Education Committee Meeting 3-2007

Meeting No. 3/2007 of the Education Committee was held on Wednesday 30 May 2007, in the Sir George Lush Room, Building 3a, Clayton campus, from 2.15pm to 4.20pm. 

There were present:

Professor M Evans (Chair), Ms C Alphey (on behalf of Ms C Darvell), Professor D Arnott, Ms S Chau, Associate Professor G Codner, Ms C Grigsby, Associate Professor J Hurst, Associate Professor S Joy, Ms G Key, Professor M King, Professor T Luff, Mr G Machell, Mr T Masocco, Associate Professor L McCall, Professor D Murphy, Ms F Nguyen, Associate Professor P O’Connor, Professor M Peel, Ms A Phelan, Dr J Roberts, Professor P Steele, Professor P Stewart, Dr D Taylor, Dr C Varsavsky, Professor W Young

Apologies:

Ms S Bell, Professor T Dingle, Associate Professor B Doecke, Ms R Harris, Professor O Hughes, Dr T Patti, Ms K Roth, Professor G Webb, Ms E Wilson

Observers:

Ms S Arnott, Ms Y Joyce, Ms K Lock, Ms M Petrass, Mr K Street

In attendance:

Ms J Burke, Dr C Hewlett (for item 4.1), Associate Professor H Kreutz, Ms M Soederberg (Secretary), Professor R Willis (for item 10), Mr P Yates

The Chair welcomed the new members and those invited to attend.

Additional starring of items 4.1, 6.3, 9 and 13 was proposed.

Two new items were added to the agenda:

17.3 Items of interest from Academic Board

17.4 Education related KPI’s

4.1  Plagiarism Procedures

Dr Cecilia Hewlett introduced the item. During discussion the following issues were raised:

• Para 9-11 of the policy discuss cheating and the difference between cheating and plagiarism could be made clearer. It was proposed that an appropriate subtitle could be added to this section.
   

• It was proposed that the examples of factors indicating whether plagiarism is intentional or unintentional, given in para 7 of the procedures, be removed.
   

• Responsibility for maintaining the plagiarism register, as described in para 17 of the procedures, should rest with the Faculty Manager.
   

• There were concerns about intellectual property rights in relation to using plagiarism detection software. Further investigation into this issue is needed.
   

• Information about plagiarism, as outlined in para 1 of the procedures, should be published on the web rather than in the Student Resource Guide.
   

• Para 1 of the procedures refer to Faculties having their own policies in relation to plagiarism.
   

• The assessment cover sheet should be amended to suit group assignments as well as individual assignments.
   

• The nature of the ‘penalty’ in relation to marking of a paper were the Chief Examiner has found plagiarism was unintentional, as in para 8 of the procedures, should be made clearer.

It was proposed that the policy and procedures be amended and that the documents be circulated to Education Committee members before the forthcoming discussion of the policy at the next meeting of Academic Board in July. Dr Hewlett will investigate further the issue of intellectual property and plagiarism detection software in liaison with the Solicitor’s Office, Associate Professor O’Connor and Professor Murphy.

RESOLUTION 3-07/3:

Education Committee acknowledged the issues raised and gave in principal endorsement to the changes proposed.

Action/Information: Dr Cecilia Hewlett

6.1  Receipt of Report

RESOLUTION 3-07/5:

Education Committee received and noted the report of meeting 3/2007 of the Education Policy and Programs Committee.

6.2  GPA/WAM Methodology

RESOLUTION 3-07/6:

Education Committee endorsed ‘Withdrawn Fail’ as a formal university grade which will be awarded to students who withdraw after Week 10.

Action/Information: Ms Shona Arnott

*6.3  Language Policy

During discussion, it was noted that Monash does not have a general communication policy in place.

RESOLUTION 3-07/7:

Education Committee endorsed for submission to Academic Board that the Language policy be repealed.

Action/Information: Ms Natalie Mitchell

6.4  Course Structure Policy

RESOLUTION 3-07/8:

Education Committee endorsed the revised Course Structure Policy for consideration at the next meeting of Academic Board.

Action/Information: Ms Shona Arnott

6.5  Establishing, Disestablishing and Amending Coursework Course Procedures

RESOLUTION 3-07/9:

Education Committee approved the revised ‘Establishing, Disestablishing and Amending Coursework Course procedures’.

Action/Information: Ms Shona Arnott

8.1  Minutes

RESOLUTION 3-07/11:

Education Committee noted the minutes of meeting 1/2007 of the Employability and Employment Outcomes Committee.

Action/Information: Ms Eileen Wilson

8.2  Terms of Reference

RESOLUTION 3-07/12:

Education Committee approved the Terms of Reference for the Employability and Employment Outcomes Committee as proposed in the minutes of meeting 1/2007.

Action/Information: Ms Eileen Wilson

During discussion the following amendments were proposed:

• Para 2 of the procedures, to read (additions in italics, deletions struckthrough): The AD (T) CHEQ sends an email to staff and students informing them of the release of reports…
   

• Para 3b of the procedures, spelling mistake to be corrected: faulty faculty.
   

• Para 6e of the procedures, to read: …ensures that improvements made as a consequence of unit evaluation are included in the subsequent unit outline unit guide.

Education Committee approved the Unit Evaluation Procedures subject to amendments as above and endorsed the re-formatted Unit Evaluation Policy for submission to Academic Board.

Professor Rob Willis spoke to the item. A progress report and policy recommendations for in principle approval had been submitted to the Committee. During discussion members raised the following issues:

• Written assessment is only one way of providing early feedback to students and other forms may suit some disciplines, courses or units better.
   

• There is potential for the Learning Skills unit of the Library to provide assistance to ‘at risk students’.
   

• There were concerns about how information on assignment results, extensions and failure to submit assignments would be collected. Preferably, the information should be collected without additional workload for the academics teaching first year. It was mentioned that both Callista and MUSO could be used for this purpose.
   

• Faculty staff providing counsel or guidance to 'at risk students’ may need training.
   

• It was suggested that Faculties should endeavour to have the best lecturers teaching first year units.

Committee members were invited to note the information on the Senate’s website:

http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/eet_ctte/academic_standards/info.htm

A member queried the use of LTPF for MUSO operational costs. It was explained that this was a one-off situation, made necessary by lack of funding for MUSO from any other source.

It was noted that no funding for targeted improvements had been allocated to projects in Faculties placed in band C. Allocations were made according to the principle of targeting projects in areas which are most likely to have an impact on future LTPF performance. However, if more funding becomes available in future rounds, some members suggested that targeted funding be allocated to areas in all bands.

Professor David Murphy introduced the Unit Guide Template. During discussion the following issues were raised:

• Links to policy statements could be included in relevant sections of the template in order to ensure students and unit coordinators are aware of the contents of policies. In particular, the Week 13 of Semester Policy should be referred to in relation to the ‘Unit Schedule’ section of the template.
   

• It was suggested that repetition of common information for all units should be avoided for practical reasons. It was proposed that the template be divided into a ‘Part A’ containing unit specific information and a ‘Part B’ containing more general information.
   

• It was proposed that a policy or guidelines be developed to indicate how the Unit Guide Template should be used and how unit guides should be published.
   

• It was suggested that link ‘a)’ for MUSO under the section ‘Unit Resources’ be removed so that the MUSO link is via the student portal only.

Professor Phil Steele introduced the item.

During discussion, it was proposed that follow-up action initially be targeted specifically to Faculties or degrees were the problems occur. It was further proposed that a working group consisting of Professor Steele and Professor David Arnott look further into the recommendations made in the report.

Information about the 2008 General Sir John Monash Awards are attached.

17.1  Services Sciences

The Chair briefed the Committee on discussions regarding collaborative developments in software services sciences.

17.2  Education-related Strategic Initiatives Advisory Group

The Chair had received several nominations for the Education-related Strategic Initiatives Advisory Group. It was agreed that the nominees would discuss representation after the meeting and advise the Chair who the representative would be.

17.3  Items of interest from Academic Board

Academic Board meeting 3/2007 held on 23 May:

• Received and noted the report from Education Committee meeting 2/2007;

• Approved the Access to Monash Courseware Policy;

• Approved the Establishing, Disestablishing and Amending Coursework Courses and Units Policy;

• Deferred formal consideration of the Plagiarism Policy until the next meeting;

• Deferred the item Graduate Attributes until next meeting, and;

• Approved the proposal to include the PVC (Campus Coordination) in the Education Committee membership.

17.4  Education-related Key Performance Indicators

The Chair reported on recent results in the Course Experience Questionnaire and Graduate Destination Survey. Extrapolation of current trends indicate the University may reach its performance target of ranking at least third in the Group of Eight universities in the scales Good Teaching and Generic Skills. Significant effort is needed in the scales Overall Satisfaction, Employability of Graduates and Further Study, if the University is to reach its target.

17.5  Week 13 of Semester Policy

The student representatives of the Committee raised the issue of compliance with the Week 13 of Semester Policy. Students on several campuses had reported that lectures covering new material and assignments had been scheduled in week 13, contrary to policy. The students asked that Education Committee Faculty representatives make sure that unit coordinators are aware of the policy.

There were no Faculty reports.

Final submissions for the agenda for Meeting 4/2007 are due by Wednesday, 18 July 2007. Meeting 4/2007 will be held on Wednesday 8 August 2007 at 2.15pm in the Sir George Lush Room, building 3a, Clayton Campus.