Faculty Council has Follow-Up Meeting with Vice Provosts to Discuss Ongoing Spring 2021 Schedule Updates

The DCCFA Faculty Council met at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 24, with the vice provosts, to discuss the ongoing right-sizing and adjustments to the Spring 2021 schedule.

The vice provosts reported that they continue to work with the Office of Schedule Management to ensure first that all full-time faculty have enough sections for regular load.

The vice provosts said that once all full-time faculty have made load, the next priority is - to the greatest extent possible given the projected enrollment decline - to ensure that all full-time faculty who want extra service, to have extra service. 

The vice provosts also said that they would attempt to work toward equity in extra service opportunities within a given discipline or program, across the campuses.

It should be noted that, in some disciplines and programs, enrollment may not allow every full-time faculty member to get the same number of extra service sections as in previous semesters.

The vice provosts asked that any faculty with concerns about their schedule, to contact their vice provost directly.

The Faculty Council will continue to monitor the situation and will update the membership as additional information becomes available.

Three Faculty Council Members Discuss Spring 2021 Schedule “Right Sizing” with Provost Shawnda Floyd

Three members of the DCCFA Faculty Council, President Ryan Pettengill (Mountain View), Secretary Jennifer Hudson-Allen (Brookhaven), and Matt Hinckley (Eastfield), met via Teams with Provost Shawnda Floyd on Monday, November 23, 2020, to discuss ongoing faculty concerns with the Spring 2021 schedule “right sizing.” 

Numerous full-time faculty across all campuses and Schools of Dallas College had reported that their Spring schedules had changed suddenly and unexpectedly. In some cases, they had fewer sections than expected, and some even reported that eConnect did not show them with enough sections to make load. 

This followed the November 17 meeting between the District Faculty Council, the Vice Provosts, and Nicole Mabine, Director of Academic Scheduling. Please read this Advance Blog post for more context. 

Dr. Floyd reported that the various deans managing the schedule for all seven campuses within each School were working with the Office of Schedule Management through late Sunday night, first to ensure that full-time faculty all had enough sections to make load. As of Monday morning, the number of full-time faculty with less than full load had dropped to fewer than 30 full-time faculty. Moreover, Dr. Floyd reported that the deans and Office of Schedule Management would continue working until all faculty had enough sections to make load. 

Once all full-time faculty have enough sections to make load, the deans and Office of Schedule Management will turn their focus to extra service. Dr. Floyd said they will prioritize full-time faculty members’ requests for extra service whenever possible, but the significant projected enrollment declines will make that challenging in those programs and disciplines that have been especially hard hit, such as English/Developmental English, Math/Developmental Math, and ESOL. 

Pettengill, Hudson-Allen, and Hinckley discussed with Dr. Floyd the philosophical differences between the Faculty Council and some of the Vice Provosts regarding balancing the competing priorities of full-time faculty extra service and adjunct faculty. 

Specifically, the Council argues that full-time faculty extra service should be prioritized over adjunct faculty, but that there also should be equity of opportunity among all full-time faculty within a given discipline or program. Dr. Floyd said that she heard us and would encourage the Vice Provosts to engage directly with faculty within their respective Schools. 

The Council appreciates the ongoing patience of our members, as we continue to engage with Dr. Floyd and the vice provosts. The Council is scheduled to meet with the Vice Provosts at 8:00 a.m. Tuesday, November 24 for a follow-up.

 

Faculty Council Engages with Dallas College Officials to Address Enrollment and Engagement Concerns, Right-Sizing the Spring 2021 Schedule, Full-Time Faculty Priority

The subject of Spring 2021 semester schedule “right-sizing,” enrollment projections, and canceling or blinding Spring sections, has understandably concerned many faculty in recent weeks.

What We Have Learned from Our Students

Provost Shawnda Floyd’s Nov.11 Faculty Update message and Nov. 17 Faculty Update message both explained that Fall 2020 enrollment had fallen significantly. This information built upon what Chancellor May and Vice Chancellor of Student Success Beatriz Joseph shared with the Board of Trustees Education Workforce Committee on Nov. 10 regarding enrollment patterns and what had been learned from both students who were continuing their studies, as well as those who chose to pause their studies.

In brief, the communities (identified by zip codes) where Dallas College saw the largest enrollment declines, were the same communities with the highest rates and concentrations of poverty, the highest rates of COVID infection, and the highest rates of individuals employed in the service sectors hardest hit by COVID. Moreover, these same communities have the highest concentrations of students who require developmental studies (DMAT and DIRW) and ESOL, and the lowest penetration of access to technology hardware (personal computers, tablets, etc.) and reliable high-speed internet access that are required successfully to complete online courses. Consequently, many of these students reported that they could not learn, or did not believe they could lean, unless they could do so in a face-to-face classroom environment.

Consequently, while enrollment overall has declined – a trend that has affected almost all community colleges throughout the United States (subscription required to read the linked article) – Dallas College has seen the sharpest enrollment declines in Developmental studies, specifically Developmental English, Developmental Math, and ESOL.

Right-Sizing the Spring 2021 Schedule

As a result, the disciplines and faculty most affected by the effort to “right-size” the Spring 2021 schedule, are English/Developmental English, Math/Developmental Math, and ESOL.

Based on enrollment projections developed by the new Office of Schedule Management, numerous sections of courses already built into the Spring 2021 schedule have been “blinded” or “suppressed.” Location-based discipline and program coordinators and deans in the past have used this very tactic to drive enrollment into the remaining open sections until they fill, and then the blinded/suppressed sections are opened in small batches. This tactic has been shown to ensure that fewer sections will have to be canceled due to low enrollment just days or hours before the semester begins.

The Faculty Council shared its concerns with how this information and decisions have been communicated broadly, when it met with the Vice Provosts and Nicole Mabine, Director of Academic Scheduling, on Tuesday, November 17. During this meeting, the Faculty Council also argued for full-time faculty to be prioritized in all scheduling decisions. Specifically, the Faculty Council argues that the order of priority should be:

·       Full-time faculty to make contractual load

·       Full-time faculty for up to the maximum extra service, distributed equitably across all faculty in the discipline/program who desire extra service across all campuses

·       High-performing adjunct faculty

Director Mabine shared that she agreed with the prioritization of full-time faculty, but acknowledged that the vice provosts and deans in the seven Schools were empowered to make decisions about which faculty would teach given sections. The vice provosts said they agreed with prioritizing full-time faculty for load, but some vice provosts said they preferred to balance full-time faculty extra service with high-performing adjuncts. Some vice provosts said that it was exceedingly difficult to find and retain high-performing adjuncts in many of the disciplines and programs in their schools. The Faculty Council replied that if we truly want to retain the high-performing adjuncts, that we should find ways to hire them as full-time faculty.

Faculty Ideas to Improve Enrollment and Engagement

Given that enrollment and engagement are something for which we all take responsibility, the Faculty Council also conducted a survey of Dallas College Faculty, to collect ideas for how to address student concerns and reverse the enrollment decline through meeting student needs and engaging them in the remote learning environment. The results of that survey have been posted to SharePoint and are available for allfaculty to review at this link. These results – which include all ideas directly submitted by 249 faculty respondents through the survey – also have been shared with Provost Floyd today, Thursday, Nov. 19. The Faculty Council thanks all the faculty who participated and contributed their ideas via the survey.

Power Point that Explains Spring 2021 "Schedule Right-Sizing" Available

Part of the consolidation into Dallas College has involved the centralization of schedule building and management within the Office of Schedule Management, led by Nicole Mabine, director of academic scheduling.

Due to the decision to continue with predominately online/remote instruction in Spring 2021, Provost Shawnda Floyd announced that the Spring 2021 schedule would need to be "right-sized."

The Faculty Council has secured a copy of the Power Point slides that provided the context to the Vice Provosts, and has posted them at this link on the DCCFA SharePoint site.

Faculty Council Names Standing Committee Chairs; Adopts Strategic Approach to Advocate for Current Emerging Faculty Concerns in One College Environment

The DCCFA Faculty Council met via video conference Thursday, June 4, 2020, to inaugurate the new Council term and to discuss a number of pressing issues that faculty across the District have raised in recent days and hours. The June 4 meeting minutes are located at this link.

DCCFA Standing Committee Chairs Named

In order to take a strategic approach to issues that are shared by faculty at many or all of the seven colleges, and in accordance with the DCCFA Bylaws, the Council prioritized the naming of its members as ex officio chairs to the seven standing committees of the DCCFA, as follows:

Budget & Finance: Keith Baker (North Lake)

Communications: Wade Hyde (El Centro)

Convention Planning: Ryan Pettengill (Mountain View)

Instructional Goals and Academic Freedom: Jennifer Hudson-Allen (Brookhaven)

Membership: Tommy Thompson (Cedar Valley)

Political Information: Matt Hinckley (Eastfield)

Welfare and Benefits: Carlos Martinez (Richland)

The Council members all agreed to submit to the respective committee chairs, the names of the members from their respective campuses, who have been elected to serve on these seven DCCFA committees.

Council Approach to Instruction in the One College Model

In past years, the Faculty Council met monthly with the seven academic vice presidents, in a group called The Instructional Leadership Team (TILT). Over time TILT also included several District Office personnel who helped to manage curriculum and other instructional issues at the District level. In Spring 2020, the instructional vice presidents indicated they wished to disband TILT, as instruction for the combined Dallas College would soon be supported by a Provost supervising seven Vice Provosts, each of whom would support a “School of” organized around a particular Guided Pathway. The dissolving of TILT therefore has left a gap in the structural means by which the Council effectively can represent faculty interests in discussions about instructional matters across the District. Consequently, the Council today agreed that it intends to establish a precedent to meet with the current Interim Provost, Dr. Linda Braddy, and continue that practice when the new Provost is named. President Ryan Pettengill agreed to take the initiative to that effect. In the meantime, though, the Council is aware of the numerous issues and concerns that are being raised by our members all across the District.

Enrollment Management Practices

The Council agrees that it supports a District-wide approach to enrollment management practices, particularly during a time when we are all teaching online and campus distinctions are, by necessity, in many cases becoming less apparent. However, the Council also believes that “one size fits all” approaches are not appropriate. For instance, the Council takes very seriously faculty concerns over decisions that are being made to combine sections, stack/bundle sections (or not), and/or cancel and move students to sections offered by other instructors at other campuses. The Council also agrees that not all academic disciplines – or even courses within a given discipline – should have the same enrollment thresholds to “make.” Certain courses in certain disciplines, such as studio art courses, some journalism courses, private music lessons, and co-ops and internships, among many others, need to be handled more like many CTE courses, where individualized instruction is the foundation of the particular student experience. In addition, different courses in various CTE disciplines also are different, where lab safety and industry accreditation concerns must prevail. Likewise, developmental studies and ESOL courses must consider that students need additional individual attention. In all cases, therefore, the Council maintains that faculty subject matter experts must be consulted before deans or the current academic vice presidents, make unilateral decisions to cancel or combine sections.

Because these enrollment management decisions are being made absent faculty subject matter expert input in many programs and disciplines across the District, the Council agreed to address this on a District-wide, systemic basis. First, President Ryan Pettengill intends to engage with District senior leadership to make the case for additional faculty empowerment in enrollment management decisions. Second, the entire Council will press these concerns when we next meet with the Chancellor on June 12. Third, the two Council members on the Rapid Response Team, Carlos Martinez and Wade Hyde, will continue to articulate these concerns with the Provost during the numerous times the RRT meets each week.

Working across the District with Colleagues in our Disciplines

The Council agrees that, along with enrollment management decisions, many other issues require the attention of faculty subject matter experts. As such, the Council strongly advises all DCCCD faculty – not just the individual campus curriculum committee reps, but all faculty in a given program or discipline – to engage with their colleagues in the same discipline/program at the other campuses. There are many issues where consistency and uniformity is appropriate, and in those cases the Council believes the faculty subject matter experts must make those determinations. At the same time, there are instances where the same course is used by different programs at different campuses serving different cohorts of students to be trained for different jobs or careers in different industries. Again, in those cases, it is faculty subject matter experts who need to articulate the reasons for those differences. The greater the cooperation and agreement within disciplines and programs across the District, the easier it is for the Faculty Council to represent those interests broadly when we advocate on our members’ collective behalf.

Faculty Professional Development

The Council agrees with previous work done by previous Councils, specifically, that faculty professional development is, first, separate and different from training required by federal, state, or local laws (such as FERPA, ADA, Title IX, etc.), and second, consists of two broad categories: advancing pedagogy and/or advancing or maintaining subject matter expertise and/or professional certification or licensure. The Council also agrees with the principle that professional development that improves us as teachers and/or advances our subject matter expertise, ought to count toward advancement on the faculty salary range scale, from Range 1 to 2 and from Range 2 to 3. The Council intends to continue to make these arguments as task forces and advisory committees are formed regarding faculty professional development.

Dual Credit

The Council also agrees that a District-wide, systemic approach is needed to deal with Dual Credit issues and concerns, in keeping with the recommendations issued in the faculty-generated Dual Credit Report that the Council delivered to Dr. May earlier this year. Until all dual credit operations and reporting relationships are centralized under one leader at District Office, we anticipate that issues and concerns will continue to arise. Consequently, the Council agreed that Jennifer Hudson-Allen, who both will chair the DCCFA Instructional Goals and Academic Freedom Committee and also serves on numerous District-wide dual credit committees, would represent the Council in advancing faculty concerns about Dual Credit at the District level. As such, Jennifer is representing emerging faculty concerns regarding the “dual credit facilitators” that have been requested to be added to many summer courses. Jennifer will investigate this particular request in more detail and report back to the Council.

Committee and Task Force Membership

The Council discussed the ongoing concern that many faculty feel they are being left out of conversations that are culminating in decisions that affect teaching and learning. Many faculty have expertise in particular areas, often outside of their teaching field, and are willing to help the District advance our shared interest in these areas. Recognizing that the District is moving at a quicker pace than even in recent years, and especially compared to a decade ago, the Council agreed to prepare and maintain a shared spreadsheet of areas where we anticipate work needing to be done, and within each a list of faculty who have particular experiences or expertise in those areas. Therefore, the Council encourages members who have an interest in a particular area, to reach out to their respective faculty association president, to say, “I’d like to serve on a task force or committee that might be formed on (this issue).”

Communications

The Council also discussed the desire for all faculty at all campuses to have equal access to information. Consequently, the Council agreed that, while Jennifer Hudson-Allen would take Council meeting minutes in her capacity as Secretary, and while Wade Hyde would take the lead on overall Communications strategies as the chair of the DCCFA Communications committee, Matt Hinckley would take the lead in writing posts to publish to the Advance Blog, that the respective Council members could also separately send to their members via email. Until a new DCCFA.org web site is published, and as faculty still become accustomed to the Faculty One Stop site on SharePoint, the Advance Blog will be the primary means by which the Council broadly communicates its work with the membership at large.

What's Ahead

The Council next plans to meet at 12 noon Friday, June 12, before its monthly meeting with Chancellor May at 2 p.m. The Council also remains in constant contact with one another via email and group text messaging, ensuring that we are able to respond as quickly and thoroughly as possible to emerging concerns, while leveraging and sharing the diverse array of expertise, experiences, and interests that each of us individually brings to the Council.