Education Department

Minutes

December 6, 2001

12:30 to 2:00

Present: Leslie Ricklin, Acting Chair; Janelle Bland, Diane Cerreto, Ken Dobush, Ann Gruenberg, Richard Reynolds, Hannah Sellers, Jeff Trawick-Smith, Shirley Ernst.

IIL. Ricklin called the meeting to order and noted there would be a limited attendance at the meeting due to illness, conferences, and other conflicts. She passed a meal choice sign-up for the Community Advisory Committee meeting, scheduled for December 17, and gave a brief reminder about that event.

II.Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the last meeting were reviewed. L. Ricklin asked for any corrections or additions. H. Sellers asked that the following phrase be added to the end of # 3, under “Announcements”: “. . . and the Teacher Cadet Program.”

MOTION: S. Ernst moved that the minutes be approved as corrected. K. Dobush seconded. 

Motion passed, with 7 ayes and 1 abstention.

III.Announcements:

A.L. Ricklin reminded faculty of the end-of-the-semester pot luck on December 19 in the faculty and staff lounge.

B.L. Ricklin announced that the state would be eliminating existing Praxis I as an entry exam in teacher education and would replace this with an alternative exam–“Praxis I PPST.” This exam has the same basic content, but may be taken in pencil and paper form, if students choose. The exam would be taken at Sylvan Learning Centers.

C.K. Dobush requested that all faculty and units review syllabi in relation to where they address ISTE technology standards for teachers. He proposed that these be infused within objectives and outcomes assessments. He indicated that he has provided these standards on the common drive.

D.S. Ernst discussed a desire to have Blackboard on our ECSU server. After some discussion, L. Ricklin agreed to contact Dean Kleine regarding this matter before the end of the semester. K. Dobush noted that the university would no longer be using “E-College” for distance learning courses, but would move to “Web-CT.” This needs to be considered, he proposed, in making decisions about software for communications with students.

E.L. Ricklin described the Community Advisory Committee meeting to be held on December 17. A. Gruenberg inquired about the agenda for the meeting. Brief discussion followed. J. Trawick-Smith urged that time be set aside for specific program groups–secondary education, early childhood education, etc.–to meet together to address very specific issues. L. Ricklin proposed that a committee meet on December 13 to finalize plans. The following faculty agreed to attend: D. Cerreto, K. Dobush, A. Gruenberg, L. Ricklin, and J. Trawick-Smith.

F.L. Ricklin announced that all new programs–in Early Childhood Education,

Reading/Language Arts, and Graduate Secondary Education–had received final approval from the University Senate. (These were approved in earlier weeks by the Curriculum Committee.) There was brief discussion about a phase-in plan for each program, and the challenges of that. L. Ricklin indicated a need to develop soon a plan for the secondary graduate program.

G.L. Ricklin thanked faculty members for their help on revising the university catalog. She noted how challenging this year’s revisions were, given all the new programs, courses, and other changes. She announced that she would distribute a draft as soon as it was printed, so that all faculty can have a last look.

H.Ann raised a question about whether a master’s thesis was still an option in non-certification graduate programs. This was confirmed in a discussion that followed.

I.K. Dobush distributed a listing of proposed summer courses and asked faculty to verify these. A course-by-course discussion followed, culminating in a finalized Summer 2002 schedule. Faculty discussed the Capstone Seminar. Issues of whether it should be offered in summer and when it should be taken within the graduate certification programs were raised. L. Ricklin noted that the policy is that Capstone be taken after all course work is completed–including student teaching. J. Trawick-Smith noted that there is pressure from graduate certification students to finish their certification programs quickly, leading to requests to take the Capstone at different times. He asked that meeting the needs of graduate certification program students be discussed further at another meeting. 

IV.NCATE Business:

A.K. Dobush gave an update on recent activities related to accreditation. He shared ideas from the University Relations Office regarding the unit’s theme and mission statement. He noted that staff in University Relations had very positive things to say about the unit’s mission statement. Also, they proposed a theme that reflects the key elements in this statement.

B.L. Ricklin shared a draft of a new brochure for the department and its programs.

C.R. Reynolds reported on his conversations with State Department of Education personnel regarding the upcoming team visit, on May 5 to 8. He reported on the size and composition of the visiting team. He noted that the team will examine the degree to which programs meet the 2003 certification regulations, as well as NCATE standards and state statutes. He also reported that, in their evaluations of programs, visiting teams, “are very fond of the Connecticut Common Core of Teaching.”

S. Ernst asked if the 2003 regulations were permanent. She noted that there was some question about this. Ken indicated that there might still be some changes to them. J. Trawick-Smith proposed that we continue planning programs and courses, as we have been, in relation to these new regulations, as they are currently written.

D.K. Dobush responded to data he has gathered on students’ perceptions of the unit’s mission statement. (He asked students in some classes to check those elements of our mission statement that they believe are fully addressed within our programs.) Students indicated that most elements are, indeed, addressed well in our programs. He pointed out that family issues were not identified as something students felt were treated as thoroughly in their courses, although data was not available for all programs (Early Childhood Education, for example, which has a major emphasis in this area).

E.K. Dobush presented a proposed theme for the teacher education unit. There was extended discussion on this. After much deliberation and modification the following theme was proposed: “Creating reflective teachers through knowledge and practice.” All faculty supported this theme and K. Dobush will present it to Dean Kleine for consideration.

F.K. Dobush read over a new version of the mission statement, as it is being revised, and general discussion followed.

G.K. Dobush announced that baskets will be set up in the Education office–one for each NCATE standard. He asked that any information on projects, initiatives, innovations, etc. related to any of the standards be deposited there. He will weave this information into the report.

H.K. Dobush discussed the revision of faculty vitae and strategies for “sampling” student evaluations of teaching and other evidence of teaching excellence among faculty, to be included in the accreditation report. The importance of gathering such information from adjuncts and Arts and Sciences faculty was discussed. L. Ricklin proposed that we work through our liaison system, each faculty member contacting her/his assigned department(s) to discuss this issue.

I.K. Dobush indicated he is drafting a proposed new student evaluation of teaching form. Brief discussion followed. Several faculty proposed that a form which better reflects themes and the philosophy of the programs be developed.

J.L. Ricklin announced that D. Cerreto was being assigned to work on the documents room for the upcoming state visit.

V.Meeting was adjourned at 2:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Jeffrey Trawick-Smith

Approved at our Education Dept. faculty meeting on Jan. 24, 2002.