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- March 31-May 14: REP stages Neil Simon's 'The Good Doctor'
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- April 5: Expert perspective on U.S. health care
- April 5: Comedian Ace Guillen to visit Scrounge
- April 6, May 4: School of Nursing sponsors research lecture series
- April 6-May 4: Confucius Institute presents Chinese Film Series on Wednesdays
- April 6: IPCC's Pachauri to discuss sustainable development in DENIN Dialogue Series
- April 7: 'WVUDstock' radiothon concert announced
- April 8: English Language Institute presents 'Arts in Translation'
- April 9: Green and Healthy Living Expo planned at The Bob
- April 9: Center for Political Communication to host Onion editor
- April 10: Alumni Easter Egg-stravaganza planned
- April 11: CDS session to focus on visual assistive technologies
- April 12: T.J. Stiles to speak at UDLA annual dinner
- April 15, 16: Annual UD push lawnmower tune-up scheduled
- April 15, 16: Master Players series presents iMusic 4, China Magpie
- April 15, 16: Delaware Symphony, UD chorus to perform Mahler work
- April 18: Former NFL Coach Bill Cowher featured in UD Speaks
- April 21-24: Sesame Street Live brings Elmo and friends to The Bob
- April 30: Save the date for Ag Day 2011 at UD
- April 30: Symposium to consider 'Frontiers at the Chemistry-Biology Interface'
- April 30-May 1: Relay for Life set at Delaware Field House
- May 4: Delaware Membrane Protein Symposium announced
- May 5: Northwestern University's Leon Keer to deliver Kerr lecture
- May 7: Women's volleyball team to host second annual Spring Fling
- Through May 3: SPPA announces speakers for 10th annual lecture series
- Through May 4: Global Agenda sees U.S. through others' eyes; World Bank president to speak
- Through May 4: 'Research on Race, Ethnicity, Culture' topic of series
- Through May 9: Black American Studies announces lecture series
- Through May 11: 'Challenges in Jewish Culture' lecture series announced
- Through May 11: Area Studies research featured in speaker series
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- Through July 15: 'Bodyscapes' on view at Mechanical Hall Gallery
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- UD calendar >>
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- UD Bookstore announces spring break hours
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- April 8-29: Faculty roundtable series considers student engagement
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- April 30: UD Evening with Blue Rocks set for employees
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8:03 a.m., Nov. 9, 2009----The importance of measuring student learning achievements as part of the institutional accreditation process and progress in the migration from WebCT to Sakai were among the items discussed during a meeting of the University of Delaware Faculty Senate held Monday afternoon, Nov. 2, in Gore Hall.
Provost Tom Apple told senate members that achieving outstanding scholarship and measuring academic rigor are necessary to reach the goals laid out in the University's strategic plan.
“We must strive for excellence in everything we do. It's a motto we've adopted,” Apple said. “Our idea is to measure things like outstanding scholarship and levels of academic rigor, so that we can see where we are walking along the Path to ProminenceTM.”
Components of achieving outstanding scholarship for individual faculty members include success in peer-reviewed competitive federal grant proposals, publication in top peer-reviewed journals and being asked to present at prestigious universities and national conferences.
“These are some of the things we are trying to measure here at UD to move ourselves up in terms of national prominence,” Apple said. “We have, or will soon have, access to data that is produced by Academic Analytics. Through this data, each of you will be able to see where your faculty and your unit rank relative to our peers and our aspirant universities on our Path to ProminenceTM.”
In terms of academic rigor, Apple said the real goal is to transform the lives of students by engaging them in research and service, and by challenging and sometimes confronting them.
Measuring the results of these efforts also will be critical when the Middle States Commission on Higher Education accreditation team visits the University in 2011, Apple noted.
“The Middle States Commission on Higher Education is very intent on causing a cultural shift at universities toward assessment of student learning,” Apple said. “It is becoming a very important part of reaccreditation.”
Apple said that Middle States is requiring institutions to establish an assessment cycle that clearly defines academic goals and provides the means for achievement of these stated ideals.
“This assessment cycle should demonstrate what we want to achieve, what we want our students to learn, that we have the means of having them learn, that we measure student learning and that we take the results of that measurement and use it to improve our programs,” Apple said. “This is something we really have to take seriously. We don't have an option. We can't decide that we are not going to do this.”
Sakai progress report
Mathieu Plourde, project leader, Learning Management Systems in Information Technologies-Client Support and Services, reported on the progress of the move from WebCT to Sakai.
Sakai is an open-source collaborative and learning environment currently in use at nearly 200 schools worldwide, including the University of Cambridge, the University of Michigan, Indiana University, Stanford University and Rutgers University.
The number of Sakai course sites at UD rose from 597 at the start of the fall 2008 semester to 723 for the spring 2009 semester, comprising 67 percent of learning managing sites at UD. Support for WebCT will be discontinued in June 2010, Plourde said.
Paul Hyde, manager for Academic Technology Services, reported on “New Tools to Extend Sakai.”
New tools mentioned by Hyde include UD Capture, a classroom recording system for online use, DimDim, an open source Web conference system, Flip Camera and Itunes U, a system that will allow faculty to place presentations and lectures available for download from Itunes.
Both reports are available online.
Resolutions approved
The senate approved provisionally, for five years, the establishment of a dual master of business administration and master's degree in finance in the Lerner College of Business and Economics.
The next meeting of the UD Faculty Senate will be at 4 p.m., Monday, Dec. 7, in Room 104 Gore Hall.
Article by Jerry Rhodes