Dean of Students Advisory Board Meeting - Thurs., 1/21

Restructuring the Campus Library System

The campus library system is being restructured and the directors are seeking student input on how this should be done. Campus-wide student input will be instrumental in determining what the different libraries will look like in the future, but the directors are not certain how to get this input. They are thinking about using online surveys, paper surveys passed out in certain classes, focus groups, and a multimedia video to get students interested and involved in the process. Students who are interested in making such a video as part of a school project or internship are invited to participate in the process.

ODOS Budget Update

The Budget for the Fiscal Year 2010 was reviewed because it may receive reductions in the future with the state's current deficit. If this occurs, the budget will be revisited.

Halloween Event Management Plan

The 2010 plan was reviewed and compared to 2009's plan, which was very similar and had positive results. The Board agreed that the 2010 plan was reasonable and could move forward.

Testing Accommodations for 1st Generation Students

A UW professor suggested providing students who are the first in their families to attend college with more time to take their exams. Similar accommodations are made for ESL students, and we discussed whether a general accommodation can be made for all first-generation students. On a whole, we felt that the abilities of first-generation college students vary and may not be entirely based on the fact that they are first-generation college students, but professors can offer support groups, extended office hours, or extended test-taking time for the entire class, for instance.

Fan Behavior

Recent letters from parents and members of the Madison community addressed inappropriate behavior surrounding UW sporting events. The letters commented on the offensive language targeted at opposing teams and fans who visit Madison, and this behavior is seen as unacceptable and a poor representation of the university. The ODOS believes this is a very important issue and wants to take well thought-out actions to change how students behave at sporting events. Changing the student mentality to give them a greater sense of responsibility to their school's reputation and trying to get the students to focus on being funny and creative rather than derogatory were some goals mentioned. Testimonials, news articles, and Greek support were brought up as possible methods to accomplish these goals, but we hope to revisit this issue during the next meeting with more ideas.

-Laura Hirsh

Shared Governance Committee Minutes

Minutes from weekly Shared Governance Committee meetings are available online at:

http://www.asm.wisc.edu/shared-governance-minutes-2009-10-2.html, or by clicking on the link in the "More information" section on left side of the Blog.

Search and Screen Positions

There are 2 Search and Screen committees looking for student involvement. If you are interested in being on either of these committees, please e-mail me a resume and cover letter by 5:00PM on Friday, January 22nd. The cover letter should include why you are interested in serving on this committee and why you are the most qualified to be appointed. The Center for Leadership and Involvement (CfLI) is searching for a new Director (1 student seat) and the Multicultural Student Center will be hiring a second Social Justice Education Specialist (2 student seats).

Please forward this information to anyone who you think may be interested in serving on these committees. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks,

Melissa

Spring Semester!

Hello all and welcome back to Madison! Hope everyone's having a wonderful start to the semester.

ASM Shared Governance will be holding our weekly meetings on Thursdays at 5:30 in the 4th floor Caucus Room at the SAC starting Thursday, January 28th. These are open meetings and we welcome every student on campus to attend! To remind everyone of the meetings this semester, I will be posting agendas here on the blog at least 24 hours in advance of the meetings.

Also, I encourage anyone who is interested in Shared Gov or ASM to come discuss it with me during my office hours:

Tuesdays 2:30-4:30
Wednesdays 2:45-4:45
Thursdays 12:30-1:30
...or by appointment.

Andrew Briddell, the Shared Gov PA will also be holding office hours this semester:
Mondays and Wednesdays 1-3:30
Thursdays 3:30-5:30

I'm looking forward to another great semester with Shared Gov! :)


Melissa Hanley

Chair, Shared Governance
Associated Students of Madison
melissa.dee.hanley@gmail.com

ITC - November Meeting

Some interesting things were brought up in the November meeting that I had forgotten to report here, and some things you may have noticed going into effect.

Things the ITC could use input on:

• i-Clicker - We had a demo of i-Clicker. The idea is that everyone in a classroom has a device with 5 buttons, and when the instructor presents a question, everyone can answer. The bookstore showed 7 classes using clickers. i-Clicker also has a web interface. The clickers are $35, but do not have a recurring fee, so you could use the same one forever. Should these be used in class? Keep in mind that they could be anonymous or for a grade.
  
• Moodle - You may have noticed some classes using Moodle as a course website. It's kind of like Learn@UW but more customizable and community oriented. If you have used Moodle in a class of yours, what are your thoughts? Do instructors use it effectively? Does it help your learning? There is a Moodle council in ComETS that helps define best practices for Moodle's use in the university and acts as a common ground for those in the UW-Madison community who are using Moodle. http://comets.wisc.edu/groups/61/moodle-council
• Learning Spaces - We had a demo on Smartboards and Promethean whiteboards. They are basically whiteboards with a projector on them and some sort of way for the person writing on the whiteboard to interact with the computer. There was some concern about the support needed to keep a system like this running in classrooms. The question is whether these interactive whiteboards improve learning. If one of your classes uses one, we could use some input.
  

General updates:

• New Wiscmail - the new web-client for Wiscmail has been in testing since September, and more people were invited week by week. The process of inviting people was due to be completed in December. You can permanently switch by going to http://admin.wiscmail.wisc.edu. The old client is scheduled to be retired this February.
• Google - Yes, there is work in progress to make Google apps available to UW-Madison students. At this point, Google Docs, Spreadsheet and Sites will be available. All will be authenticated with your NetID. While the services are free, DoIT had to invest in legal research and technical integration in order to get us Google stuff. Google basically provides the service, but we need to make sure it is legally and technologically feasible ourselves.
• Adobe Connect - Adobe connect is kind of a remote meeting solution that may work as a remote classroom setup. DoIT has purchased some licenses and will be selling them at a discount, for $100 until June 2010. Only the presenter/organizer needs a license.

Comments and questions are definitely welcome.

University Honors Committee

The University Honors Committee met several times during the fall semester. The primary topic of discussion was the Honors Assessment Project, which asked both current Honors students and alums to evaluate their Honors experience. The results are finally in, and the next step for the Committee will be to communicate our findings to a wider audience and provide actionable recommendations based on the data. Our plan for the spring is to develop a workshop for the 2010 Teaching and Learning Symposium to be held May 19 & 20. This session would provide interested faculty and staff with an overview of the Assessment results and would facilitate discussion about ways to achieve the kind of enriching and challenging learning environment that Honors is all about. You can learn more about the Teaching and Learning Symposium at http://www.learning.wisc.edu/tlsymposium/index.html

Another recurring subject of discussion was the new Letters & Science Honors Admissions Policy. Invitations to apply for L&S Honors were formerly sent to prospective students who met particular academic criteria. Under the new policy, which was first implemented for the 2008-2009 schoolyear, all L&S admits are invited to apply. Data from the past two years shows that this policy change is already having a substantial impact. Fewer applications have been submitted: the past two years averaged 509 applications, compared with an average of 716 applications for the five years prior to the change. While a majority of applicants had previously been Wisconsin residents, the past two years have seen an applicant pool that is two-thirds out-of-state. If you are interested in seeing more data or hearing potential explanations for these trends, please contact me via email: cklynch2@wisc.edu.

I look forward to another great semester with Shared Gov! See you all soon!