Minutes of the Undergraduate Studies Committee
10/27/2017
Attending Voting Members: J. Twombly
(SSB), X. Guan (CHEM), N. Menhart (BIO), R. Steffenson (SSCI), J. Hajek
(ITM), E. Orklu (ECE), A. Moller (PSYC), M. Peters (SGA),
C. Adams (ROTC), C. Hood (CS), F. Weening (AMAT), G. Pulliam (HUM/CAC)
Also attending: J. Gorzkowski
(UGAA), G. Smith (UGAA), K. Spink (PreHealth), V. Foster (Compliance), E. Friedman (COS), S. Ren
(CS) C. White (Academic Affairs), A. Hall (Registrar), J. Highnight
(Registrar), N. Novak (Galvin Library), R. Carlson (School of Applied
Technology)
Departments with absent
voting members: MSED, BME, INTM, CHBE, ARCH,
MMAE, PHY, CAEE
Quorum declared at: 12:48
Adjourn at: 1:45
Documents for this meeting
are available at:
http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/
Meeting chaired by Ray Trygstad
Minutes recorded by Rebecca
Steffenson
Old Business
1. Minutes of the 10/10/17 Meeting (http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/10-10-17minutes.html)
Minutes approved unanimously with the
following correction: F. Weening (AMAT) was added to the attendance list.
2. SGA
Proposal for Graduating with Honors at Illinois Tech [G. Shobeiri
– SGA]
This proposal would lower the minimums
for Magna Cum Laude from 3.8 to 3.7 and Summa Cum Laude from 3.9 to 3.85. The
minimum for Cum Laude would remain 3.5. Please see the document at http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/SGA_Graduating_with_Honors_Proposal.pdf
for the full proposal including a discussion of the justification.
(Morgan Peters, SGA President, will attend in place of Ms
Shoberi).
Discussion: It was noted that the new
standard might be seen as less competitive than Northwestern’s
honors policy which breaks down honors categories by the top 5%, then next 8%
then next 12%. Others noted that it did not change the overall numbers getting
honors.
A vote was taken and the motion passed
10-1. UGAA asked when the policy would
take effect and if it applied to all students. The chair replied that the
policy would take effect in the next bulletin and apply to all students.
3. New Degree
Proposal: Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity and Information Technology [J. Hajek – ITM] Proposal at http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/documents/BS_in_Cybersecurity_and_IT_Proposal_2017.pdf
Discussion: CS noted ongoing concerns about overlap with
its programs, noting that it had recently made several hires in cybersecurity.
ECE echoed these concerns. CS asked for more time to allow for coordination
between COS, Armour and the School of Applied
Technology. It was noted that a process had been started with the provost to
work out coordination issues. Dean Carlson stated that he was keen for the
degree approval process to move forward so they could start recruiting. He also
noted that the degree was called Cyber Security and ITM, leaving room for
degrees in Cyber Security and CS or Cyber Security and Engineering. A motion was made to defer the vote on this
degree until the next meeting to allow time for more discussion between the
stakeholders.
4. Discussion
of Office of Digital Learning lecture capture production fees effective Spring
2017
An ex-officio member of the committee, Matt Bauer (CS) has
proposed the following motion for our consideration:
The
Undergraduate Studies Committee recommends the proposed changes to lecture
capture be delayed until stakeholders, faculty and students, are able to review
the proposal, gather data, and make an informed assessment about the impact of
implementing the changes.
Chris White reported that he had discussed
the issue with the Deans and was now asking faculty to report to their chair or
dean if they needed their course to continue with manned lecture capture. He
said that that payment for lecture capture was not the concern of UGSC or
faculty, and that the deans and the upper administration would figure out who
pays for the service once it is determined which service is needed. Prior to
making a decision about manned v. unmanned lecture capture, White asked that
faculty meet with Digital Learning. He stated
that Digital Learning would be going unit by unit to meeting with individual
instructors to review manned versus unmanned lecture capture options. White was asked if Digital Learning had
consulted with faculty. He replied that some faculty had been consulted. White
was asked if a microphone would still be delivered and picked up. He said he
was aware of issues with technical support, and that there was some attempt to standardize
classrooms so that they will all have in room microphones. He was then asked if
faculty members would be able to focus the camera and replied yes. He was asked
if the cameras in the classroom could be turned on at any time remotely even if
a class had not been designated for lecture capture. He replied that it would possible for cameras
to be turned on from a remote location. The Humanities department noted that
surveillance of classrooms was not appropriate for discussion based classes
where anonymity is needed to allow for the free exchange of ideas. White said that
classes would not be recorded without instructor permission. White was asked if the quality would be equal
to existing digital learning courses. He recommended that faculty meet with
Digital Learning to review the quality of the manned v. unmanned options.
5. Discussion
of policy/guidelines for converting contact hours into credit hours [C. White –
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs]
White said that none
of the deans had responded to his request for further information about the
policies/guideline for converting contact hours into credit hours. Since there
was no guidance, he noted that this would be decided on a case by case basis. A
UGSC subcommittee consisting of N. Menhart, a
representative from the Registrar’s office and the SGA Academic Affairs
representative will be formed to further consider this issue.
6. Other old
business
None
New Business
7. Other New
Business [C. White – Vice Provost for Academic Affairs]
Early undergraduate Advising:
Students are being admitted now. They want to register early, and White
would like colleges to figure out how to address this. Colleges/units may have different
responses. A discussion has started with the Deans
HLC
and SARA compliance of online courses: A committee is
needed to explore how we make undergraduate and graduate courses compliant.
Volunteers are needed.
Midterm
course evaluations: Students want midterm evaluations. White thinks it
can be done using Blackboard, however UGSC input is needed.
8. The next
UGSC meeting will be Nov 14th 2017 at 12:45pm in WH 115.
All minutes and supporting documents may be found on the UGSC
website: http://www.iit.edu/~ugsc/
