MELA Meeting Minutes 2003 - 2017

IV. Unfinished Business a. Approve vision statement for 2013-2017: Keri Cole made the motion to approve. Kimberly Ellis seconded the motion. Motion carried. Our vision for this strategic cycle is to expand opportunities for student success in online courses by utilizing emerging technologies to accommodate a variety of learning styles, creating more robust online communities, increasing focus on student services, and growing program offerings while ensuring integrity and promoting the benefits of the MSVCC. Focus will be on quality, retention, support, and growth. b. Flex Terms: Jennifer Leimer updated on Flex Terms. Jennifer noted that they removed the courses from the ET but they are running them as local MGCCC courses. Jennifer respectfully requested that the State review the option to add more terms to the ET. Dr. Christian Pruett stated that Dr. Ronnie Nettles is going to convene the Technology Sub-Committee regarding new terms to the ET and it will be addressed by the President’s in the future. There is no ETA on when they will be approved. New Business a. Course Offerings Addendum: Keri Cole asked about the recommendation to add to the consortium agreement about local colleges filling local courses before pulling one in from another college. This is a procedure that seems to be followed by most colleges, but it needs to be added to the consortia agreement to ensure we are following proper policies and procedures. Keri made the recommendation to present this to the Presidents. Jennifer Leimer seconded the motion. Motion was carried. Keri stated she would type up a recommendation and send to the ELC’s prior to sending to Presidents for review. b. MELO: Keri Cole asked that the group review MELO to determine if there was a need for improvements or recommendations in order to make the product easier for student use. The MELO committee of the Library Directors control the webpage for MELO. Jennifer Leimer asked for the survey results to be reviewed. According to the survey results, not many students are using the product. Keri Cole asked that this be reviewed again at the next meeting. c. NBC Learn: Phyllis Johnson stated that NWCC had been doing a pilot regarding the product. MCC has been also piloting. Discussion was made on whether it would work with other LMS products. As Chair of the Support Committee, I will send an email to Matt Adams to try and move forward with a proposal/contract. Will also need to establish a conference call if necessary. Will need to determine how usage will work on a new LMS. Discussion was made about the cost of Smarthinking in comparison to NBC Learn. Keri Cole discussed that the cost was about .50 cents per student per year. Christian Pruett will begin discussions with NBC Learn to see about extending the pilot. The ELC group would like to get this in place prior to leaving for the Winter Break. MCCB Business a. RFP update: Christian Pruett stated that we are still under the NDA policy and we cannot discuss the RFP process. Word seems to have gotten out across the system. Canvas was recommended to the Presidents but no decision is final at this point. December the 13 th at 9:00am the Presidents will meet teleconference to discuss the final decision. If we move to a new LMS, Dr. Pruett would like to begin that process by February 1, 2013. Dr. Pruett urged us to share out thoughts with our President’s prior to the December 13 th meeting. VI. V.

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