WMU Faculty Senate approves new add/drop policies, clicker use

By Josh Holderbaum
Western Herald

Two aspects of Western Michigan University students run into often may be getting a facelift: add/drop policies and clickers.

Both topics came up at Thursday’s WMU Faculty Senate meeting in the Fetzer Center.

The Professional Concerns Committee brought up two memoranda about changing the withdrawal process from a class.

“Right now, there are three semi-conflicting languages in the withdrawal process,” said John Miller, Ph.D., Professional Concerns Committee chair. “Those can confuse students as well as faculty and administrators.”

Currently, students can withdraw in three ways: during registration up to the 10-week period for no penalty, after the drop period for a penalty, or after a class has finished by filing an appeal to the Grade Appeal and Program Dismissal Appeals Committee.

The deadlines are shorter for summer classes.

The new withdrawal system approved by the Senate removes withdrawals after the 10-week period before the end of the semester.

Under the new system, a withdrawal could be a “drop,” one during the drop/add period, a “student-initiated withdraw,” one after registration but before the 10-week period or a “hardship panel-initiated withdraw,” one approved by a newly created hardship panel.

The three-person hardship panel consists of a pool of faculty selected by availability, Miller said.

Each decision would come within 20 days and be announced to the student and faculty by the ombudsman.

The senate also approved the definitions of “hardship” as severe illnesses, traumatic events, and military service, as opposed to students finding a course to be too difficult or being too busy.

“The definition of hardship isn’t difficult,” Miller said. “It’s just like how we say, ‘How do we define pornography? I know it when I see it.’”

Students would need “documented, exceptional circumstances” to be eligible for hardship and would still receive a W grade if they drop after the drop/add period.

Both motions of appeal will be held for 30 days or until the next Faculty Senate meeting before going before administration and President John Dunn for approval.
The administration declined a similar memorandum last year.

“They agreed on the concept but took issue to some specifics,” Miller said. “So we went back, talked to the Provost’s Office and Registrar and had a few changes on the memoranda.”

The Senate also heard a presentation on WMU’s choice to have a university-sponsored clicker by Tabitha Mingus, Ph.D., Academic and Information Technology Council member.

For those that haven’t used them, clickers work like remote controls that allow students to respond to a teacher’s questions.

“The use of clickers is on the rise and [WMU] is no exception,” Mingus said. “Some publishers are also wrapping clickers with textbooks at little cost to them and more cost to students. And students don’t really like that. Some have to buy several clickers each semester.”

Supporting a single clicker would allow WMU better cost and buy-back structures and enable OIT clicker support.

The Council compared and met with representatives from four manufacturers of clickers used on campus: iClicker, e-Instruction, Qwizdom and Turning Point.

After comparing the four by ranking features such as durability, ease of use, cost, input type and software preferences, iClicker came out on top.

“Of the faculty using iClicker, iClicker was their top choice,” Mingus said. “Of the faculty not using iClicker, it was also their top choice. So there was both brand loyalty and brand envy.”

The decision came with only two downsides: their clickers have no alphanumeric input and students would have to respond at the same time, Mingus said.

The iClickers will be ready in the fall and cost around $35 for students. The decision also won’t prevent instructors from using other clicker brands.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Mar 14 2010. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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