Report of the Semester Conversion Task Force - California State ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Semester Conversion Task Force ReportTerm Weeks Terms Units intype in term in year in termInstruct. Total Simul- Years tohours per hours per taneous degreeweek week courses compl.A Quarter 10 3 4 4 12 1 15C Semester 15 2 6 6 18 2 10D Semester 14 2 6 6 18 2 10E Semester 10 3 3 4.5 13.5 1 13.33CommunicationOne of the primary transformational outcomes of the conversion process should be the employment ofnewly designed digital media tools and University workgroups to provide support to improve Universitywidecommunications.Recommendations:CONV-10CONV-11CONV-12In consultation with ITS, the purchase and integration of communication software veryearly in the conversion process. Such software (e.g. content management system) willfurther enable current, cost-effective University-wide communication. A content managementsystem for the University website could reduce time/labor for manual reviewand update of roughly 250,000+ web pages within the www.calstatela.edu site.The Senate create a Student Communications Committee that includes members fromthe Office of Admissions and Recruitment, ASI (or representative student members),Public Affairs, and Undergraduate Studies-University Advisement—along with a representativeof the Senate itself. If the Office of Public Affairs re-establishes the UniversityCommunications Board, also recommended, then at least one member of that Boardshould also serve on this committee. The committee’s charge will include ascertainingthat prospective, new, and continuing student problems and concerns regardingcommunication of semester conversion changes, policies and procedures, as well asproposing solutions to such problems and concerns to appropriate administrators.In coordination with University Advisement an updated and interactive advisementweb page, as well as ongoing Academic Success Workshops.Infrastructure (student services)Student services are critical to the day-to-day operation of the University. They are also a significantfactor in shaping the experience of being a student at CSULA. These are services that enablestudents to register for courses smoothly and in a timely fashion; to apply for and receive financial aiddistributions; to obtain advisement so that their courseloads are efficiently constructed to minimize timeto degree completion; to develop study, information literacy, writing, and content skills; and to pursueemployment both during and following their academic careers at CSULA. In addition, other studentservices provide students with housing, parking, and disability accommodation services.19
Semester Conversion Task Force ReportBecause many of our student services are overburdened, they are sometimes slow, unresponsive,difficult to access, and frustrating to use. A primary goal of the Task Force is to use conversion as anopportunity to rethink the organization and functioning of our student services infrastructure with theobjective of making these services more efficient, more responsive, more user-friendly, and more costeffective.We expect that these improvements will also enhance the student experience at CSULA.Recommendations:CONV-13CONV-14CONV-15CONV-16CONV-17Significantly increase front-line staff to provide more personalized services to students.Such a move would not only provide a personal touch but would assist students innavigating what may appear to be a challenging, impersonal process.An effective working environment for staff be provided by equipping facilities so thatthey are ergonomically correct to facilitate a productive workforce, including state-ofthe-arttechnology.The automation of as many processes as possible by placing forms and documentsonline and conducting online reviews. We recommend that the forms be ADA-compliantto protect the health of students, staff, and faculty.Link current stand-alone database systems (e.g., EOP, Blackboard/WebCT, or theequivalent Learning Management System) to GET so that a modification of one willautomatically propagate to the other.Improve user friendliness of the campus web pages to facilitate ease of navigationand information retrieval.Information TechnologyInformation technology (IT) is the backbone of all modern institutions both for operations and education.The University is no exception. Semester conversion represents a unique opportunity to update,optimize, and refresh our technological infrastructure while capitalizing upon new and emerging trendsin educational technology.CONV-18We recommend that the University take advantage of semester conversion to(a) upgrade any outdated systems, (b) integrate any isolated systems (e.g.,Blackboard/WebCT or the equivalent Learning Management System), (c) establisha more effective alignment between the needs of the faculty and the goals of theDivision of Information Technology Services, (d) further the loosely coupledintegration of CSULA systems with CSU systems, and (e) prepare the University’sIT framework for the inevitable changes the coming years will bring.9See the ITS web page: http://www.calstatela.edu/its/about/ITSstrategicPlan2008-13.pdf.20
Page 2: Semester Conversion Task Force Repo
Page 6 and 7: Semester Conversion Task Force Repo
Page 46: Semester Conversion Task Force Repo

Report of the Semester Conversion Task Force - California State ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?