Meeting & Agendas

The 2009 Advisory Committee minutes were reviewed with a motion by Liz S. to approve; seconded by Randy.

Lynn advised ACC will have a new President soon; a final decision should be made by either June, or fall of 2011. Both Elgin and Hay’s counties voted to be included within ACC’s tax base; San Marcos and McDade did not. Land has already been purchased for both San Marcos and McDade campus sites.

Lynn advised ACC enrollment has significantly increased over the years; with Human Services (HUSE) enrollment consistently capping at 38 students per class. This increase has prompted the department to add more classes. Sandra inquired about offering more online classes; and the department has responded by offering the same classes, more often. Substance Abuse Prevention I was the most recent HUSE class offered online; Exceptional Person and Behavior Management will be added later this year. Lynn discussed creating and offering a fifth Therapeutic Recreation, online class. Liz S. and Lynn met with Texas State faculty to discuss an Affiliation Agreement. This would mean that courses in the AAS in Human Services with a concentration in Therapeutic Recreation degree would be accepted in the TR degree at Texas State. There will be future meetings soon to discuss this issue further.

Seven weeks remain until the completion of Spring 2011 registration and classes are already full. Rick shared many of his students are not college-ready. There are attendance issues; students do not purchase textbooks and others cannot read or write. Some students are unemployed and have made the decision to attend school; but attendance is not a priority and he has had a lot of early dropouts. Rick stated there should be a better process for screening potential students. Liz C. advised her classroom experiences reflect the same results; and Liz S. stated it is a college-wide issue. Sandra mentioned she had issues with students not purchasing their textbooks; however, even when she offered students a FREE copy of the class textbook being used, students still did not come by the department to pick up their copies. Rick added ACC should offer a College awareness class.

Liz C. advised the student success initiative is a college-wide effort to review student data. Departments are assigned Faculty coaches; and Liz C. is attending workshops now. As a department, we need to decide what factors we would like to use in order to obtain definitive results we can use to gauge various student data (i.e., total number of students who withdraw, and regarding those who do drop…what are the reasons; what percentage of students obtain a letter grade, what is their ethnicity, etc.). Once the varied factors have been identified and analyzed, then based on those reports we can decide if there is anything we need to change (what we should be altering to help students to become successful). HUSE began this initiative a month ago; while other departments have already begun. Liz C. inquired about any suggestions. Discussion was held about ACC’s current Withdrawal form. The choices listed to “drop” students are not specific to HUSE Addiction students, etc. Sandra inquired about requesting additional reasons being added to the form to more accurately reflect drop criteria for HUSE students (i.e., mental health issues); Liz C. advised changes cannot be made to any ‘existing’ forms. Departments get a snapshot of some of that information. Lynn stated the ASLI (American Sign Language-Interpreter Training) and HUSE data has not been separated; however, the individual “per class” information would be correct (but the data by individual department would not be). Lynn stated that Student Services is trying to expand the number of college transition classes offered (classes students don’t necessarily want to enroll in). College transition classes offer assistance to students who need help with time management, study habits, etc.

Lynn advised there are many students returning to school who have taken many of their classes several years before. HUSE does not have a requirement in place regarding a limit on the age of courses previously taken. Some students have taken courses that are 15 years old and the information learned is no longer applicable to current times. Lynn discussed placing an age limit requirement, or a ‘blanket’ on previous courses taken. Sandra advised DAAC 1319 (Introduction to Alcohol and Other Drug Addictions) would require a limit because that information does change. Elizabeth H. stated Continuing Education (CE) has a 10-year cutoff for their courses. Lynn discussed the seriousness of setting a limit; adding Supervisors of these students will assume the students have had current instruction, while the students have not. Sandra advised it might be best to have some type of criteria to assess knowledge. Liz C. discussed making the decision on a student-by-student basis, instead of course-by-course (with a notation in the criteria that the Dept. Chair will make the final decision regarding the courses). Sandra recommended Lynn make the final decision in these matters, but Lynn recommended the decisions be “viewed by the dept. and decided as a group.”

Lynn advised this is an issue concerning returning students. Students sometimes self-advise, or Advisors (since there is no prerequisite) will advise students into an advanced course. Liz C. added PSYT 2345 (Principles of Behavior Management & Modification) should have a prerequisite; Lynn advised there should also be a prerequisite for CMSW 1323 (The Exceptional Person). Liz S. stated RECT 1301 (Introduction to Therapeutic Recreation) should be a prerequisite for any Therapeutic Recreation course. RECT 1301 is offered every semester online, or in class.

Liz S. advised we have the corner on Therapeutic Recreation classes in the state of Texas. ACC currently offers three online courses and the dept. has consistently had requests for a fourth class. National certification has changed; certification now requires taking five courses. The level of certification has been eased to include any five Therapeutic Recreation classes. Elizabeth H. asked the courses be offered so that they could also be integrated with CE classes. Lynn stated WECM would have to give their approval. Lynn added there are two groups of students taking online classes; some are taking online classes for their certification, while others have BAs and are trying to get alternative certification. Many students are registering for online classes because of accessibility and cost. Therapeutic Recreation classes are listed under academic, credit-earning classes; having them also listed as CE classes would be beneficial. (Sandra had to return to a workshop and left at 9:40am.) The addition of a computer course is needed. Lynn reported incorporating computer classes into the Addiction classes has been ongoing, but is not enough. Sandra asked for discussions to be continued on this, especially if it will make students more marketable. Liz C. added that may mean increasing total hours in Addiction counseling; Lynn agreed and advised we can have up to 71 hours towards an Associate’s degree (but not towards the Certificate).

Lynn asked for suggestions to better train students entering the work place. Angela responded with raising the level of computer skills. Elizabeth H. would like to pursue the idea of offering Therapeutic Recreation classes in CE and asked about the resources to be able to do that online (approaching WECM). Lynn suggested having this conversation on both the academic and CE side. Liz S. inquired about the differences in taking classes on the academic side, vs. the CE side. Elizabeth H. advised college credit is not needed for CE; and students like the flexibility of CE classes (however, students do not receive financial aid for CE courses). Lynn added some students do not want to earn a college degree and only want to be an Activity Director. We now have a HUSE student club; and Liz C. is the Advisor. Students are required to do volunteer work for the community and Liz C. will also do screening for that as well. Lynn discussed the issue of the Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) data analysis. THECB will be looking at programs that don’t meet the criteria of: a) 15 graduates every three years and; b) 85% of graduates being employed or in higher education. At this time we don’t know if any of our programs fall below these standards. Meeting adjourned at 10:04am.