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Education Committee Meeting 2-2005Meeting 2/2005 of the Education Committee was held on Wednesday, 16 March 2005, in the Sir George Lush Room, Building 3a, Clayton campus, between 2:25 pm and 4:00 pm. There were present: Professor A Lindsay (chair), Associate Professor A Farley (co-chair), Ms J Allen, Professor T Dingle, Dr G Hildebrand, Associate Professor I Snyder, Professors R Alfredson and D Arnott, Associate Professor S Kneebone, Dr L McCall, Associate Professor L Roller, Drs D Taylor, C Varsavsky and T Patti, Professors D Kirkpatrick and G Webb, Ms G Key, Mr L Ostroburski, Mr D Taft, Mr T Hogan, Mr V Garth, Ms A Shelton, Mr C Vernon, Associate Professors M Lindorff and M Page. In attendance was: Ms S Chong (Secretary) MINUTES OF MEETINGPart A Procedural and Policy Matters Agenda items were addressed in the following order: 6, 7, 8, 9 and 5. Associate Professor Farley was acting chair for items 6, 7 and 8 and Professor Lindsay chaired the meeting for items 8, 9 and 5. *1. ATTENDANCE, MEMBERSHIP AND APOLOGIES Apologies were received from Professor M Evans, Associate Professor Y Ryan, Associate Professor T Luff, Ms C Cooze, Professor M King, Associate Professor S Joy, Associate Professor K Bensley and Professor W Young. On behalf of the Committee the Chair farewelled and thanked Associate Professor Karen Bensley, in absentia, who was standing down from the Committee after a long-serving membership on the Education Committee and Committee of Associate Deans Teaching. The Chair welcomed new members Ms Jenny Allen, Associate Dean Teaching from 1 May, Faculty of Art and Design, and Professor Tony Dingle, Associate Dean Education, Faculty of Business and Economics. On behalf of the Committee, the Chair welcomed Associate Professor Susan Kneebone, Faculty of Law, Mr Terry Hogan, Student and Staff Services, Mr Vern Garth, Student and Staff Services and Ms Ann Shelton, Solicitor’s Office, who were invited to attend this meeting. *2. STARRED ITEMS The Committee noted that certain items had been starred as requiring discussion, nominated item 9 as an additional starred item, and endorsed the recommendations for all items other than those starred. *3. MINUTES Documentation was previously circulated. Action: The minutes of Education Committee Meeting 1/2005, held on 16 February 2005, were approved. Action/Information: Shana Chong 4. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES *5. FACULTY COURSE OFFERINGS AND SUPPORTING REGULATIONS RMO2002/0835 RMO1997/1365 Documentation was circulated and the Chair introduced this item. It was noted that, since 2002, faculties have had the power and responsibility to make, amend and revoke their course of study and award regulations. Discussion of this item was raised to ensure that the faculty course offerings were covered by the necessary supporting faculty regulations, pursuant to Statute 6.1.2 – Courses and Degrees. The Chair advised that it was timely to review procedures for providing the University Solicitor with instructions for the drafting of regulations and for each faculty to undertake an audit of its regulations to ensure standardisation and compliance, noting that the regulations had not always been updated. To ensure wider dissemination of the item, it was suggested that the matter be brought forward to the Faculty Managers Group, noting that in some faculties the responsibility for this process was shared by Associate Deans Teaching and Faculty Managers. Ms Ann Shelton, University Solicitor’s Office, was invited to outline the procedures for the drafting of regulations for making by a faculty board. Faculties must provide the Solicitor’s office with instructions for any new regulations or amendments. Ms Shelton emphasised instructions - a simple statement of what is required – not draft regulations. Ms Shelton advised that a web copy of draft regulations would be provided, in strikeout format, to illustrate the changes made. It was noted that regulations are promulgated on the University Notice Board, by the Solicitor’s Office, after they had been made by a faculty board. Action: The Education Committee:
Secretarial note: Written advice to Associate Deans Teaching and Faculty Managers was circulated via email on 21 March 2005. *6. EXAMINATION TIMETABLES AND SPECIAL CONSIDERATION RMO2001/1012 Documentation was circulated. The Chair invited Mr Leo Ostroburski, MONSU Caulfield student member, to speak about a proposal to extend Special Consideration for Examinations to be applied in circumstances where students were required to sit four or more exams in the first week of exams. Mr Ostroburski submitted the item in response to a case of a final-year double degree student, who was scheduled to sit four three-hour examinations within a 72-hour period in the first week of examinations in 2004. Mr Ostroburski highlighted the proposal to extend Special Consideration to include this cohort of students, in order to provide them with adequate preparation time if they were required to sit more than four exams in the first week, as there were no alternative arrangements to permit a change to their examination timetables, noting that the university did not have an official swot vac week. Mr Vern Garth, Manager Examinations, was invited to provide comments in response to the proposal. Members were informed that the provisional examinations timetable for week one was a result of rigorous programming against a number of complexities and constraints, including:
The Committee noted the procedures undertaken by the Faculty of Law for handling students with a heavy week one exam timetable and suggested this may be the model to implement as a university-wide system. Members noted that this and other related issues had previously been considered at length by Education Committee and the following items were noted in the detailed discussion that followed:
Noting that the Committee was in support of the principle to extend Special Consideration for Examinations to apply to a third category of students affected by multiple exams in the first week, in addition to the categories of illness or other serious causes, the Committee agreed that a report from Examinations Branch exploring the reasons for the tight schedule of week one exams would be useful. The paper to be submitted to Education Committee would include:
It was suggested that faculties may need to rotate the schedule of large units into week two as an approach to reduce the problem. In response to the detailed consideration of this issue, the Committee agreed to acknowledge the extension of Special Consideration for Examinations in the university proformas and relevant web pages. It was agreed that students undertaking multiple examinations in week one of the Examinations schedule would automatically be eligible for special consideration by the Board of Examiners. On behalf of the Committee, the Chair thanked Mr Ostroburski for outlining the proposal and Mr Garth for his input to the discussion of this issue. Action: The Education Committee:
Action/Information: members, Mr V Garth, Ms S Smith, Mr M Hatwell *7. BLIND EXAMINATION MARKING RMO1998/2712 Documentation was circulated. The Committee thanked the Examinations Branch for developing the procedures for blind examination marking, in consultation with faculty managers, following the approval of its implementation by Academic Board at its meeting 5/2004. The Committee endorsed the recommendations without discussion of the item. Action: The Education Committee noted:
Action/Information: members, Mr V Garth *8. DISCIPLINE OFFENCES: ADVERTISING ON MONASH MARKETPLACE RMO2003/0722 Documentation was circulated, including a replacement paper for this item on behalf of the Deputy University Solicitor. Associate Professor Marg Lindorff, Faculty of Business and Economics, was invited to speak to this item. Associate Professor Lindorff informed the Committee of cases of advertisements placed on the Monash Marketplace website last year that included sales of lecture notes, exam papers and readings in the areas of business and economics, including advertisements offering to write assignments and essays that purported to return good marks for the student concerned. These incidents were reported to the Copyright Office and the related advertisements that contravened copyright were subsequently removed from the website. The University Copyright Officer, in collaboration with ITS staff, began monitoring advertisements posted on the site after an automated search system was created using keywords to filter such advertisements. Members noted that cases that involved the sales of old assignments and offers of paid assistance for assignments and essays were sent to faculties for disciplinary action and as many as 15 new advertisements of this nature appeared on the site within a week. Associate Professor Lindorff acknowledged the input of ITS into this matter and advised that there was a requirement for ITS search facilities to be upgraded, in preparation for the pre-search mechanisms to be implemented for 2005. The Committee was invited to note that students found to breach University policy could be charged with acts of general or academic misconduct under Statute 4.1 – Discipline. The chair acknowledged the university’s prompt response to protect its academic integrity and members noted the university’s progress in the area of academic integrity. Professor Denise Kirkpatrick, Director Learning and Teaching, advised that a project manager was about to be appointed to the project and a trial of the Turnitin plagiarism software was scheduled for second semester this year. Professor Kirkpatrick highlighted the work of Ms Elissa Ashton-Smith, University Copyright Officer, in response to the advertisements appearing on the Monash Marketplace. Action: Noting the advice of Associate Professor Lindorff, the Education Committee:
Action/Information: members, Mr A McMeekin, Mr N Wilkins *9. REQUEST FOR THE IMPOSITION OF
ENROLMENT QUOTAS IN UNITS LAW7303 AND LAW7251 Documentation was circulated. The chair advised and the Committee concurred that in cases where student progression was affected, preference in the enrolment of the units would be given to those students. Action: Noting the advice of the Chair, the Education Committee approved the quotas as recommended by the Faculty of Law for the postgraduate units LAW7303 and LAW7251. Action/Information: Ms J Beaton 10. OTHER BUSINESS PART B: FACULTY REPORTS AND PROPOSALS There are no items under this section for this meeting. PART C: NEXT MEETING The next scheduled meeting of the Education Committee (Meeting 3/2005) will be held at 2:15 pm on Wednesday, 18 May 2005. Important Note: The meeting will be held at the Clayfield Room (A1.34), Caulfield campus. All final submissions for the agenda for that meeting are due by Wednesday, 4 May 2005. Membership: Professor Alan Lindsay (Chair) Associate Professor Karen Bensley Ms Jenny Allen Dr Heinz Kreutz Professor Tony Dingle Associate Professor Sally Joy Dr Gaell Hildebrand Associate Professor Ilana Snyder Professor Robin Alfredson Professor William Young Professor David Arnott Professor Jeffrey Waincymer Associate Professor Tony Luff Dr Louise McCall Associate Professor Louis Roller Dr David Taylor Dr Cristina Varsavsky Dr Tony Patti Professor Max King Professor Chris Browne Professor Merran Evans Professor Denise Kirkpatrick Professor Graham Webb Associate Professor Alan Farley Ms Glenda Key Mr Leo Ostroburski, MONSU – Caulfield Mr Arthur Wasiak, MONSU – Peninsula Mr David Taft, MSA – Clayton Mr Max Ribitzky, MUBS – Berwick Mr Benjamin Batten, MUGSU - Gippsland Pharmacy Students Association – position vacant Ms Marina Rahman, MPA – masters by coursework MPA – graduate/postgraduate diploma – position vacant In Attendance: Mr Clive Vernon Mr Peter Yates (alternate for Mr P Marshall) Ms Christine Cooze (alternate for Ms Cathrine Harboe-Ree) Associate Professor Valerie Clifford Associate Professor Yoni Ryan Associate Professor Marg Lindorff Associate Professor Michael Page Ms Shana Chong (Secretary) Further Distribution: Faculty Managers/Registrars (*9) Mr T Calder Ms P Williams Ms P Herman Ms S Stafford Ms B Le Grand |