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Thursday, October 24, 2013

Transformative Change: BOT's Vision for a New UT

"Would you like ketchup on that degree?"

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's the next step: mail order degrees? Just send us a check or credit card number...maybe we could do subscription degrees. As long as you pay your continuing subscription, you degree will be valid.

Anonymous said...

You are not being fully fair to the BOT or the administration on this. What about the pressure from Washington and Columbus to increase graduation rates? What we are going to do is give credit for "prior experiences", dumb down the curriculum, put courses online where student cheating is rampant, and create an incentive structure (more emphasis on teaching evaluations, online instruction, student assessment..) that leads faculty to engage in the "social passing" of students. All of this will help increase graduation rates.

Anonymous said...

http://peoplesworld.org/author-calls-for-fight-to-prevent-extinction-of-the-college-prof/

Anonymous said...

"You are not being fully fair to the BOT or the administration on this."

My overwhelming sense is that the BOT and the administration are in league with the Republicans in Columbus and their reckless approach to higher education.

None of their public remarks have led me to believe otherwise.

Anonymous said...

I believe what the previous poster was referring to were that many of the changes and concerns expressed on this board about UT are also reflective in part to emerging issues and trends in higher education across the U.S. I recently was talking to a colleague from another mid sized public university and before I explained any of what was happening at UT, he spent 20 minutes expressing the frustration of his faculty over their administration and many of the same issues raised here at UT. Not to take all the blame off the UT BOT and Administration but perhaps to look at it with a broader perspective.

Anonymous said...

http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2013/10/02/a-machiavellian-guide-to-destroying-public-universities-in-12-easy-steps/

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 6:45pm

This concise critique in CHS is spot-on. I recommend that Bloggie publishes this 12-step guide word for word on this site.

Anonymous said...

The students may be invited to "drive thru" and pick up their diploma at UT, but the faculty of this institution are being thrown under the bus by administrators who would eagerly drive over us with their shiny new dl programs that will be overseen by non-subject-matter "experts" and delivered by part-time instructors paid a pittance.

Anonymous said...

Contract: Faculty will pay the Provost a sum of $5,000 if he signs over his intellectual property regarding "strategic management." Said contract will include language that allows us to staff the work of being a Provost at our discretion.

Anonymous said...

Interesting possibility. Since you bring up the issue of contracts, here's the course development agreement contract Cruickshank is asking faculty to sign for Distance Learning:
Course Development Agreement
This Course Development Agreement (the “Agreement”) is made and entered into by and between The University of Toledo (the “University”) and name, whose Rocket ID number is R and who teaches in the Department of xx at the University (the “Faculty Member”), this th day of date (the “Effective Date”).
1) The University wishes to create modern, high technology, high touch courses that will better engage and educate students, as well as help distinguish the University’s brand. The Course being developed will be offered in conjunction with The University of Toledo’s World Campus College Credit Plus Program.

2) The Faculty Member has subject matter expertise essential to the development of course number, course name (the “Course”), and wishes to provide such expertise to the development of the Course.
Therefore, for the good and valuable consideration set forth in this Agreement, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, the parties hereto agree:
Course Development
1) Faculty Member agrees to develop the Course for the University with the assistance of a development team provided to Faculty Member by the University. Faculty Member agrees to meet with the “Development Team” to ensure the Course conforms to best practices in teaching and learning, incorporates Quality Matters (QM) standards (see Appendix A) into the course design to ensure course quality, and meets American’s with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act requirements for accessibility.

2) The course will be prepared over the xx week period beginning date, so that the Course may first be offered to students in the semester of year.

3) The Course will be developed as a x semester hour course so that it complies with the course development criteria set forth in Appendix A (the ”Course Development Criteria”).

4) The Faculty Member agrees to develop the Course using a “master course” model that consists of a reusable course template with content that can easily be replicated in multiple sections that can be taught or facilitated by multiple instructors.

5) Faculty member agrees to develop the Course for all three of the following modes of delivery:
100% online: asynchronous online interaction and content delivery.
Blended (Option #1): synchronous interaction via web-conferencing software and asynchronous online content delivery.
Blended (Option #2): asynchronous online content delivery and synchronous on-campus activities.

More to follow...

Anonymous said...

DL contract continued:

Course Offering and Ownership
1) The Course is being developed by the Faculty Member as “work for hire” for the University. As such, ownership of the Course and all related intellectual property rights and all copyright responsibilities belong to the University.

2) The parties understand and agree that although the Course may include an online component and materials, and may in the future be offered as a pure “distance learning” course, the Course is not being created solely as a “distance learning course” and as such the provisions regarding distance learning courses included in the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Board of Trustees for the University and the American Association of University Professors, University of Toledo Chapter, including Article 28, will not apply to the Course nor to this Agreement.

3) Offerings of the Course will be staffed and scheduled at the discretion of the University, if at all.

4) From the date of execution of this Agreement, Faculty Member must diligently and continuously pursue the final development of the Course and cooperate with the Development Team and other University employees. The Course will be reviewed by the Development Team when the Faculty Member is ready or four months from date of execution of the Agreement, whichever is earlier, to determine if it meets the Course Development Criteria. If the University, in its sole and absolute discretion, finds the Course Development Criteria have not been met, the University will inform Faculty Member with a notice of the elements of the Course Development Criteria that have not been met. Upon receipt of such notice, Faculty Member will prepare a course revision plan (the “Course Revision Plan”) that will make future offerings of such the Course meet the Course Development Criteria and submit it to the Development Team for approval. If the University does not approve one or more elements of the Course Revision Plan, the University will give notice to Faculty Member of such non-approved element(s) for Faculty Member to correct. The foregoing described process between Faculty Member and the Development Team will continue until all aspects of the Course Revision Plan have been approved by the University.

5) At the conclusion of the initial offering of the Course, the Development Team will assess the Course as it was offered to determine that it in practice met the Course Development Criteria. If necessary, the Development Team will provide a notice to Faculty Member of the elements not met. Faculty Member will then prepare a Course Revision Plan that will make future offerings of the Course meet the Course Development Criteria. This process will continue until all aspects of the Course Revision Plan have been approved by the Development Team. If at any time during the process described in Course Offering and Ownership 4) or 5) the Faculty Member is not continuously and diligently pursuing final approval of the Course, the University will provide thirty days’ notice to the Faculty Member and he/she must prove to the Development Team’s satisfaction the progress of the Course development. If not proven, Development Team will provide a notice to Faculty Member to reimburse any amounts paid by University. If not paid within thirty days of this notice, Faculty Member hereby authorizes the University to withhold the amount due and owing from his/her paycheck(s) until paid in full.

6) The Faculty Member and the University acknowledge that upon signing this agreement any and all work product related to the Course, which is generated by the Faculty Member, the Development Team or the University is wholly owned by the University.

Anonymous said...

DL contract concluded:
Compensation
Compensation for creation of the Course will consist of support in the form of either money or release time, either of which constitutes significant financial support from the University, as follows:
1) Money - University will provide significant financial support to Faculty Member in the form of money beyond his/her normal salary in the amount $5,000.00 for all services connected to the development of the Course as set forth in this Agreement pursuant to the following timetable:

A) 30% upon both parties signing this Agreement; and

B) 50% after the course has been taught for the first time and the Faculty Member has submitted an assessment report (including student evaluations, course data, etc.); and

C) 20% upon the first to occur of:

a. at the conclusion of the Course provided the Course meets the Course Development Criteria such that a Course Revision Plan is not needed; or

b. after the Faculty Member makes the changes required by the Course Revision Plan and said plan has been approved in its entirety by the University.

2) Dean XX has agreed to provide a course release for XX semester(s) of 2014.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, if Faculty Member has not completed development of the Course by the end of the period specified in Course Development 2), above, Faculty Member will reimburse the University the payment made under (A) in the preceding paragraph. Furthermore, if Faculty Member has not completed any requested Course Revision Plan for the Course within ninety days of the end of the semester in which the Course was first offered, the University will be relieved of its responsibility to make the payment described under (C) in the preceding paragraph.

Anonymous said...

And LV project team members who provide insufficient support for UTxNet course development will be required to reimburse the University a portion of their pay or have those funds deducted from their regular pay

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a great deal! Negate the need for your services and those of your colleagues, lifelong, in exchange for five thousand bucks!

Anonymous said...

Regarding this distance learning scam:

If you work for management outside the scope of the collective bargaining agreement, that makes you a scab, right?

Anonymous said...

May as well. My brain's been French-fried.