November 6, 2007

Agenda Item

Comments

1.

Call to Order:

Approval of Meeting Notes:

October 2, 2007

Called to order at 11:38 a.m.

Approved as written

2.

Name Change and Website Redesign

Jen Murillo and Steve Lestarjette

Jen discussed the Web Initiative in terms of:

1. Where we are
2. CMS - why we are changing from Estrada and why changing now
3. Project timeline

Steve discussed the Lone Star College System name change. He discussed:

1. The new name
2. Timeline for implementation

3.

MOU for CE Faculty or Assignment:

All colleges exchanged the MOA to discuss whether or not we should consider a common document. CE Council recommends we send the five versions of the CE MOA to Jean Grove and ask HR to develop a common MOA document for CE adjunct. One question for HR is did they expect us to implement the professional development requirements for the workforce fundable instructors and should they be listed in the MOA? If so, the only place this was discussed was at Dean's Council and never brought to CE Council.

4.

Update of CE 3^rd Party Vendor List:

Delete: Flex Orthopedics

Add: Vision Point

Add: TMAC

Reminder: These are turn-key vendors contracted for training. Need to be approved by CE Council prior to using new 3^rd party vendor. Terry and Katherine will review the procedures for vendors and will meet with purchasing to differentiate between 3^rd party vendors, independent contractors, and other vendors. Also how to oversee spending above the $25,000 board approval rule.

5.

CE Pricing Review:  Data?

Council reviewed the recommendations to increase the pricing for CE stand-alone courses. There was some concern expressed about the increased tuition which may be a hardship on students. Terry will schedule a special Council meeting where we will review models and make a recommendation.

For exceptional pricing, CE program managers should send to CE peer reviewers first for input, then send to CE council for approval prior to developing the CIF (not to include contract training). Council prefers it occurs with enough lead time to be included on the monthly CE council agenda.

6.

Employee Compensation Process:

Jean and Karen presented a proposal for how to approve and pay Grant funded additional assignments. They ask that Council reviews the proposed procedures and forms then send back to Jean in a timely manner. Jean and Karen will present this to BTC Friday, November 9 @ 9:00 a.m. since many of those folks are involved in grants of this nature.

7.

CE Related Committee, Council, and  Workgroup Memberships:  Website Posting

Sherry will be responsible to keep current with meeting membership, schedule, and notes. Terry will send a special request to each group to send to Sherry for posting in a timely manner. Sherry will be sure they are collected and send us a note when posted.

8.

CE FAQ Website Review

http://www.lonestar.edu/122469/

Council will send any comments, corrections, or additions to Robin Garrett, .

Council requests that the CE Council website includes links to:

1. FAQ Workforce Continuing Education FAQ sheet at the CB site
2. WECM site on CB site

9.

Pay Differential:

(CE faculty vs. Credit faculty)

Abdul recommends we consider one pay grade for workforce CE. Linda will gather a report to list how CE workforce instructors are now paid to help Council determine the budget impact.

New Business:

Entrepreneurship Programs: Council will seek funding to send a team to the NACCE national conference in San Antonio to discuss successful Entrepreneur programs in the country - both CE and credit.

10.

Announcements

BTC Council membership, until further notice of a CT reorganization, will consist of program managers, directors and business training consultants directly involved with contract training. Deans may attend as a visitor.

11.

Next Meeting date

12.

Adjourn

CE Web Registration Update:

The subcommittee led by Denise (Terry, Abdul, Denise, and George) as been put on hold. 

Council still has concerns with: e-release for Discovery College by Feb 28^th, default to short title (WECM) and the confusion it carries for students, dead-end paths, shopping cart, and the generation of registration and payment receipt. 

Terry has discussed a possible vendor for CE registration (Augusoft) with Tom Hill. Tom will follow up and let us know next steps. Linda reported the HCC process and will get their programming design for their new CE/CT registration system.

General Use Fee $2 Per Credit Hour Update:

There was a meeting on September 18th with Glen Wood, Priscilla Strawbridge, Pat MacDougal, Christina Todd and Terry Sawma to discuss the General Use Fee and how to populate in a CIF field.  Terry and others will meet with Tom Hill and James Silva to discuss this.

IT should be able to update the credit-course masters.  Because of the late date, and the fact that Spring 2008 schedules are already downloaded, Council decided to implement a General Use fee for CE linked courses beginning Summer 2008.

CE/Credit Linked Prerequisite Exception List: Update

Hi Terry,

I've emailed Kay Hale at the CB asking about your linking/funding issue and will let you know when she responds.

On the other issue of the prereq exception list - here are the decisions from the VP Council from Tuesday.  The VPs decided to bring back the exception list, allow them to be linked while not matching the credit prereqs, and that students will be eligible for articulation to Credit only if they meet the prereqs.  To be eligible for articulation, students may meet prereqs either when they take the CE course or later, but they must meet the prereqs by the time they apply for the articulated credit.  We will need to repost the list on the CE website, clarify the procedures in the PLA manual, update the form, and inform advisors.  If your CE Council wants to see those changes, please tell me when your next meeting will be, and I'll try to get the PLA manual changes to you before then.

Hope this helps,

Christina

ESL Rubrics and Numbers: Update

LLW will contact the CB to determine if it is possible to link WECM ESL to the ACGM ESL if we supplemented the instruction for the CE students with workforce application materials.

Not possible.  See correspondence from THECB

Payment Plan Proposal Update:

Sawma met with Hiza and Boley on September 25th.  He provided us with an update on the meeting. Philosophically Hiza and Boley are in favor of a payment plan for CE. However a payment plan for CE would not be available until fall 2008 at the very earliest. Council will ask CE Program managers to identify programs or courses that we would like to have eligible for a payment plan, course length of time, and contact hours. Terry will ask Cindy to contact TouchNet to obtain the list of companies in Texas that they serve.

Discovery College e-Release Form

Terry will meet with Tom Hill about establishing an on-line parental release form (and permission to photograph and use pictures in promotion of the program). This must be in-place by February 2008 for Su '08.

BTC Council

BTC membership, until further notice of a CT reorganization, will consist of program managers, directors and business training consultants directly involved with contract training. Deans may attend as a visitor.