There was discussion on clarifying the process for faculty submission of APC forms with the stated first priority of the revision to be the ease of submitting forms. The final revision will be added to the Faculty Association website. The Committee began with working from a draft revision of the process. After discussion on the format required for submission, Arturo Sanchez suggested that the Committee investigate the possibility of setting up a course in Blackboard which would be used for the submission of APC forms to the Faculty Association Office.

The program of study is required for the submission of the APC3 form. It was decided that the documents which are currently obtained in print from the advisors can be obtained in electronic format. The problem of the requirement of submission of form with signatures was discussed. The true and final copy will be signed and hand carried to Cindy. The fourteen previously required for the Committee members will no longer be necessary. Committee members will have access to the form through Blackboard and can print those on which they wish to comment at the meeting.

Bettie Adams suggested that the instructions include a statement, “It is advisable that the forms be reviewed by the Committee representative from your College.”

On the APC 3, a check box will be added for “Remove course from program of study.”

Are the boxes APC 1 - D.7 & 8 necessary? Is a signature required? It was agreed that the boxes are necessary as information items. Because the approval of funding for resources is not under the purview of the APC, a disclaimer will be added, “APC approval does not guarantee the acquisition of resources.” The boxes will be grayed with instructions to see Academic Affairs for the process for securing resources.

On the APC 2 form, boxes 1 (prerequisites) and 2 (co-requisites) on the second page under Course Outline Changes will include the instruction -- "Include current and proposed courses."

Box 3 (Course Description) will include the instruction -- "Please use complete sentences." The course description is limited to 840 characters. The font size will not be specified because the text can be enlarged on the computer screen.

The old course description on APC 2 is missing. The description is not needed.

Arturo Sanchez suggested that the Committee investigate automating the entire APC process with a locally developed workflow system. He knows a masters degree student who may be interested in working on the project if funding can be obtained. Maintenance will be required for future changes. The advisability of changing to Blackboard and then changing again in another semester or two was questioned. Arturo will explain the workflow system to the APC at the next meeting in February.

Bettie Adams will mention to the Executive Committee at their meeting on Tuesday, January 17, that the Committee would like to set up the submission of APC forms through Blackboard and then investigate the automation of the complete process by hiring a graduate student to set up a workflow solution which would also include a searchable database of APC forms. Sarah Philips will write out the revised process which describes the use of Blackboard for submitting forms. The Committee will discuss the revised process in February.