Bobcat 4x4 Update 23 Nov 2017
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Bobcat 4x4 Update
The Office of Academic Affairs offers its thanks to all of the faculty for continuing support of the redesign of MSU’s summer session. The fundamental aim of this redesign is to promote greater accessibility of the summer session to our students – whose other summer engagements may have precluded enrollment in the conventional sessions. Greater use of summer school by our students is expected to help advance progress to degree completion. The idea of 4-week summer sessions had been under consideration at MSU by the Graduate Success Team that launched several success initiatives in academic affairs beginning in the spring of 2014 – including the revised summer school funding model that began in Summer 2015. This idea was re-visited as part of the biennial review of the summer model, and gained traction both because of recent changes in Pell Scholarship rules that now allow the support of students enrolled in summer sessions, and MSU’s well-assessed success in its pilot experience with 4x4 sessions in entry-level Mathematics and Writing courses offered to Hilleman Scholars. As we move toward full expression of the 4x4 within the summer session, we will provide faculty and staff with regular program updates. This update includes information on key program dates, resources available to faculty to help support the re-design of their courses to work within the 4x4 model, and continuing work on plans to assess student and program success. Schedule. There will be a total of four 4-week sessions through the summer semester. Undergraduate courses that were previously given in a six-week session as face-to-face classes are expected to migrate into one of the first three 4-week sessions. The fourth 4-week session is for special courses planned for incoming students, for example the Hilleman Scholars. The start and end dates of the four 4x4 sessions are tabulated below.
New Course Development. If you are interested in offering a new course in any of the sessions, please bear in mind that in order to meet the Registrar’s target dates for new courses in the CIM (Course Inventory Management) workflow, proposals should be approved at the college level and reach the University CPC (Curriculum & Programs Committee) by January 8, 2018. Center for Faculty Excellence Support. The CFE is sponsoring a visit by Professor Mike Siddoway from Colorado College – a University that specializes in accelerated course instruction. Professor Siddoway is consulting with some departments and colleges on transitioning courses into the 4-week schedule. He will give a public presentation, entitled: “Best Teaching Practices for Accelerated Courses: Preparing for Summer Bobcat 4x4” The presentation is scheduled for Monday, November 27, 2017 in SUB Ballroom B 11:30-1:00 PM. The CFE has also small, but growing, repository of articles on best teaching practices for accelerated courses on their webpage at: http://www.montana.edu/facultyexcellence/TLResources/Bobcat4x4classes.html. Faculty are invited to submit articles to the repository. The CFEis also coordinating Communities of Practice for faculty who are interested in working together on 4x4 pedagogy. Please contactCFE Director Marilyn Lockhart to participate in these communities.
Assessment Planning. A team has been assembled to develop plans to assess the impact of the 4x4 program on student learning and progress to degree completion. This team will establish assessment metrics and methods, and develop an implementation plan for the assessment of all program components. The planning teamincludes:
Faculty who are interested in participating in assessment process are invited to contact the Office of Academic Affairs for opportunities.
Sincerely, Robert Mokwa, Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost |
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