Saint Mary's College General Education

Present: Chris Cobb, Janet Fore, Kitty Green, Joe Incandela, Daniel Party, Charlie Peltier, Patti Sayre


Guest: Leslie Wang

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1. Minutes from July 12, 2007 were approved with a correction (Kitty was also present.)

Leslie Wang attended the meeting to help us discuss the survey from May. We have quantitative results—numeric responses to the questions, and qualitative results—rich information in the comments. Leslie reminded us that the results of the survey are not a random sample. They show us the views of those who chose to respond to the survey, which are not necessarily the same as those who chose not to respond. Because the two groups differ in this respect, we cannot determine the degree to which the respondents’ views are representative of the faculty as a whole by using statistical tests, as we could if the results were of a random sample. We can assess the representativeness of the results qualitatively, however, by comparing demographic data for the two groups. We have rank and years of service as a beginning. (Chris and Joe later added information about gender.) We expect that H.R. or the FactBook might have more demographic data that we could use.

It’s important to remember that responses tend to be from the “passionate” either positive or negative and that women are more likely to share information.

From the quantitative data we can look at averages and variability. . The print out of the survey results has the mode in bold print. The 5 double counted responses might change the average of some questions, e.g., the “Life Skills” question. This led to further discussion of that question and the various possible interpretations of what “life skills” meant for faculty and students.

We discussed how much we wanted to analyze the qualitative data, whether to pull out “themes and sub themes” from the text responses and how much time and analysis to spend for a limited return on conclusions.

The Committee thanked Leslie for meeting with us and his insights on the survey results.

2. Announcements: Joe met with Linda Berdayes, the incoming Chair of the Faculty Assembly and how we can interact with the Assembly throughout this next year.

3. Joe also ordered a copy of “Learning Reconsidered” Pt 2 for the Committee members.

4. We looked at our work for the rest of the summer and possible meeting times with Patricia Fleming and preparation for Faculty Development Day.

Next meetings: Wed, August 1, 1-3 p.m. (Patricia will meet with us.) Thurs, August 2, 1-3 p.m., Wed, August 8, 1-3 p.m., Wed, August 15, 1-3 p.m.