University of Minnesota, Morris Campus Resources & Planning Committee Minutes May 20, 1999 Members present: Andy Lopez, Sara Haugen, Brenda Boever, Tom Johnson, Ray Sibul, Gwen Rudney. Guests: Roger McCannon, Gary McGrath, John Bowers, Craig Kissock, Darren Renville (Director of Technology at Sisseton/Wahpeton Community College). Chair Andy Lopez began the meeting by explaining that the minutes of May 6th would be delayed so that he can compose text concerning the final portion of the meeting that the secretary missed. Concerning the NCA5c report, Tom Johnson moved to forward the document to the NCA Steering Committee and Ray Sibul seconded. The motion passed and Lopez explained that the NCA5c subcommittee of the CRPC will meet with the steering committee to review the material. The meeting turned to technology-enhanced learning (TEL). Lopez has been participating in discussions about this topic at the all-university level; GenEdWeb is a sample project. Lopez encouraged the CRPC to be aware of and prepared for this resource-related topic which will be pursued further by the university. Roger McCannon then addressed GenEdWeb specifically. His personnel have met with UMM administrators, the Consultative Committee, and the Curriculum Committee and have been encouraged to continue in their efforts. Ty Buckman and Erica Rosch (who will be leaving UMM this year) are among faculty who have developed web-based curriculum. Lopez asked about plans for TEL beyond the web. Bowers mentioned that some social science faculty have experimented with streaming video and Kissock mentioned using streaming video interviews in his course. McCannon added that both pedagogy and design of courses are left to faculty; they choose the components and GenEdWeb personnel facilitate the choices. Bowers reminded the committee that even the web is highly interactive, not just static HTML code pages. Ray Sibul asked about training for faculty and Bowers admitted opportunities are not widespread yet. Kissock added that external personnel are participating in teaching and modeling TEL techniques. Lopez wondered about cost-effectiveness and McCannon reported that tuition and fees are covering direct costs but not infrastructure and indirect expenses (like advising) as of yet. Ann Hill Duin of the Twin Cities campus has been instrumental in obtaining financial support for UMM's TEL. Some funds have come from University College. Tom Johnson suggested that because of the experimental nature of GenEdWeb, a systematic and meaningful system of evaluation should be in place before forging ahead. We need to assess learner outcomes and student evaluations. Propaganda about the wave of the future should not be substituted for solid information. Bowers admitted that to date evaluations have been voluntary and are small in number but are similar to the evaluations of teaching used by UMM courses. Kissock reminded the committee that innovations in teaching are constant but never replace live teaching. No concerns have been expressed with regard to regular UMM courses offered over the Web. In responding to questions, McCannon indicated that the division chairs and the chancellor had asked his group to undertake this project. It is a 3-5 year project with a goal of developing 15 to 20 courses. The group is seeking direction- should they concentrate their efforts on courses that satisfy the MN Transfer Curriculum, focus their efforts on courses that appeal to high school students (their largest audience to date) or go for the whole package of 20 courses regardless of the market? It is perceived that with the advent of the MN Virtual University on July 1, 1999, we will have a much larger potential market. However, MNVU is not without its own problems such as copyright, financial and marketing issues. McCannon was asked about the advantages of GenEdWeb. He responded that it fulfills part of our outreach mission, it gives exposure to UMM with high school students that are considering attending UMM and it builds infrastructure at UMM in Computing Services, Media Services and the Library. Also the retention/completion rate for GenEdWeb course is 81% which is significantly better than the 40% of traditional correspondence courses. Distance learning currently constitute about 5% of higher education offerings and it is predicted to reach 15% by the year 2002. Distance learning has dramatically evolved from video tape and closed-circuit TV to the Internet over the past two years. Returning to the issue of planning for next year, the committee agreed that there will need to be more meetings next year, that the subcommittee structure should be tried again and to meet with the incoming members of CRPC on June 3 to share information. The CRPC will meet again Thursday, June 3rd, at 3 pm in the Behmler Conference Room.