Report of the Task Force On Educational Opportunities and Challenges
Report of the Task Force On Educational Opportunities and ChallengesThis report is submitted and endorsed by the following members of the New Educational Opportunities and Challenges Task Force. While some specific recommendations are not unanimously supported, there is unanimous agreement about the general directions in this document.
| Rick Butler | Professor, Biomedical Sciences |
|---|---|
| Jim Dickson | Professor, Chemical Engineering |
| John Drake | Assistant Vice-President Information Services and Technology |
| Bob Hudspith | Assistant Professor Mechanical Engineering |
| David Rollo | Associate Professor, Biology |
| Dale Schenk | Director, Centre for Continuing Education |
| Robyn Smith | Admission Officer, Office of the Registrar |
| Laura Vyvyan | Graduate Student, English |
| Marvin Ryder | Lecturer, Marketing & Business Policy, Task Force Chair |
The President of McMaster University, Peter George, struck eight task forces to examine issues facing the University. One was charged with looking at New Educational Opportunities and Challenges. Nine members were recruited including a graduate student, a member of staff, and faculty from all academic levels and most Faculties. The task force met nearly weekly to develop a process, to think divergently and then to converge on a set of recommendations listed below. These have been gathered under five "Opportunity" headings. In the main report, each recommendation is supported with background information and analysis. The number of each recommendation and the order of presentation of the various "Opportunities" has no significance other than to organize our thoughts. Though some of the recommendations may overlap with each other or with recommendations made by other task forces, this should be viewed as reinforcement rather than inefficiency. An overriding concern of the committee is the need for an "overseer" to synthesize, harmonize and organize all eight task force reports.
Each recommendation is strongly supported by the Task Force. Though controversial in its exact meaning, each member of the task force was asked to assign a score to each recommendation with "5" representing the highest priority and "1" representing the lowest priority. These are presented only in this summary as a "star" rating. These should not be interpreted as an order of importance but represent a degree of short-term general impact on the University as a whole. Beyond that some members used the priority scheme to reward more innovative ideas while others looked more at "do-ability."
Implementation Issues
Nothing will happen unless someone is assigned to "champion" it. We can see a need for "task masters" for particular initatives and a need to coordinate their activities. Some "task masters" may be volunteers while others may be given course relief or seconded to the task. Their actions should be recognized as scholarly contributions to teaching for purposes of tenure and promotion. We also see a need to bring together resources from Instructional Development, the Bookstore, Printing, Audio Visual, Computing, etc.
Recommendation A: Either a university level steering committee be struck or a person be designated (probably the Associate Vice-President (Academic)) to ensure the coordinated implementation of new educational opportunities and responses to challenges. There should be sufficient power to effect desired goals through the President's Office. There should be semi-annual reports to the President/Senate.
The committee also noted a general lack of an "undergraduate education champion." There is an entire Faculty of Graduate Studies yet there is no "Faculty of Undergraduate Studies." We imagine that at one time the Dean(s) of each Faculty were considered champions of undergraduateeducation but their time is being split to cover so many other problems that undergraduate education may be slipping through the cracks. Many of the cuts made in the face of this recent budget crisis affect undergraduate education more than graduate studies. The Associate Vice-President (Academic), in theory, fulfills this role but a close examination of the "Terms of Reference" finds this role buried amongst "personnel matters," "interviewing candidates," "promotion and tenure decisions," and "alternate for the Provost on high level university committees."
Recommendation B: Reinforce the role of Undergraduate Council with the creation of a "Dean of Undergraduate Education" or by enhancing the role of the Associate Vice-President (Academic). This champion could acts as a lightning rod to attract resources as needed. He/she would also help push implementation issues against inertia.
Opportunities Based on New Learners
Recommendation 1: Develop a benefit package, service infrastructure and fee schedule for a new student category "McMaster Associate Learner/McMaster Questor." Priority: *** ½
Recommendation 2: Promote McMaster as: 1) a community of scholars; and 2) a place where ideas are exchanged. Priority: ***
Recommendation 3: Expand and vigorously market existing university enrichment programmes for earlier exposure of high school students to university studies. Priority: ***½
Recommendation 4: Develop a conduit for admitting exceptional high school students without the full complement of OAC courses. Tie into hierarchical curriculum proposal (See Recommendation 22). Priority: ****
Recommendation 5: Establish a permanent recognized programme for study and assessment of students for whom English skills need improvement. Priority: ***
Opportunities Based on New Teachers
Recommendation 6: Develop new opportunities to use graduate and undergraduate students as "student-teachers" to facilitate small groups, help professors develop new materials, and/or do pedagogical research. Priority: ***½
Recommendation 7: Develop more courses (like Psychology 3XX3) or sets of courses towards a certificate designed to teach students (both graduate and undergraduate) how to teach. The practical experience component of the course could be fulfilled by acting as a teaching assistantin undergraduate courses under the direction of the instructor. Priority: ***½
Recommendation 8: Candidates with an emphasis on teaching and education should be considered for tenure track positions as they become available. Current lecturers and other sessional instructors hired for longer term contracts should be found a proper place in the existing tenure and promotion system of the University. Priority: ****
Recommendation 9: Part-time lecturers or "instructors" should be used, on a short term basis, to teach speciality courses where revenues from such courses would pay their salaries and return a profit to the university. If enrolments are too low, then the course would not be offered. Priority: ***½
Recommendation 10: A factor in promotion decisions should be "educational entrepreneurship" which recognizes the development of new educational products or the targetting of new educational markets. Such developments could involve degree programmes or certificate/ diploma programmes. Priority: ****
Opportunities Based on New Ways to Design Programmes
Recommendation 11: All interdisciplinary academic programmes should be classified as short term or long term. The short terms exercises should have a finite life with the possibility of renegotiation or redirection upon termination. Priority: **
Recommendation 12: Innovative interdisciplinary graduate and undergraduate programmes should be encouraged and supported by the university. New topic areas for interdisciplinary programmes could be Environmental Studies; Earth Sciences; Negotiation; Atmospheric Studies; Water. Which of these represent short or long term programming would be negotiated among the providers, the sponsors, and the administration. Examples of potential interdisciplinary degrees could be: Bachelor of Technology or Bachelor of Communications. Priority: ****
Recommendation 13: Existing co-op and internship programmes should be maintained and expanded where possible. New programmes should be developed to match market demand. Priority: ****
Recommendation 14: Professional continuing education programmes should be pursued in light of stated demand (i.e., Bank of Montreal's goal of giving all employees a university education provided at on-site facilities); the four industry sectors of the Renaissance Project (environmental products and services, health products and services, advanced manufacturing, and tourism) should be emphasized.
Recommendation 15: Develop one year Bachelor's Programmes for degree switchers and degree enhancers. Priority: ***
Recommendation 16: Develop short term Applied Master's Programmes along the lines of the M.B.A. programme. Priority: ***½
Recommendation 17: Develop a different type of doctoral programme along the lines of the Doctor of Ministry model. An example of such a programme would be a Doctor of Business Administration. There is an increasing need for individuals that synthesize the broad base of existing knowledge, rather than just those who add new "bricks." Virtually every field of science could benefit from the activities of such individuals (they are often the ones generating new theory). Such individuals in fact, would be ideal candidates for University teaching streams. Priority: ***½
Recommendation 18: Harmonize the timetabling and correct the infrastructure differences between McMaster and its surrounding institutions. This should improve the effective use of the electronic classrooms on campus. (See Recommendation 29 for another example of harmonization) Priority: ****½
Recommendation 19: Cooperate on new joint course offerings with surrounding institutions and look for chances to use satellite links and team teaching. Priority: ****
Recommendation 20: Prepare for participation in Pan-Ontario/Canadian protocols for education. Priority: ***
Recommendation 21: Strike a curriculum committee to examine a hierarchical curriculum proposal which would allow certificates and diplomas to be awarded (in addition to degrees) to students completing portions of a degree programme. This could also allow continuing education students to easily step from non-degree credit programmes into degree-credit programmes. Priority: ****½
Recommendation 22: Introduce the concept of concentrated learning modules/seminars into both non-degree credit and degree-credit programmes through a pilot project/test market.
Priority: ***½
Recommendation 23: Meet with professional associations (ICAO, CGA, CMA, PEO, etc.) to determine the feasibility of developing custom educational modules. Priority: ***½
Opportunities Based on New Formats for Learning
Recommendation 24: Combine Part-Time Degree Studies and the Centre for Continuing Education into a new department that supports all continuing education students.
Priority: ****½
Recommendation 25: Provide a greater number of degree-credit programme courses in theevenings, on weekends, and during the summer to cater to the needs of continuing education students, and to open up the number of degree opportunities available to them. This could include programmes at the Master or Doctoral level. Priority: ***½
Recommendation 26: Study the feasibility of providing continuing education students with distance education in lieu of attending classes on-campus. Support this initiative with funds to create or share resources. Priority: ***½
Recommendation 27: Redesign the schedule system to recognize (and foster) different ways to offer courses (eg. two one-hour scheduled sessions with a third hour for small groups scheduled by the instructor, or one two-hour scheduled session with the third hour scheduled by the instructor). Some members of the task force favoured a schedule with one hour slots Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and 1.5 hour slots Tuesday and Thursday. Priority: ****
Recommendation 28: Adopt a term to match those of other nearby universities (i.e., 11 or 12 week school term) to encourage the joint offering of courses. Any change in term should consider a shorter exam period (to allow for a longer break between terms) and/or a study week in term I. Students should be told when the final exam in a course has been scheduled at registration. Priority: ****
Opportunities Based on New Places for Learning
Recommendation 29: Undertake a pilot study involving at least three courses in three different Faculties to determine the instructional and cost effectiveness of delivering courses on the World Wide Web. Priority: ****
Recommendation 30: Develop a structure to give royalties to professors for their development work of CD's, videos, or printed custom courseware. Profits should not go strictly to the University, Faculty or Department. Priority: ***½
Recommendation 31: Invest significant funds (minimum of $200,000 per annum) over the next decade to renovate, re-equip and modernize the classroom inventory at McMaster. As part of this, all classrooms should be equipped with ethernet connections, working screens, proper lighting, and an overhead projector. Priority: *****
Recommendation 32: Establish an annual budget of $200,000 for the acquisition of educational technology for classrooms. Such purchases would include microphone systems, video/data projectors (critical for classrooms accommodating 100 or more students) and new overhead projectors. Priority: ****½
Recommendation 33: Develop an inventory of services, including the Centre for Continuing Education, that are capable of assisting individuals or departments in developing or presenting newprogrammes. McMaster should provide guidance and a mandate to support departments for providing this assistance. Priority: ****
Recommendation 34: Inventoried departments should develop a comprehensive plan for assisting other departments in new programme initiatives. Such a plan should include informational material, models for collaboration, and pricing. Priority: ****
Recommendation 35: A developmental fund should be set up for individuals or departments to assist in (borrow for) development costs for unique new programme initiatives. The money could be repaid in various ways. Priority: **½
Table of Contents
An Educational Vision
The Ideal Graduate of McMaster University
Reasons for Educational Innovation and Challenges to Be Met
Opportunities and Responses to Challenges
1) Opportunities Based on New Learners
Opportunity 1.1: New Student Category: Associate Learner/McMaster Quester
Opportunity 1.2: Get High School Students into University Earlier
2) Opportunities Based on New Teachers
Opportunity 2.1: Students as Teachers
Opportunity 2.2: Encouraging Professors to Focus Efforts on Instruction
Opportunity 2.3: Rewards for Educational Entrepreneurship
3) Opportunities Based on New Ways to Design Programmes
Opportunity 3.1: Inter-Disciplinary Programmes and Degrees
Opportunity 3.2: Integrated Work and Study Programmes
Opportunity 3.3: New Programmes
Opportunity 3.4: Inter-University/College Co-operation
Opportunity 3.5: A Hierarchical Curriculum
Opportunity 3.6: Modular Courses
4) Opportunities Based on New Formats for Learning
Opportunity 4.1: Part-time/Continuing Education
Opportunity 4.2: New Scheduling System
5) Opportunities Based on New Places for Learning
Opportunity 5.1: Use of Technology (CD's, Videos, Satellite, Internet) in Teaching
Opportunity 5.2: Renovate/Modernize Classroom Inventory
Opportunity 5.3: Instructional and Business Support for New Products
Appendix 1: Products/Services We Now Offer
Appendix 2: Current Markets Served
Appendix 3: Formats Used to Offer Education
Appendix 4: What Resources We Have
Appendix 5: Survey from New Educational Opportunities & Challenges Task Force