MINUTES

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Meeting #25 – January 21, 2011

1. The meeting was called to order at 11:00 on January 21, 2011 in the Provost’s Conference Room in Green Hall. All members were present. In Ms. Black Grubman’s absence, Senator Ciccomascolo agreed to take the Minutes.

2. The minutes from the previous Executive Committee meetings were pending and were not reviewed at this meeting.

3. Announcements/Correspondence:

a. FSEC members discussed some items on the agenda for the next Board of Governors meeting.

b. Chairperson Eaton suggested that Professor DiCioccio meet with the FSEC members to discuss the future role of the General Education Task Force.

c. FSEC members who attended the Academic Summit that took place on January 18, 2011 discussed following up with Provost DeHayes about the content of the Summit.

d. FSEC members discussed the importance of undergraduate and graduate student learning outcomes assessment and mentioned that the criticism of higher education in books such as “Academically Adrift,” highlights the importance of assessment in higher education.

e. Chairperson Eaton discussed a workshop she organized for ALEKS (Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Spaces), which is a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system. According to the website, “ALEKS uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what a student knows and doesn't know in a course and gives individualized instruction based on their current skill level.” One FSEC member questioned whether or not using these types of web-based systems would compromise the pedagogical control of faculty members.

4. The FSEC discussed the Faculty Senate agenda for January 27, 2011. Vice President Weygand will sponsor the reception after the meeting. Discussion ensued about not scrolling through the Faculty Senate Executive Committee or Faculty Senate minutes as they are introduced at Senate meetings. Rather, FSEC members would prefer scrolling to a specific item in the minutes if necessary. An announcement about events pertaining to Martin Luther King, Jr. week will be announced.

5. An agenda for the meeting between the Provost and the FSEC was discussed. Items that may be included are: reaction of FSEC members and Provost to the Academic Summit that took place on January 18, 2011, an inquiry about the Provost’s plan on funding undergraduate and graduate student learning outcomes assessment at URI, and the progress in searching for a new SLOAA director. The agenda for the February 11, 2011 meeting between the FSEC and President Dooley was deferred to a later meeting.

6. FSEC members discussed possible candidates for chair of the Library Committee.

7. FSEC members discussed the progress of the FSEC-Teaching Effectiveness Committee survey on the IDEA instrument. The purpose of the instrument is to gauge where faculty members have the most difficulty in using the IDEA survey (e.g. choosing goals, interpreting scores, etc.). The FSEC-TEC survey will be sent to the FSEC members and Vice Provost Beauvais for review when completed.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:40 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Senator Lori E. Ciccomascolo