Agenda for Faculty Council

August 22, 2000  3:45 PM

Hill 19

1.      Announcements

a.                   Introduction of new faculty  members- Department Heads

b.                  Solicitation of refreshments for Faculty Council Meetings - Leslie Brinson

c.                   People who need to make additional announcements please contact Dot Doyle

2.  Approval of the minutes of the last meeting

3.  Discussion items

a.                   A follow up discussion concerning the  Junior Experience - Myra Halpin

b.                  An opportunity for the faculty to ask questions about the Senior Experience -

      Jim Litle

c.   Homework expectations *

d.  What should be the goals/theme of the Faculty Council for 2000-2001? - Leslie Brinson

* Some faculty think we need to come to an agreement among faculty about the number of hours/week we expect students to spend for each class including in-class time, homework, lab, and other activities.   Seven or eight hours/week on average was proposed and was discussed briefly at a faculty council meeting last year - we probably want to come to an agreement about this so that students don’t feel caught.  The work load issue (particularly for Juniors) needs to be addressed.  We may want to ask students to do a better job on fewer assignments - emphasize quality rather than quantity.  The flow of the year with extendeds make for crunch times that may contribute to the students sense that they are working hard and are really “stressed”.  Are there ways we can address this latter issue?