Senate Bill 11-12-11
| Bill ID: | 11-12-11 |
| Name: | Proposal to Clarify and Improve Student Class Selection |
| Proposed: | 09/16/2011 |
| Sponsor: | Kaiyi Xie, SGA President |
| Proposal: | Students are currently unable to view class syllabi before classes begin and/or professors distributes them. Indeed, they have little to no opportunity to view the syllabi of the class of previous professors/sections. This raises many potential problems for students, which include but are not limited to: -Choosing classes that are of an inappropriate difficulty level -Unable to tailor a course plan that fits personal/professional interests and/or career goals -Fulfilling gen-ed requirements with classes that do not end up meeting students' interests/goals In fact, there is NO mandate on professors to distribute a clear syllabus in the Policies and Procedures. Only in III-5.10 (A), "Policies and Procedures Concerning Academic Assignments on Dates of Religious Observances" is it suggested that professors include a policy on missing assignments during religious holidays in their syllabi. In addition, advising is NOT mandated of all students (under UMCP Policies and Procedures III-2.50 (A)). Only certain departments mandate that students undergo semesterly advising to remove registration blocks prior to class registration. While it is clear that students with doubts about class choices can consult advisors/professors, doing so may not solve this problem for the following reasons: -Advisors from one academic college often do not know the details of classes in other academic colleges -There is no clear way to track past syllabi from past semesters for classes, especially by those taught by new professors, to keep subject material consistent and pertinent- if there are such methods within different departments, such materials should be made fully available to students -It would be easier for students to compare classes if the syllabi were available instead of speaking to professors individually -Consulting professors will sometimes not lead to a clear and reasonable solution, and oftentimes, professors are too busy to be able to answer very specific questions from students regarding a course's subject-material Undoubtedly, there is difficulty on the part of the student in asking "the right question" regarding the class to professors or advisors. Most of the time, all the information a student knows about the class is the name, section, and a brief description of the subject covered on Testudo. Policy requiring professors to include information in syllabi (including but not limited to a comprehensive list of major topics covered within the class, rough grading breakdown, whether +/- grading is used, etc.), with a hard deadline set for professors to have preliminary syllabi ready for students to be able to review, preferably at the time that class registration beings. Since the web infrastructure of Testudo is quite old, if there is a way to post such syllabi to Testudo (or perhaps uploading to the department's website then including a link to the syllabus on the class description on Testudo), that would be preferable. However, if there is not, then the syllabi should be made available to students upon demand, if the student contacts the professor/academic unit responsible for the class. Exceptions would be if a professor for a class section is not determined yet- however, an old syllabus could be made available for that class. |
| Active? | No |
Status
| Status: | Completed |
| Completed On: | 09/27/2012 |
History
| Status: | Complete |
| Related Files: |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate |
| Received: | 2012-09-13 |
| Decision Date: | 2012-09-20 |
| Decision: | The Senate approved the amended report. |
| Actions: | The Senate voted to amend the Educational Affairs Committee's recommendation that "undergraduate course syllabi should be available online in a manner that is easily accessible to students" to "undergraduate course syllabi from previous semesters and preliminary syllabi for the forthcoming semester should be available online in a manner that is easily accessible to students" |
| Next Step: | Presidential Approval |
| Related Files: |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate Executive Committee (SEC) |
| Received: | 2012-05-03 |
| Decision Date: | 2012-05-10 |
| Decision: | The SEC voted to place the item on the September 20, 2012 Senate meeting agenda. |
| Next Step: | Senate Review |
| Related Files: |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Educational Affairs Committee |
| Received: | 2011-09-30 |
| Decision Date: | 2012-04-23 |
| Actions: | The Educational Affairs Committee reviewed the proposal and charge at its October 7, 2011 meeting. The Committee agreed it would be beneficial for syllabi to be available to students earlier than the first day of classes. The Committee discussed how a system could be implemented that would be both useful to students and feasible for faculty. At the November 10, 2011 Educational Affairs meeting the Committee met with the proposer Kaiyi Xie to discuss his vision and goals for the proposal. The Committee also discussed the current practices of various departments on campus for distributing course information prior to the first day of class. At the December 2, 2011 meeting the Committee met with the Assistant Director of Enrollment Service Operations and the Director of Learning Technologies and Environments to discuss the technological possibilities for granting students access to course information prior to the first day of class. At the January 30, 2012 meeting the Committee reviewed the data collected to date and deliberated on potential recommendations. The Committee agreed to invite a representative from the Office of Faculty Affairs to the next meeting to discuss the validity of potential policy and/or guideline changes. At the February 27, 2012 meeting the Committee met with Juan Uriagereka, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs, and Dan Symonds, Assistant Director of Technology Development. At the March 27, 2012 meeting the Committee met with Jennifer Riggs, Associate Registrar, and agreed to send tentative recommendations to the Senate Faculty Affairs Committee for review. At the April 23, 2012 meeting the Committee finalized its report and recommendations. |
| Next Step: | Senate Executive Committee (SEC) Review |
| Related Files: |
| Status: | Complete |
| Reviewer: | Senate Executive Committee (SEC) |
| Received: | 2011-09-16 |
| Decision Date: | 2011-09-26 |
| Decision: | The SEC voted to charge the Educational Affairs Committee with reviewing the proposal. |
| Next Step: | Educational Affairs Review |
| Related Files: |