are problems with Blackboard, or just adjustments to the new product.
Richard discussed several issues with Blackboard.
- Until the upgrade, Blackboard was located on one server. With the upgrade, Blackboard was placed on a three-server system, which requires a balanced load. This imbalance was the cause of some of the recent problems.
- The problem with quizzes is another issue that they continue to work on. At completely random times, quiz screens freeze. Since it is random, it is incredibly difficult to track, and for the most part, we only know about it because a student calls for help. If the student is only allowed one attempt at a quiz, he/she cannot start over and return to try to complete the quiz. Blackboard technical support has made several suggestions, and provided patches to the system. The first two patches were not successful. Our IT staff is applying the third patch, but only time will tell if it is successful. Richard noted that we are monitoring tickets. Once they diminish, we will assume the problem is resolved. Everyone involved understands the frustration. He asked the deans to let the instructors know that we continue to work on this problem.
Dr. Buckhiester stated that we need to err on the side of the student. If a student reports that he/she was shut out of a test, that student needs to be allowed to re-take the test. It was noted that students need to self-identify. We cannot help them, if we do not know who they are.
- Richard also addressed the PowerPoint issue. This is a MicroSoft issue and is caused by the new version of PowerPoint.
At the next meeting, Sarah will update the group on financial aid audit reporting.
The minutes of the August 23, 2011 meeting were approved as written. In following up on the minutes, Dr. Buckhiester met with Dan Holland about the international student attendance/withdrawal issue. Renae Frazier will meet with the four deans to address this issue.
The ADG meeting pattern has been changed to the first and third Thursday of each month at 1:00. The change will begin on October 6.
Gainful employment/tracking for advising purposes was discussed. If a student is enrolled in a program that is not considered a gainful employment program, he/she will be moved into the gainful employment program nearest to the original program. Scott reported that those students have been moved, except for students who do not have a high school diploma.
Scott announced that the waitlist function is ready. He distributed a Waitlist Introduction for Students and a Waitlist Primer for Faculty/Advisors. He reminded the group that the 16 hour window of time for a student to accept a seat starts as soon as the seat opens and the e-mail is sent. Scott also pointed out the Waitlist Considerations on the back of the Primer.
Scott discussed SC TRAC institutional reports. A handout with the available reports was distributed. He noted that a lot of information is available through SC TRAC and recommended that the members of the ADG request access. Dr. Buckhiester asked the members of the group to e-mail him by October 7, if they would like to be an authorized viewer for SC TRAC.
Jackie, Tim, and Gwen gave an overview of the Achieving the Dream workshop. Key points that they mentioned were:
- Good focus on retention with a lot of good ideas
- Colleges spend 90% of funds to recruit students; spend only 10% of funds to retain students
- Possible shift from an academic to a cost-effective perspective
- Need someone for the student to connect with immediately
- Is the branding message cost effective?
Dr. Buckhiester discussed registration restrictions/student criteria. Dr. Booth would like to explore options to restrict registration for certain subsets of students. During discussion, it was noted that, philosophically, we do not want student success to become student irresponsibility. Advising is a shared responsibility, and the student needs to be involved in the process. If we take all the responsibility, we take all the liability too. Logistically, if we set criteria to restrict registration, how difficult would it be to implement? Scott noted that students on warning and probation, and students in online courses could be coded and identified fairly simply. He also noted that the RAN would drive the implementation and success of this initiative and it could be heavily dependent on the advisor. It may make the faculty member too responsible for student success. Dr. Buckhiester noted that the initial input was very valuable as he works with Dr. Booth on this issue.
With agenda items remaining, the meeting was adjourned.
Recorded by: Anne Bryan
Next Meeting: Thursday, October 6, at 1:00 p.m., in the Personnel Conf. Room, RH 102
