Download Meeting Minutes

Biology TPT Meeting
January 25, 2016
Central Lakes College, Brainerd, MN
Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
Talk about discussion with colleagues
Competencies
April Meeting date
Talk about Discipline Stakeholders Meeting place and time for March 25th
Minutes
1- Jessica Daniels from Fergus Falls, spoke to her colleagues and they wondered about
competencies for Ecology. Also, comments about physics requirement, with calculus based vs.
algebra. Sue Knoll from Riverland asked if there was an articulation in place already. Jessica
responded there is one with Bemidjii and Moorehead state.
a. Sue Knoll responded that Ecology may need to be developed even at smaller enrollment
colleges, and she did not see that as a possible option at her college. She believes that
enough Ecology could be studied in General Biology.
b. Tamara Newcomb from Inver Hills responded that an A.S. degree does not allow for
emphases.
c. Glen Merrick from Lake Superior college, responded that they do not currently have an
Ecology or Genetics course. However, these courses if offered in this transfer degree
would hopefully raise the numbers of students pursuing the degree.
d. Brian Wisenden from Moorehead state spoke about Ecology being a sophomore course,
and if students transferred in they would have a tough time finishing their courses at the
four year college.
e. Alison Mahoney from Mankato said that most of their emphases require a sophomore
Ecology, however some of the emphases do not require it. Such as the Biomedical
sciences degree does not require Ecology.
f. Laura McCauly from Winona state stated their core courses are cell biology, ecology etc.
She said that if they are a cellular or molecular bio emphasis student then they could get
away without having Ecology.
g. Beth Mayers from Central Lakes College, recommended that we could discuss the
possibility of working with other colleges that may offer a hybrid version of Ecology that
their students might be able to take.
h. John Schneider from Metro state said his colleagues were happy with the courses, but
they were questioning the lack of Physics, and after he explained that it was more of a
junior level course they were “okay” with it. Also they spoke about making sure that the
community college transfer students were entering ready for their junior year.
i.
j.
Brian Wisenden responded that Physics is not required at Moorhead until Junior year.
Glen from Lake Superior discussed the possibility of alternate pathways for some
colleges.
k. Colleen Greer from Bemidji state. Stated that General Ecology is required at the
sophomore level.
l. John Schneider asked if we should look at a fix for the solution, or start working through
competencies.
i. Laura from Winona suggested that we explore a fix for the solution.
ii. John asked about the number of Community Colleges that are able to offer
these courses?
iii. Sue Knoll mentioned that we could look at the pre-engineering A.S. degree.
iv. Discussion about articulation agreements ensued
v. Glen Merrick put together a flow chart with two pathways
1. Pathway 1 = Biol 1; Biol 2; Gen. Chem 1; Gen. Chem 2; Gen. Ecology;
Genetics
2. Pathway 2 = Biol 1; Biol 2; Gen. Chem 1; Gen Chem 2; Org. Chem. 1;
Genetics
vi. Tammy Newcomb from Inver Hills stated they have a Genetics course on the
books, but has not been offered for a while. But if there was a need it could be
offered again.
vii. Mike Klug from MCTC replied that they also have Genetics on the books, but has
not been run for a while. They do not have an Ecology course, but they are
currently working on trying to get together an Ecology associates degree and
are looking to get an articulation. They also have a full year of calculus, organic
and physics with both calculus and algebra based.
viii. Sue Knoll asked if the credit variations would matter. Glen from Lake Superior
added that we have a range of credits listed to allow for that variation.
Although he said that there may be a need to work in the future to take a 5
credit Genetics down to 4 credit course to be able to fit into the degree.
ix. John from Metro state asked if we could take a vote on whether we are okay
with these two pathway options, so that we can move to our next item?
Anyone not comfortable? Heard no objections so we will move to
competencies.
2- Competency discussion for each course.
a. John asked if we should tackle it as a group or assign several specialists to work through
it and bring it to the group.
b. Sue Knoll asked that we look at the Pennsylvania model.
c. Glen from Lake Superior asked that we think about starting with General Biology
courses to get a base begun.
d. Discussion began about General Biology competencies.
i. Discussion began about focusing on Cell biology, then organismal, then genetics,
and maybe Ecology or track 2.
ii. Sue Knoll mentioned that we look at the article, sent to everyone via email,
called Vision and Change.
iii. Jessica Daniels from Fergus Falls, mentioned that we need to remember that
not all of our students transfer to MNSCU institutions. They may go elsewhere,
so we should maybe leave a little more flexibility on the outcomes.
iv. Brian Wisenden from Moorhead stated that our task was to focus on transfer
within the MNSCU system.
v. John Schneider from metro suggested that we think about all competencies that
need to be covered throughout the 2 year curriculum. How each college gets to
that goal will be left up to each college. John suggested that over the next
month before our next meeting on February 26th we come up with competency
drafts, then come together to discuss.
1. Brian Wisenden from Moorhead mentioned that if you check in section
S of your binder you will find a draft of Biology curriculum competencies
that he worked on several years ago. This could be a place to start.
2. Four groups that will work as teams to contribute knowledge toward
creating competencies and some of the content for the assigned area.
Expect to create about 1 page for each course, and please share
information with colleagues. Deadline for draft email is February 5th.
a. Cell Biology: John from Metro, Sue Knoll from Riverland; Mike
Klug from MCTC
b. Organismal/Evolution: Brian Wisenden from Moorhead, Alison
from Mankato; Beth Mayers from Central Lakes College
c. Ecology: Glen from Lake superior; Laura from Winona
d. Genetics: Jessica Daniels from Mstate; Corinne Salone from
MCTC; Andy Arsham from Bemidji state.
vi. April Meeting date needs to be set. John or Beth will send out a doodle poll to
all via email so that we can figure out the best date.
vii. Discipline stakeholders meeting is set for March 25th. Place is set to be at North
Hennepin from 10am-2pm. With two consecutive sessions in that time frame.
viii. Summary by John Schneider from metro state.
1. We have a draft of courses set up
2. We have organized ourselves into four subgroups to look at creating a
set of competencies and content for each major course. The deadline
for the draft is February 5th. We will discuss over email, and tweak the
information on our next meeting February 26th.
ix. Meeting adjourned at 4pm.