West Virginia University at Parkersburg
Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes
October 7, 2013
Present:  Torie Jackson (Chair), Dianne Davis (Vice Chair), Maggie Berdine (Secretary), Aaron Crites (ACF), Matt Santer (BOG), Rob Anderson, Mart Beth Held, Uta Hempel, Roger Lewis, Craig Rabatin, Joyce Stover (JCC), Barbara Tyell (for Cynthia Watkins), David C. Williams. 
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss concerns about Pearson’s “Open Classroom.” The following “Position Paper on OpenClass” was drafted and approved by a special vote on October 8.
“Position Paper on OpenClass”:
The WVU Parkersburg Faculty Senate polled its constituent members to address concerns with Open Class and the campus-wide use of this course management system beginning in January 2014.  We foresee eminent tribulations with a campus-wide enactment of this system that appears to be launching too quickly.
	The following is the position supported by the Faculty Senate and approved during a special vote on October 8, 2013.

The WVU Parkersburg Faculty Senate opposes using Open Class as a course management system until the issues already expressed to the coordinator are addressed.  Those issues include:
•	The OpenClass system is being implemented too quickly and without a backup measure.
•	The contract for utilization of this system was not signed until May, causing a rush in all aspects of design, training and implementation.
•	A lack of leadership exists in coordinating the plan for this implementation and identifying priorities. What is the overall process, agenda or “game plan?” The original timeline has been altered drastically and the responsibilities of making this system work have fallen onto a very small staff in the college’s Center for Teaching and Technology. The technologically trained employees in the CTT now must deal with advising, textbook and training concerns instead of focusing on the technology itself and the problems noted by the trial groups utilizing the system. Faculty would like to applaud Jessamine Wass and Chris Fahey of the CTT for their efforts to assist faculty — no matter the time of day — with training and other concerns with this system despite their strained workloads.
•	The campus lacks proper IT resources for successful implementation of this program. The Faculty Senate supports the hiring of at least two full-time employees to assist the CTT staff in implementation. We would like to see an IT person dedicated to each of the five academic divisions on campus, understanding that the coordinators assigned within each division are full-time faculty members with a workload that makes it unfeasible and impractical for them to handle the concerns of their divisions properly.  The multitude of technical issues presented by faculty who have used this system would likely work themselves out with enough help and time. The problem is time is elapsing quickly and help is minimal.
•	Faculty and students who will be using this system in January do not have the proper training.
•	This system is touted as a cost savings for students. In an article appearing in The Parkersburg News and Sentinel on September 11, 2013, “In an effort to reduce costs, maintain accreditation and increase access, West Virginia University at Parkersburg, a higher education institution offering community college programs and bachelor's degrees, announced a partnership with Pearson to transition all of its online degree programs onto OpenClass, a free, cloud-based learning environment.” However, it appears from the “Delivery of Online Courses and Courses with Online Components” cost charts presented on this system that students will actually end up paying more for online courses than they presently do. 
•	The technical support system for OpenClass through Pearson does exist, but faculty who have utilized it note extreme wait times and rude assistance when it is received.
•	This course management system doesn’t fit the HLC assessment rubric.
•	The system is yet to be integrated with Banner. This could mean manual enrollment of all students on an already tight timeline with minimal staff.
•	Other technical concerns within the OpenClass for faculty include:
o	No lockdown browser for secure testing, such as those required by accreditation standards for the Health Sciences Division.
o	No student view function so that faculty members know how the course appears to student users.
o	No tracking features to see when students log in and how long they are logged into the system for testing, etc.
o	The materials provided by Pearson are substandard. With test banks, the quality is not demanding or of a college level and enough questions are not provided for adequate selection.
o	Comments for students on work have to be typed into a small area in the grade book to be shared.
o	Tests do not allow for individual release, only group release which can result in students retaking a test when they should not be doing so.
•	Other technical concerns within the OpenClass for faculty include The faculty currently teaching online at WVU Parkersburg must work sometime during the Fall 2013 semester with a student worker inside the CTT office to “capture” all material they have in all online courses not transferred to the system since the current eCampus system will no longer be accessible after December 31, 2013.
•	In that same article in The Parkersburg News and Sentinel, Dave Daniels, president of Integrated Solutions at Pearson North America, said "We're honored to be partnering with WVU-Parkersburg to grow its online and blended learning programs with OpenClass, an innovative learning environment designed to encourage collaboration and communication for students, faculty, and institutions, in addition to our proven digital content and student support services that have enhanced the learning experience and improved outcomes for millions of learners. This partnership is the latest demonstration of Pearson's efforts to reduce costs to institutions while enabling greater access and ultimately, better achievement.” The faculty of WVU Parkersburg would like to know more about the cost savings for students and the ratio of success stories versus problems with this OpenClass system.
The problems of this system are real and need to be addressed quickly. The faculty understand the necessity of a switch to a new system since eCampus will no longer be available in 2014. Yet, we have great concerns with how this process has been approached and is proceeding.  As the ones who will be utilizing this system to teach our students, we ask that it receive priority attention and resources to make as smooth of a transition as possible.
We are a community college.  The community knows when we have a problem. We don’t want that to be the message shared when the Spring 2014 semester begins. Our students should not be penalized for this institution’s decision to be an early adopter of Pearson’s OpenClass.

The meeting adjourned at 12:15
Submitted by Maggie Berdine, Secretary