CURRICULUM: What Senate Leaders Need to Know

1. CURRICULUM: What Senate Leaders Need to Know ASCCC Spring Plenary Session 2013 Irvine, CA Marie Boyd, Chaffey College John Stanskas, San Bernardino Valley College

2. The Role of the Academic Senate • The Governing Board shall ... ensure ... the right of academic senates to assume primary responsibility for making recommendation in the areas of curriculum and academic standards. Education Code §70902 (B)(7) •Academic Senate means an organization whose primary function is to make recommendations with respect to academic and professional matters. Title 5 §53200 (B)

3. TITLE 5 §53203 - AUTHORITY • (A) Governing Board shall adopt policies for the appropriate delegation of authority and responsibility it is college and/or district academic senate. • (B) Policies in (A) shall be adopted through collegial consultation with the Academic Senate. • (C) Guarantees the Academic Senate the right to meet with or appear before the board.

4. The “10+1” SECTION §53200 (C) • 1. Curriculum,including establishing prerequisites • 2. Degree & Certificate Requirements • 3. Grading Policies • 4. Educational Program Development • 5. Standards & Polices regarding Student Preparation and Success

5. CURRICULUM COMMITTEE AUTHORITY • Title 5 §55002: Curriculum Committee. The college and/or district curriculum committee recommending the course shall be established by the mutual agreement of the college and/or district administration and the academic senate. The committee shall be either a committee of the academic senate or a committee that includes faculty and is otherwise comprised in a way that is mutually agreeable to the college and/or district administration and the academic senate.

6. ASCCC THE CURRICULUM COMMITTEE: ROLE, STRUCTURE, DUTIES, AND STANDARDS OF GOOD PRACTICES • “The policies and procedures by which the committee will operate are determined by the academic senate, either solely or in partnership with the board. Because of this required senate oversight, there must be a direct link between the curriculum committee and the senate.”

7. Discussion #1 How are relations on your campus between the Curriculum Committee and the Academic Senate?

8. Types of Issues – Discussion #2 • Let’s examine the Prerequisite Implementation Standards and Credit Course Repetition Guidelines as examples of process.

9. Prerequisite Guidelines • Require change or review of Board Policy • Require a choice between statistical validation + content review or content review alone • Require analysis of required entry and exit skills • Require enrollment management consideration

10. Discussion #2 a • How does the Academic Senate and Curriculum Committee work together to address the work required of Prerequisite Implementation?

11. Credit Course Repetition • Requires modification of curriculum • Requires identification of courses related in content • Requires some rather challenging discussions

12. Discussion #2b • How does the Academic Senate and Curriculum Committee work together to address the work required of implementing the Credit Course Repetition requirements?

13. Effective Practices • One way to keep the lines of communication between the senate and curriculum committee open is through the curriculum chair. • There are many possible ways of choosing your curriculum chair: • Current Senate President • Past Senate President • Appointed by Senate President • Member of Senate Exec Board • Elected by the curriculum committee • Elected by Faculty • However the chair is chosen, they must be at every senate meeting

14. Effective Practices • The curriculum chair reports on the work of the committee at every senate meeting. • Train your senate about what the role of the curriculum committee is and how the senate works with the committee to make recommendations to the governing board. • Train the curriculum committee members to remember that the senate is the recommending body on all 10+1 items even if the committee is permitted to send things straight to the board. • Don’t let them believe they are alone on the island.

15. Fostering a Collegial Discussion • Many of the topics Academic Senates and local Curriculum Committees may need to moderate are conversations with discordant viewpoints

16. Factors for Creating Collegial Environment – Communication Styles • Awareness of Different Styles of Communication: • Closed Style • More productive working with programs than with people • Seeks little feedback • Prefer to work alone • Appreciate reassurance about working in a safe environment • KEY: Discuss things in a one-on-one setting • Blind Style • Subject matter experts who can accomplish tremendous tasks with little or no input from others • They are usually “right” and their ideas are “better” • KEY: “piggy-back” on their ideas, validating their contributions and furthering the general agenda

17. Factors for Creating Collegial Environment – Communication Styles • Awareness of Different Styles of Communication cont’d. • Hidden Style • Great interpersonal skills • Often hide their true feelings and knowledge from others • Prefer to avoid conflict, • Wishing that everyone liked them; usually very friendly • KEY: Demonstrate the importance of teamwork as being important to success • Open Style • Use both disclosure and feedback • Are equally interested in people’s needs and productivity • May disclose too much information which may make people around them uncomfortable • Generally are sensitive to the needs of others and realize that conflict can be productive  • KEY: Open communicators are best at negotiating and coming up with solutions that satisfy the needs of all parties • Summary: All communication styles have their advantages and disadvantages. Awareness of styles helps in various situations.

18. Factors for Creating Collegial Environment – Effective Listening • Basic Stages of the Listening Process: • Sensing Stage • The foundation of effective listening • listeners determine the most important information from the multitude of data received • Listener needs to assure that they have completely understood the message • Listener must be genuinely concerned about the message • Interpreting Stage • listeners assign meaning to the messages that they have seen, heard, and felt in the sensing stage • Information is often lost in translation; • Listener must check that they have understood the communicator • Some of the errors that occur in this stage occur because the person receiving the information assumes they understand and does not check if the information received from the sender is accurate.

19. Factors for Creating Collegial Environment – Effective Listening • Basic Stages of Listening Process, cont’d. • Evaluating Stage • Listener thinks about the message, add inferences, evaluates, and judges the speaker and the message • Listeners’ evaluations are often affected by their attitude toward the speaker  • Listener needs to make sure they are not distracted by non-verbal communication that can often detract from the quality of the information received • Responding stage • Listener must communicate their feedback to the sender • This stage allows the sender to evaluate the messages they sent and whether the listener correctly understood. This is the stage where errors from the interpreting stage are identified and corrected • Memory Stage • processed information is stored and can be transmitted or shared with other people • People generally tend to remember only 10 to 25 percent of a presentation they have heard the next day, week, or month • This is one reason why we need to thoughtfully organize, effectively deliver, repeat, and present clearly to facilitate the retention of the information presented

20. Factors for Creating Collegial Environment – Conflict Resolution • Strategies for Reducing Conflicts: • Process Conflicts: • Ask yourself, “How much control do I have over this process conflict?” • Identify the root cause of the problem and analyze the improvement opportunity. • Talk first to the owner of the process. • Describe the current problem and get agreement. • Suggest a workable solution and action plan. • Follow-through on the plan and give recognition to the owner of the process. • Role Conflict • Ask yourself, “Exactly how do I perceive my role in relation to others involved in this issue? • Take responsibility for clarifying your role with others involved. • Be prepared to change your perception of your role. • Show your willingness to be flexible in achieving your organization’s goals. • Stay positive. View any role change in terms of the opportunities it presents.

21. Factors for Creating Collegial Environment – Conflict Resolution • Strategies for Resolving Conflicts, cont’d. • Interpersonal Conflicts • Ask yourself, “How much do my personal biases and prejudices affect this relationship?” • Write down three behaviors that you could change in order to reduce the conflict in this relationship. Commit to following through on these changes for at least three months. • Ask the other person involved how you could defuse the existing conflict. Encourage feedback that might seem brutally honest. • Put yourself in their position. How do you think they view your commitment to reducing conflict in your relationship? Why? • Make a list of 5 strengths that you see in the other person. Then list five ways that improving this relationship would benefit you.

22. Factors for Creating Collegial Environment – Conflict Resolution • Strategies for Reducing Conflicts cont’d. • Direction conflicts • Ask yourself, “Am I clear on the direction or vision?” • Clarify the discrepancy so that it can be easily described in neutral words and take action. • Ask permission to address the discrepancy with the other person in a friendly, non-confrontational way and gain agreement. • Use “I” and “we” messages rather than “you” messages. • If there is a difference in values, always go with the higher value. • Make authentic commitments. • External Conflict • Ask yourself, “How much control do I have over this factor?” • Choose to fight battles that are worth the price. • Put your energy into things you “can do” rather than complain about what you “can’t do.” • Do something good for others. • Maintain perspective and a sense of purpose. • Talk to someone you trust.

23. Factors for Creating Collegial Environment – Conflict Resolution • Create a Conflict Resolution Plan: • List specific conflict • List people involved • Create a plan of action • Lists expected results • Appoint an accountability partner

24. In Closing: General Effective Practices • Multi college districts have many different structures that need to be considered. No matter what your structure is, all college senates need to know what is happening and be involved in all policy recommendations. • The policies that apply to students should not be different at the different colleges in a district.

25. Resources • ASCCC 1996 Paper: The Curriculum Committee: Role, Structure, Duties, and Standards of Good Practices May 2006 http://asccc.org/sites/default/files/Curriculum.pdf • Rostrum Article: Where, Oh Where Does the Curriculum Go? M. Pilati http://asccc.org/node/176682 • ASCCC Curriculum Website http://www.ccccurriculum.info/ • Oduaran, B. Communication: Effective Ways to Improve Internal and External Communication in system Development. http://www.umsl.edu/~sauterv/analysis/Fall2010Papers/Oduaran/ • Dale Carnegie Training. Internal Conflict Resolution Guidebook. http://www.dalecarnegie.com/assets/1/7/ConflictResolution_sm.pdf