ISC Minutes

31 March 2004
Noon, Faculty House

Attending: Ralph Savarese, Vince Eckhart, Martha Voyles, David Ellison, Susan Ireland, Bob Cadmus, Christopher McKee, Bill Francis, Helen Scott, Terri Phipps

Minutes of 10 March meeting were approved with minor revision.

Workshop proposals

Writing Lab
The ISC needs more information regarding this proposal.

  • Can the format of web-delivered materials be lifted from someone else? To what degree is the Lab adopting someone else's work?
  • What type of module/questions are they thinking of?
  • Will this summer be a brainstorming/research workshop or preparation of modules?
  • What are other colleges doing in this area?

    • ISC supports research and development. This proposal needs to be more specific in regard to what the Writing Lab will do at this workshop or why they can't use what is already available. What role will the faculty members and participants in the workshop have? Do any of the Writing Lab staff have the technical skills necessary to create and maintain the modules? Vince will contact the Lab and ask for more information.

American Studies/Africana Studies

    The question arose whether this is a reading workshop or course-development workshop. Under the reading workshop model, the facilitator would get a stipend, but not the participants. Refreshments and materials would be provided. 

    Discussion of this proposal led to discussion of workshop guidelines in general. ISC feels that a course-development workshop should have an identifiable product. Reading workshops lay the groundwork to start thinking about how a course or courses could be changed.

    One option is that participants in a reading workshop who plan to create or change courses could request a stipend according to curricular development guidelines by submitting a separate, individual curricular-development proposal.

    It was suggested to fund this workshop as a hybrid, in part because changes in funding guidelines are recent and in part because this proposal focuses on the College's goal to strengthen the American Studies program. A proposed "hybrid" award might entail $650 for each facilitator and $300 for each participant. A decision was tabled until the next meeting.

    Vince will contact Jon Andelson about Prairie Studies workshop funding guidelines.