May 19, 2014 Meeting
Agenda
Academic Senate
Taft College
Special Meeting
Monday, May 19, 2014
11:00-1:00
Cougar Room
Public Commentary
Approval of Minutes of May 5, 2014
Agenda
1. Tutoring Services
President’s Report
Other
Next Meeting, August In-Service, TBA
Minutes
Taft College Academic Senate Minutes
Monday, May 19, 2014 Cougar Conference Room
Members Present: President Tony Thompson, Vice President David Layne, Secretary Linda West, Jennifer Altenhofel, Kanoe Bandy, Wendy Berry, Eric Bérubé, Paul Blake, Adam Bledsoe, Joe’ll Chaidez, Bill Devine, Geoffrey Dyer, Bruce Ferguson, Shelley Getty, Greg Golling, Lourdes Gonzalez, Vicki Jacobi, Craig Johnson, Kelly Kulzer Reyes, Ruby Payne, Joseph Polizzotto, David Reynolds, Joy Reynolds,
Jeff Ross, Terri Smith, Sonja Swenson, Mark Williams The meeting was called to order at 11:17 a.m.
Public Commentary
None.
Review of May 5, 2014 Senate Minutes
A motion was made by Joy Reynolds and seconded by Kelly Kulzer Reyes to approve the minutes as presented. The motion carried.
Tutoring Services
The Senate convened for a special session focused on ways to improve the tutoring program at the college. Tutors and SIs were in attendance to answer questions. Tony Thompson emphasized that it is not our intention to eliminate SIs. We simply want to improve the program and meet the needs of students. Geoffrey Dyer thanked tutors and SIs for their effort.
Mark Williams suggested we use our time to address the following questions:
- Where are we now?
- Where do we want to be?
- How do we get there?
The present number of tutors is insufficient to meet the tutoring needs in all disciplines. Tutoring is very limited for distance learning students and students who need to schedule evening tutoring sessions.
Shelley Getty stated that tutoring in the Math Lab is working well.
Tony stated that tutoring falls within the 10+1 (responsibilities and roles) guidelines. It is one of the areas the Senate has purview over, so we should have a lot to say about how the tutorial program functions. The membership discussed the components that contribute to a successful tutorial program and made the follow suggestions:
- Tutoring available to students in all disciplines and all subjects.
- Tutoring available to all students, both online and face-to-face students.
- Enough tutors to meet student needs and provide “really good” customer service
- Tutoring services available during all open library hours. The library is currently
open 8 a.m. to 8
p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday. Terri Smith stated that evening usage is very low. It was suggested that the low usage may be the result of services being unavailable.
- Make tutoring services available on a drop-in basis in addition to scheduled appointments.
- Develop a robust peer tutoring program. Peer tutoring was sustainable in past years as long as funds were available to pay for it. Kanoe Bandy suggested that we reinstate funds that were cut to support the program.
- More direct communication between coordinator, faculty, tutors, and SIs
- Develop a form (similar to a work order) completed by faculty, to inform tutors of the type of assistance requested.
- Develop a Comprehensive evaluation system. We need a mechanism in place for evaluating the success of the tutorial program.
- Provide tutors with a list of Student Learning Objectives for each chapter.
- Tutoring should be a faculty driven process. Assign the position of tutorial coordinator
to a faculty member.
It was suggested that faculty should include the need for tutors within our disciplines in every program review. We need to communicate our need with the administration and let them determine how it can be funded.
Bill Devine made a motion “to create a subcommittee to develop a referral process for tutoring.” The motion was seconded by Vicki Jacobi. It was stated that a subcommittee was a good idea, but we need tutors in the fall. The motion was subsequently withdrawn.
Kanoe asked about the structure that is in place for getting us from where we are now to where we want to be. Mark said we don’t have a structure in place, but have a clear sense of priority. Sharyn Eveland and Agnes JEguaras are currently working together on the tutorial program. Mark asked that we send our ideas to Sharyn with a cc: to Agnes. Include what we need, why we need it, and how we’ll know we’ve achieved success.
Vicki Jacobi stated that the tutoring program falls under the purview of the LSD and will be taking it back to that division for further discussion.
The need to keep the position of tutorial coordinator a faculty assignment was emphasized. The tutorial program should be faculty driven and it’s agreed that we need a coordinator that can provide a hands- on presence in the library. A motion was made by Jeff Ross and seconded by Joseph Polizzotto stating “The Taft College Academic Senate highly recommends the coordinator of the tutorial program be a faculty member”. The motion carried with all yeas and one nay.
The question about what we can do quickly was raised. If funds become available, most problems are easy to solve. Tony reiterated we need to focus upon the following:
- Content based tutoring
- Expansion of peer tutoring program
- Provision of evening services
- Online tutoring
- Customer service
- Data collection
The topic will be continued at the August Senate meeting. Meeting was adjourned at 1:00 p.m.
The next meeting is scheduled during the Fall 2014 in-service session.
Respectfully submitted by
Linda West, Academic Senate Secretary