ICSS
Interim Campaign Team Meeting Minutes
11/29/06
Attendance: Dr. Andreadis, Paul Engelmann, James Connor, Kevin Knutson, Brooke Carter, Penny Schellenberg, Steve Palmer
Item One: Supplemental Instruction
Nick Andreadis and Brooke Carter met with Marilyn Duke to discuss the Supplemental Instruction (SI) program at WMU. SI is a product developed by the University of Missouri at Kansas City and deployed in many universities across the country. The purpose of the program is to provide students with supplemental instruction beyond the classroom conducted by SI leaders. SI leaders are students nominated by professors and trained by certified supervisors in the methods of SI. Leaders attend a specific class, take notes, gather course materials and then offer supplemental instruction in three one-hour sessions a week. There are four supervisors of the supplemental instructions program on campus. Both national data and WMU data support a conclusion that SI provides measurable benefit to those students who participate regularly. In the course of our initial review of retention issues on campus we learned that there exists a set of general education courses typically taken by first-year students that historically have had high failure and withdrawal rates. It is suggested that greater awareness of and use of SI may offer students needed assistance. The aforementioned process and performance improvement data were recently presented to the Dean’s Council.
Item Two: Service Quality
There was a general view by attendees that the general level of service to students on this campus is highly variable and can be improved. A suggestion was made that we develop and distribute a campus wide survey to identify where service improvements could be initiated. NAA reported that the University Student Success Committee is holding a retreat on December 5 that will specifically address four issues of importance to students and parents: the quality of student’s general experience at WMU; the quality of the academic experience; the quality of WMU’s reputation among students, parents, and community; and the achievement of student outcomes. It was also suggested that the university make its service quality expectations clear to each current employee and new employee. The next committee meeting will be entirely devoted to service quality.
Item Three: First Year Experience
The committee discussed the wide range of views, criticisms, and benefits of the University’s current FYE program. The committee encourages and supports a broad-based reexamination of the goals, objectives, content, and process of the FYE.
Item Four: Mid-term grading
The Interim Campaign committee has been asked to initiate a process for evaluating the merit and worth of the mid-term grading pilot. The evaluation will include an examination of the process as well as the effectiveness of mid-term grading.