TO:         AIC Steering Committee/Mark Silliman, Chair

FROM: AIC for Degrees and Certificates/General Education and Student Learning Outcomes:
             J. De Ste Croix, Co-Chair

Candice Hochstein, Co-Chair

SUBJECT: Final Report

DATE: March 28, 2003

The final meeting for the AIC for Degrees and Certificates took place on Oct. 4, 2002. The Co-Chairs convened the meeting in order to assess the committee’s progress and to formulate a direction for the future. In general, the committee concluded that it had fulfilled the original charges for which it was responsible and that the April First Progress Report had outlined the particulars supporting that conclusion. (A copy of that report is attached to this memo.) The Committee does recommend, however, that the General Education Outcomes and Associate in Arts Degree Competencies (pages 45-49 in the 2002-2003 LCC Catalog) be shared with all of the Divisions and Curriculum Committee members. They should be aware that any course proposed for the Core will need to conform to the requirements denoted in these documents.

During the October fourth meeting, the subject of the committee’s future prospects constituted the bulk of the discussion. After considering several possibilities (some of which are listed on the minutes for that meeting), committee members settled on an exploratory approach. Because the committee’s original tasks had centered on issues having to do with assessment, concluded the members, it might be reasonable for this committee to assume a leading role in the formation of a campus-wide assessment committee, one linked to other similar bodies throughout the system. In order to look into the possibilities for this development, the committee members decided to create a proposal suggesting this possibility and outlining the conditions it would see as necessary in order for a successful assessment committee to operate.

The October fourth meeting took place on a Friday afternoon. On the following Monday, the LCC administration announced its formation of a wholly separate campus-wide pre-assessment committee in charge of creating the group which would establish and implement assessment for the LCC community. In light of this latter development, the AIC for Degrees and Certificates has decided that its decision to offer a proposal is now unnecessary and, as a result, will not be formulated. Unless the AIC Steering Committee sees compelling reasons for this AIC to continue, we propose that it be discontinued.

A system-wide community college task force headed by Dave Cleveland of Honolulu Community College is working on consolidating the AA degree learning competencies. Moreover, Bernadette Howard, Leeward Community College’s Acting Assistant Dean of Instruction, is currently consulting with individual disciplines in order to form standard learning student learning outcomes for all courses.