Welcome to the 2007-2008 MPC Academic Senate Web Page.

Fall 2008 Flex Days Information

Student Learning Outcomes Update: The Form

Starting in the Fall 2008 Semester, please use this form to record your analysis of your students' attainment of course SLOs.

Links to The Form and completed examples

 Why fill out this form?

It is an effort to promote dialog among faculty about what MPC students should be able to do as they exit our courses. The Academic Senate asks that you use this form to promote this dialog. We hope that, as a result of using this form, conversations will develop between instructors who teach within disciplines, in related disciplines, in courses that are sequential within a program, and across MPC. We hope the conversations reveal greater insight into student achievement of faculty-designed objectives and outcomes and ultimately lead to improvement in student learning. The value is in the dialog.

The Academic Senate considers the use of this form a “pilot project” for the first two semesters. Part I, with specific class records and information, is for faculty record-keeping purposes only. To preserve anonymity, it should stay with the instructor. Part II, with the four questions about student achievement of SLOs, is intended for both record keeping and encouraging dialog with colleagues. The Academic Senate would like to collect samples of the second page from a variety of faculty members willing to share on a voluntary basis. The information will be anonymously shared so that other faculty members might learn from their colleagues’ efforts and hopefully stimulate further dialog about student learning.

Remember, for our accreditation self study and site visit, evidence is required to show that MPC is evaluating student attainment of SLOs. Examples of Part II, shared on a voluntary and anonymous basis, will help provide this evidence. In addition, completion of Part II will signal that assessment of course SLOs has occurred for our yearly report to the accrediting agency.

Spring 2008 Flex Days

Thank you to all of you who made it happen:

Flex Days Scheduling Committee

Staff Development Committee

SLO Skit Participants

EEOAC and Dr. Terrence Roberts

Breakout Leaders

Wednesday Academic Senate Powerpoint Presentation

Thursday SLO Powerpoint Presentation

10-19-07

We had an excellent Town Hall meeting on Academic Freedom today. About 25-30 faculty members attended. The faculty members in attendance agreed that the proposed wording should be approved and sent along through the process to be recommended to the board as the MPC Academic Freedom policy.

Curriculum Advisory Committee (CAC) Needs Members

Our curriculum is the currency of the college. In order to be a vibrant, high quality academic institution, our curriculum needs to be well documented and accurately describe our course offerings. The fundamental task of curriculum committees is to ensure academic rigor for all courses. This work is detail-oriented, but necessary for us to comply with Title 5 and for our courses to transfer to 4-year universities.

The CAC needs members from each division so that each faculty member can access curriculum expertise in their general area or discipline. This is a critical aspect of a smoothly operating CAC.

The CAC needs representatives from the following divisions:

Creative Arts

Life Sciences

Physical Education

Nursing

Supportive Services

Please respond to Susan Walter and/or our COC chair, Alan Haffa.

Fall Flex Day 2007 Highlights.
Andres Durstenfeld gave an incredible and inspiring keynote address on evolution. If you missed it, some highlights are posted here. Thank you Andres!
Andres' Powerpoint presentation
Video of Andres' presentation (huge 95mb file)

In order to motivate all of us to grow enrollment and improve retention, Doug invited Vinnie Soprano to give a motivational speech. Vinnie gave a fine speech in which he regaled us with his stories of he himself being "retended" many times during his years spent in education. Thank you Vinnie!
Vinnie's motivational speech