Faculty Council Meeting: 11/18/97

Meeting called to order at 3:50 by Dr. Kolena. Guests in attendance included Jeff Bray, John Friedrick, Steve Warshaw, Joan Barber and Gracie Johnson.

Announcements

1. Laurie Cavey announced that SPW has a web site and urged faculty to use it to find information concerning SPW and to post projects. The site can be located by going to the school web site, http://www.infoserve.ncssm.edu mail.

1. Jeff Bray announced that early in the second semester we will have late night firedrill. The SLI staff will email us after the fact, but early in the morning so that we will know that the drill has happened.

1. Jeff also announced that students are seeking privileges. He reminded us of criteria and urged faculty to follow the criteria and support each other's efforts. He reminded us that the criteria are not based on grades alone.

1. Helen Compton, Julie Graves representing the Curriculum Council, informed us that this committee is compiling a list of "Quality of Life" issues. Faculty are urged to read over the list thoughtfully and respond via the Faculty Council Bulletin Board. The goal is to identify 3 or 4 issues to work on. This list will be posted as soon as it is complete. Faculty were reminded to consider student issues (for example; papers, projects and test schedule) as well as issues directly affecting faculty.

1. Dot Doyle announced that there are positions open on the Board of Directors for the National Consortium for Specialized Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology. If anyone is interested in being nomination, let Director Friedrick know as nominations must come from the school.

1. John Friedrick announced that there have been several assaults on individuals in the neighborhood around the school and urged us to remind students that they should not go off campus alone and that they should use the loops to go to the mall.

Agenda Items:

Technology Issues:

Director Friedrick addressed the Faculty concerning technology issues. In response to recent discussions concerning the disparity between different program areas (residential vs. distance learning), he urged us to think of NCSSM as one unit. He recognized that we need better technology and more training. He stated that the Administration needs to identify what we need and find ways to get what we need. He did suggest that individual faculty or departments could write our own grants. He stated that plans are in the works to locate more advanced equipment in the Library where it could be checked out and supervised when the Library is open. Other ideas, including using the Rat Lab for more advanced computers for faculty and using existing funding for summer training were being considered. Director Friedrick mentioned that we had recently gotten notification of $800,000 for air conditioning and better wiring for the Bryan Building. He hoped that wiring for students to have Internet access might be a part of this process. He noted that the EFC is starting to be used by more teachers, but also noted that EFC services are for the outreach program. He noted that the University system has capitalization funds for updating equipment, but that we do not have those funds. We do get repair and renovation funds, but we need to request any capitalization funds that we get.

In the discussion that followed Dr. Friedrick's comments, several issues were raised. Administration, Faculty and the SLI staff expressed some concern about 24 hour computer access for students. It was noted that some of our students are giving up this access by coming to our school and that some student actually have better computers in their home schools.

With proper support (equipment, training, released time), Faculty could be far more productive and creative. Non-distance learning faculty have very little support with technology issues such as animations, web pages, and multimedia.

The problems with the technology that serves the residential program here has been accentuated by the equipment and staff we have for distance learning. Our antiquated network, our mail system, and record keeping (attendance) are not on the cutting edge.

Dr. Friedrick stated that a technology task force (consisting of Pete Goldberg, Diane Futrelle, Joan Barber, Peggy Manring, and Sandy Rothschild) has been looking in to many of these issues and he urged us to give this task force our input.

Minutes of Previous Meetings:

It was moved and seconded that the minutes from the September and October minutes be approved as written. The motion passed.

Alt Day Discussion:

Dot Doyle launched the discussion by making a motion to reduce the number of Alt Days from 8 to 4. Loren Winters seconded the motion. In the discussion that followed the current Alt Days were listed. Most had specific activities, in addition to Student Life 101 and 102, that need to be done on a special day. It was suggested to many, if not all of these activities, could be accommodated by a schedule similar to the assembly schedule we have used in the past. Field trips used to take place with students involved getting approved absences to participate. Student life instruction was done at night. So far this year, Alt Days have consumed 4100 student-hours and only 1700 of these can be accounted for by planned activities. Very few students attend tutorials on Alt day, and even fewer on Alt Eve.

As we try to get our students to do more in-depth research, multimedia, etc.

we need days like ALT days to do this work. There is no other time to do in-depth

work. Alt Days provide time for faculty to plan these activities. Students seem to think that Alt Day is a time to sleep in, clean their room and do homework. Few field trips are actually planned and few students participate in these activities. We as a faculty are too busy with other tasks and are not using the days for special activities.

Steve Warshaw stated that unilateral action on the part of the Faculty to change Alt Day would not carry as much weight with the administration as would a proposal coming from the faculty, SLIs and students.

We have not clearly defined Alt day in terms of its educational outcomes. As a catch all day, it has failed. We want block time for projects, yet we plan away most of the

day. We have not made the expectations clear to the junior class, so many of them see it as a day off. We need to make our expectations for this day clearer or it will disappear.

After this discussion Ms. Doyle reworded her motion to simply state whether we should keep Alt Day the way it is or to consider some change in the day. Eighteen voted to keep the day the way it is, 21 to change it. John Kolena asked for names of Faculty who would like to work on a committee with the SLIs, and SGA to begin a wider discussion on Alt Days.

The meeting adjourned at 5:02

Submitted by John Goebel, Secretary