In attendance: Patricia Beeson, Judith Erlen, Diane Davis, Neepa Majumdar,

Joanne Nicoll, Susan Sereika, Charlene Trovato

Absent: Eileen Ansell, Catherine Bender, David Crossman, Joan Cutone, Jack

Daniel, Irene Frieze, Nancy Grove, Justin Hsieh, Kathleen Kelly, Chris

Jones, Amy Knapp, Jackie Merranko, Ivanka Nikolova, Anthony Silvestre, Walt

Alan Stoy, Evelyn Talbott

1. Announcements:

a. At Faculty Assembly, brief reports are expected from the

chairs of the various standing Senate committees. SEPC co-chairs

will provide brief updates about the work of the SEPC.

2. Approval of the Minutes of October 18, 2006: Since there was not a

quorum at the meeting, the review and approval of the minutes will be

delayed until the next SEPC meeting on January 17, 2006.

3. Evaluation of Teaching at the University of Pittsburgh: Teaching may

be evaluated through the more traditional mechanisms of student evaluation

of teaching offered at the Office of Measurement and Evaluation (OMET).

Given sufficient numbers of students are present at the time of the

evaluation, these include quantitative assessments of the student's self

rating about their own learning, teaching provided by the instructor, and

course content. Qualitative assessments made be made if the number of

students present are too small. Additional approaches, however, are

available that schools should consider that can supplement the OMET student

evaluations. Diane Davis and Joanne Nicoll from the Center for Instructional

Design and Distance Education (CIDDE) presented on teaching support services

available at CIDDE and alternate approaches to the evaluation of teaching.

These include 1) individual assistance provided by instructional designers

(ID) at CIDDE; 2) assistance with the development of informal classroom

assessment techniques (CATS); 3) peer review of teaching; 4) the development

of faculty teaching portfolios; and 5) course development and revision

assistance provided by CIDDE IDs. CIDDE IDs can provide individual

assistance to faculty regarding their teaching through classroom

observation. Feedback from CIDDE IDs is formative and strictly

confidential, with only the instructor being provided with the evaluation of

his/her teaching. CIDDE IDs can provide continuous and collaborative

support to provide assistance to faculty in the planning of lessons and

classroom activities, observing classroom teaching, and providing feedback.

CIDDE can help with the content analyses of student comments obtained

through OMETs to provide additional direction to faculty as they refine

their courses. Informal classroom assessments through CATS can provide

information to the instructor, prior to OMET evaluations, about student

learning and faculty teaching.

4. Implementation of SEPC recommendations on Part-time Faculty: Neepa

Majumdar reported on the implementation of SEPC recommendations in the

Department of English. Susan Sereika reported on the implementation in the

School of Nursing.

ACTION: SEPC members are to collect information regarding the implementation

of the SEPC recommendations regarding part-time faculty in their

department/school.

5. Teaching Evaluation Practices: Neepa Majumdar reported on the

expected evaluation practices in the Department of English. Susan Sereika

reported evaluation practices in the School of Nursing.

ACTION: SEPC members are to collect information regarding teaching

evaluation practices in their respective school/department.

6. Liaison Reports: Due to time constraints, liaison reports will be

delayed until the January SEPC meeting.

7. Adjournment: The SEPC meeting adjourned at 12:45 PM; the next SEPC

meeting is scheduled for January 17th, from 11:45 to 12:45 PM in 369

Victoria Building.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan M. Sereika, Ph.D.