Developmental Education Committee

Meeting Minutes: December 15, 2003

Present: John Arola, Paula Young, Barb Cox, Kristin Rust, Kathy Grosh, Jeri Schwerin, Deanne Roquet

1. ESL - Paula reported that the provocative proposition plan addressing an ESL program is moving forward and will be presented to IE. The recommendation will include offering two ESL courses Fall 2004 and providing for ESL tutoring in the LC.
2. Transfer of Developmental Education Credits - Paula explained that the policy committee is looking at the current campus policy that does not accept developmental education credits from other campuses. The policy committee is proposing that LSC should accept all previous coursework in developmental education. The developmental education committee recommends only accepting credits taken within the past four years, which is consistent with the time limit on results of the new student assessment test.
3. Algebra II college credit - Kathy reported that she has found LSC's math course, Algebra II, to be very similar to a course at Bemidji State that is not at the developmental level. Since this is an issue that goes back to a statewide math decision, it was recommended that Kathy bring this concern to other MnSCU math instructors for discussion. Kathy said the math department at LSC is currently reviewing their current offerings and will be making some significant changes in the next year.
4. Online Developmental Writing Courses - Hanna has agreed to mentor faculty teaching online developmental courses.
5. Learning Communities - Proposition 21 will be presented at the next IE meeting. This proposition is requesting a case manager position or task force to oversee the development and organization of learning communities. It is not feasible to have successful communities without assigned personnel to guide this initiative. Current registration for the spring cohort finds that students are not registering for the three designated classes. The three instructors are continuing to meet and attempt to coordinate their activities despite having different students in the various classes.
6. Readings in Developmental Education - The Journal of Developmental Education is available in the CTL room on the third floor. This journal comes out four times a year and is a good resource for instructors teaching in the area. Ann also has a copy of What Works: Research in the Best Practices in Developmental Education by Hunter Boylan available in her office.

The committee recommended that a meeting of all developmental education faculty before Spring Semester to update faculty on the committee's activities and to get feedback from instructors and staff on issues to be addressed for the remainder of the academic year. (From this suggestion, a meeting of all developmental faculty and developmental education committee members was held on January 8, 2004.)

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