Meeting & Agendas

The minutes from the September 13, 2024 WOLA Department meeting were reviewed.

Action taken: The minutes were approved without corrections.

a. The study abroad program to Argentina currently has 19 applicants.

b. Tim Altanero and Talia Loaiza will present a workshop on February 28 providing basic training on using AI.

c. There will be Lunar New Year events at the Asian American and Pacific Islander Cultural Center at Northridge on January 31 and February 1.

• Three sections of ECHS Spanish II at Riverside Campus serving Del Valle High School
• Four sections of ECHS Spanish II at South Austin Campus serving Crockett ECHS and Akins ECHS
• One section of ECHS Spanish II and one section of Spanish III at San Gabriel Campus serving Leander ISD ECHS

1- Noting to report on eligibilty.

2- The AEC sent information about the new Evaluation System.   Our evaluation cycle will end this September instead of the end of January as in previous years.  The committee will be creating folders in BOX for faculty to upload the Faculty Reflection Form in the coming week. 

Remember that the Fall Pilot Evaluation can be removed from your evaluation with permission from the Department Chair.  Since we don’t have the Likert scale for that particular set of results, the committee will concentrate on the comments submitted by the students. 

3- We had postings open in German, Korean, and Spanish. 

In December, we opened a Japanese position.

We have hired Jenny Riojas in Korean, and Claire Meadows Parrish and Carmen Keithly in Spanish. 

We are interviewing a promising German applicant at the end of February.

All positions will remain open until closed and/or filled.

1- Nothing to report on faculty problems.

2- Blackboard Ultra in Summer 2025.  Our faculty and staff facilitators, instructional designers, and educational technologists are here to support this transition, and I am thankful for their work and the continued commitment of the Learning Management System (LMS) Transition Team.

The new Ultra interface is a significant improvement, offering enhanced functionality and a more streamlined user experience. However, as with any shift, you may need more assistance than you anticipate, especially as the upgrade date approaches. We expect our support demand to increase as we near Summer 2025, so I encourage everyone to start getting comfortable with Ultra now to ensure a smooth transition - I strongly recommend that you start building courses in Ultra View using your Ultra Build Out (or UBO) course, which can be found by selecting ‘Ultra Build Out Courses’ from the ‘Terms’ menu on your Blackboard Courses page.  Note: Blackboard courses for Summer 2025 sections will appear in your account, in the Ultra view, around March 10, 2025.   

To assist, we are offering several training sessions tailored to meet a variety of learning and schedule needs.  Please use the links below to sign up for the learning session that works best for you:

• Using Blackboard Ultra (Face-to-Face): Sign up here
• Using Blackboard Ultra (Virtual): Sign up here
• Using Blackboard Ultra (Hyflex): Sign up here

To support and encourage active engagement with UBO courses, we’re excited to announce that three users will be randomly selected from the group who have at least 10+ actions with UBO courses. Drawings will take place in 2025, including once in mid-January, February, and March. The prize? Conference registration for Anthology Together 2025, an incredible learning opportunity for all levels of Blackboard users, taking place July 14–16, 2025, in Las Vegas!

With the commitment and collaboration of our instructional community, I am confident that we will make the Summer 2025 upgrade a success. Let’s keep the momentum going and continue to work together to make this transition as seamless as possible.

I look forward to all the great work we will do together this semester in preparation for the exciting changes ahead.

Here's to a Spring semester full of eager and engaged students who keep all of us on our toes!

Gaye Lynn

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3)  TLED offers interesting workshops each semester.  You can find information about them and the way to sign up for them through the TLED site, https://tled.austincc.edu.

4)  We just received information from Human Resources about changes to the way our required training workshops are presented and managed.  It's important information for all of us. 

1-Two study abroad programs are to be offered by the WOLA department during the summer of 2025

Japanese 1412 in Tokyo, Japan, and Spanish 2311 and 1300 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The Japanese 1412 program to Tokyo, Japan, will be offered the first 5 week session. Emi Schuster is the faculty lead for that program. Students will also visit Nikko, Japan during their stay. The 2025 brochure is at https://simplebooklet.com/japanjapaneseii#page=3 .

The Spanish 2311 and 1300 will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina with side trips to Uruguay and Iguazú Falls during the first 5 week summer session. Jan Emberson is the faculty lead for the program. The brochure for the 2025 study abroad program to Buenos Aires, is at https://simplebooklet.com/spanishthree .

Thank you all so much for your support and promotion of our study abroad programs!

2- 

Ramiro Juárez has contacted the lead instructor for each language for updates about any planned textbook changes, and is waiting to hear back from everyone. The deadline to make changes for Summer 2025 is Februeary 15th. 

1-The Committee Reports that had been sent to faculty prior to the Department Meeting were presented for approval. 

2- Action taken: The Committee Reports were approved to be added at the end of these minutes.

3- Vanessa Lazo asked faculty to send her and Raha any request to change the committees they wish to serve on.

1- New adjunct faculty members Jenny Riojas (Korean), Claire Meadows Parrish (Spanish), and Carmen Keithly (Spanish) were welcomed to the WOLA Department.

2- 

Vanessa Lazo reminded faculty to upload their syllabi to Lighthouse.

 Vanessa Lazo announced that the Department’s assessment procedure and reporting had received a rating of exemplary, and she congratulated Julie Kleinhans Hooks for her continued excellent work. Julie reminded everyone to submit results from Fall assessments if they had not already done so.

1- John McMinn-Reyna reported that Latin 1411 and 1412 had been approved to be added to the Core Curriculum. He also explained that the application to add Portuguese to the ACC WOLA curriculum was not approved by the Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Programs. We are looking for data about the need for skills in Portuguese in the Austin area and demand for the courses to support a reapplication.

2- Mariela Prato-Williams described the new evaluation process, and asked faculty to go ahead and upload their Student Survey results and reflexion form for the fall semester. Evaluation cycles will be based on academic years, instead of calendar years. The deadline for the remaining evaluation materials is the first Friday of September. Vanessa Lazo showed the Box setup for submitting required evaluation documents.

1- Assessment:

This semester, we will be assessing Critical Thinking in 1412 classes, (which will also count as Reading Comprehension). In addition, we will also assess Personal Responsibility, Social Responsibility (this assessment is optional), and Visual Communication in 1411 classes (to compare with our results from last spring). Julie Kleinhans is still analyzing the results from the 1411 Writing Assessment from the Fall 2024 semester. She will share the results with the department when they are cojmpleted. If anyone still has results from Fall 2024 that they have not sent her, please send them to her.

2- Curriculum :

• Since the application to put Latin 1411 and 1412 back on the Core Curriculum was not completed last year with the other languages, we have applied to put them on the Core Curriculum this year. The ACC Assessment Committee approved forwarding the application to the ACC Curriculum and Programs Committee, where a decision was to be made at their January meeting. Since the meeting ran long, all Core Curriculum decisions were postponed until the February meeting. If approved then, the application will be forwarded to the Texas State Coordinating Board for final approval.

• The application to add Portuguese to the ACC WOLA curriculum was not approved by the Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Programs. We are looking for data about the need for skills in Portuguese in the Austin area and demand for the courses to support a reapplication.

1- During the fall, the Distance Learning Committee held an Ultra Training session and they have worked one on one with individuals for both QM and Ultra training.

2- 

For the ECHS this semester, we are offering:

• One section of Dual Credit Arabic II at Austin Peace Academy
• Four sections of ECHS Spanish II at Elgin Campus serving Colorado River Collegiate Academy and Elgin ECHS
• Three sections of ECHS Spanish II at Riverside Campus serving Del Valle High School
• Four sections of ECHS Spanish II at South Austin Campus serving Crockett ECHS and Akins ECHS
• One section of ECHS Spanish II and one section of Spanish III at San Gabriel Campus serving Leander ISD ECHS

 Eligibility List

Nothing new to report.

 Faculty Evaluation

The AEC sent information about the new Evaluation System.   Our evaluation cycle will end this September instead of the end of January as in previous years.  The committee will be creating folders in BOX for faculty to upload the Faculty Reflection Form in the coming week. 

Remember that the Fall Pilot Evaluation can be removed from your evaluation with permission from the Department Chair.  Since we don’t have the Likert scale for that particular set of results, the committee will concentrate on the comments submitted by the students. 

 Faculty Interview

• We had postings open in German, Korean, and Spanish. 
• In December, we opened a Japanese position.
• We have hired Jenny Riojas in Korean, and Claire Meadows Parrish and Carmen Keithly in Spanish. 
• We are interviewing a promising German applicant at the end of February.
• All positions will remain open until closed and/or filled.

 Faculty Problems

Private. Nothing to report to the faculty at large.

 Foreign Language Honor Society

The applications for the Foreign Language Honor Society will be due this semester on March 25, 2025. Please tell interested students to email Julie Kleinhans (jkleinha@austincc.edu). We added three new members in Latin last semester.

1- We welcome several new faculty members this semester:

Héctor González (Spanish)

Carmen Keithly (Spanish)

Jenny Kim (Korean)

Claire Parrish (Spanish)

2- 

1)  Spring Development Day was held on January 17th, and many interesting and helpful workshops were included. 

2)  ACC will begin using Blackboard Ultra in the summer. It will be a learning curve for all of us.  Scott Gibby facilitated a very helpful workshop for WOLA, and many training workshop opportunities were offered by the college.

The Blackboard Ultra training will continue this spring to help us all get ready for the change.  Gaye Lynn Scott sent this message on January 14th to announce the upcoming training opportunities.  The links she provided will take you to Workday to enroll in the training you choose.

Dear Faculty,

Welcome back!  I hope you had a break that was rejuvenating, and you're eager to start a new semester.  As we embark on the Spring 2025 semester, I want to take a moment to focus our collective efforts on ensuring that we are fully prepared for the upgrade to Blackboard Ultra

The good thing is that we no longer will need to keep track of the date we completed a training to know when we need to do it the next time.  Everyone will be on the same calendar.  This will make things much easier.

Note that the calendar for this academic year began on November 1st, and any training that you completed before then no longer counts. 

The information from HR let us know that we have all been enrolled in the following courses - Accommodating People with Disabilities (ADA), Preventing Harassment & Discrimination: Non-Supervisors Clery Act and Title IX, Active Shooter, and FY25 Cybersecurity.  The deadline to complete all of them is August 1, 2025.

• We are still experiencing an upsurge in enrollment. We are up about 11% from last year at this time. 
• We are offering an additional section of Korean I and two French I 12-week sections were added thanks to the uptick in enrollment.
• Our baseline schedule means that courses that reach the 65% fill threshold will be shielded and will automatically appear on the schedule. Other courses that do not reach the 65% will need to be added back to the schedule as needed.
• We have discontinued offering 8-week sections at the NRG campus in Japanese and Spanish for now with Dean approval. We plan on offering an 8-week campus-based series at HLC for fall 2025 for Spanish only.
• Our department will continue to offer the following scheduling options: DLS, HYD/HYC, FLX, LEC, and ONL. 
  • DLS - Distance Learning Synchronous
  • HYD/HYC - Hybrid Distance and Hybrid Classroom
  • FLX - Hyflex Classroom
  • LEC - Lecture classes that typically meet twice a week
  • ONL - Online sections without any required virtual meetings

1- Rosa Dávila is on sabbatical this year working on the Spanish for Spanish Speaker courses.

2- Mariela Prato-Williams is now an assistant to the Assistant Dean Of Technology. She and Scott Gibby discussed the migration to Blackboard Ultra this summer and they recommended that faculty start working on their courses in Ultra.

 Scott Gibby reported on the trial of using Respondus in Blackboard to administer challenge exams for Spanish 1411 and 1412. 24 students took the exams in the new format, and it went very well. Scott is working on Italian challenge exams, and he offered to help other languages put theirs on Blackboard.

3-  Vanessa Lazo discussed the message from the Chancellor about what to do if immigration officers arrive to arrest someone in an instructor’s class. Instructors should tell the officers that they will comply, they should ask them to wait, and they should call the Chancellor’s Office.  

 Vanessa discussed her work on the Theory of Change committee dealing with 8-week classes, reporting that they are not appropriate for all courses.

 Vanessa is completing the final year of her third term as Department Chair. In March, there will be a new process to select a new Department Chair. It is still unknown whether the process will change with the new Dean. The selection of the new Department Head should be completed by April 15.