Thursday, August 30, 2012
Volume 122 / Issue 1
Will lack of home games affect football outcome in 2012
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Houston artists’ exhibit shows what is ‘Beyond the external’
TODAYS FORECAST HI: LOW:
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University may eliminate dual learning management system Current Blackboard, eCollege system called into question
BRANDON SCOTT Staff Reporter Students returning to Sam Houston State should have noticed dramatic changes to the Blackboard system. That’s because the university is making a concerted effort to go back to just one online learning management system, rather than two. Blackboard 9, also referred to as “Blackboard Learn,” is not only the newest edition of the online communication system for professors and students in faceto-face courses, but online courses could be moving in that direction as well. The new Blackboard would eventually replace what is known as SHSU Online – product of the university’s business partnership with eCollege – with a more intuitive, user-friendly program. Distance Education and Learning Technology for Academics (DELTA) was designed Follow us today! @TheHoustonian
to meet the educational technology needs of SHSU faculty and is the home of SHSU Online. But as recently as January of this year, DELTA and the Faculty Senate expressed dissatisfaction with Pearson Education’s eCollege not only for their system failures, but their inability and/or unwillingness to correct the problems. As early as January 2010, faculty senators showed frustration with replacing Blackboard with eCollege, complaining that it was “unintuitive, difficult to learn and generally inferior,” according to Faculty Senate minutes. Grade book functions and duplication of efforts were among the list of complaints, which led to a collaborated study by DELTA and an academic affairs committee. “I feel the administration has been very responsive to our concerns with eCollege,” faculty senator and history professor Jeff Crane, Ph.D said. “DELTA has had a very faculty friendly process, allowing us to make the decision for the new LMS (learning management system). I’m very
happy with the way that worked out.” University officials suspect that since the current eCollege system is dated and the company is moving to another one, there is little to no impetus to perfect SHSU Online. That would put the university in an awkward position because their contract with eCollege goes through the 2013 fiscal year, while Blackboard’s annual contract becomes increasingly expensive as licensing fees continue to rise, Faculty Senate minutes indicated. So the future of how online education at SHSU will be carried out systematically is in question, at least for now. The intention of DELTA associate vice president Bill Angrove, along with the Faculty Senate, is to have just one system for the entire university. That has always been the intention, which is why the use of Blackboard was supposed to be phased out. But with the early complaints about eCollege, including the lack of faculty involvement in the decision to replace Blackboard, both systems were preserved.
To use both eCollege and Blackboard runs about $42 per student, according to DELTA calculations. Angrove suggested an LMS called Canvas, which is an even newer system than Blackboard 9 and would cost approximately $11 per student. Another issue in determining the universal LMS is deciding whether to use “cloud” hosting or have the university host the hardware. The Banner Steering Committee made the decision not to host hardware on campus. Advocates of hosting on campus are in favor of that particular method because it provides security within the connection, as opposed to being at the mercy of the vendor in a network. Blackboard 9 is the same program whether hosted on campus or not. University officials are looking into negotiating a more definitive solution to the two-program LMS system. Angrove was unavailable for comment when reached by The Houstonian.
NATION & WORLD
Ann Romney gets likability bump after RNC speech Ann Romney, wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, gave a speech at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday. Her speech focused largely on women, most notably when she said, “Women, I love you.” Some pundits say this will help curb the large gender gap Republicans face going into November elections.
Residents in LA stranded in wake of Hurricane Issac Louisiana officials are rescuing thousands of residents who were battered by Hurricane Issac, which traveled nearly the identical path as Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The storm moved slowly, drenching residents and destroying property with tropical storm level winds and hurricane level gusts.
Connor Hyde | The Houstonian
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OCKING OUT: Students went wild for Eve 6, alternative-rock group the All-American Rejects and chart-topping rap artist, Ludacris took the stage at this year’s Sammypalooza. Eve 6 performed their 90s hits “Inside Out” and “Think Twice”. The crowd sang along, clapped and cheered as the AllAmerican Rejects gave a energetic performance with humor and the talent to match as they performed their biggest hits like “Move Along”, “Gives You Hell” and “It Ends Tonight”. Then, Ludacris turned Johnson Coliseum into a nightclub as he took the stage with his full band and Lil’ Fate with some of his own hits “Move Bitch”, “Stand Up” and “My Chick Bad” and some of his biggest collaborations with other artists that kept the audience moving and screaming for an encore.
Depositions released in retaliation lawsuit against SHSU STEPHEN GREEN Editor-in-Chief
Depositions have been released that shed further light on a lawsuit by two former art professors against the university involving the former Sam Houston State University art department chair. Jasmyne and Garry Graybill, former professors in the art department, filed a lawsuit against the university alleging former art department chair Tony Shipp created a hostile work environment and retaliated against the couple for speaking out against him. “[Shipp] retaliated against [the Graybills] for making complaints about Shipp’s violations of their federally protected rights under this statute and voting to remove him from his position,” the original lawsuit states. “[Shipp] retaliated by declining a promised
merit raise and reposting [the Graybills’] jobs for the following contract year.” In his deposition, Shipp said the Graybills’ jobs were intended to be posted every year regardless of their employment. He said this was part of a then-university policy. “During 2008-2009, the university was already in the process of establishing new guidelines for the posting of nontenure track positions,” Shipp’s said in his deposition. “As part of this University-wide protocol, I was instructed that all temporary positions should be posted and that all faculty wishing to continue would need to reapply.” Provost and Vice-President for Academic Affairs Jaimie Hebert was the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the time the claim was filed. He echoed Shipp’s claim the position were always up
for reapplication, according to his deposition. “Both positions were one year contract positions, and required renewal for any subsequent years of teaching,” Hebert said. “These positions remain non-tenure track positions to this day.” However, Jasmyne Graybill said that Shipp gave her the impression that as long as she had good teaching performance, that she and her husband were guaranteed the jobs for the next year. She said that going into the job, she knew the positions were for a ninemonth contract basis. “In the way that it was presented to me by Shipp, year-to-year meant that every year I would receive another contract…and as long as we were performing well in and wanted to stay, that we would be allowed to stay as long as we wanted,” Jasmyne Graybill said in her deposition. “That was what
Shipp portrayed to me.” The retaliation lawsuit also alleges Shipp denied the Graybills merit raises they say they were promised in the summer before they were hired. Shipp said non-tenure track, year-to-year employees aren’t entitled to merit raises. “Since there is no merit pool available for these non-tenure track positions, any increase in salary requires a reduction in another line within the budget,” Shipp said. “As the Chair, I do not have control over the funding allocation of funding lines within the Art Department.” Shipp said that he isn’t aware of any non-tenure track faculty got a raise for the next year. Instead, he said, it kept with budgetary constraints. Hebert agreed with Shipp word-for-word about merit raises in his deposition.
The Graybills said Shipp’s retaliated against them because they voted against Shipp in a meeting to decide whether the full-time faculty wanted Shipp to remain as chair. The vote was 10-6 not to retain Shipp as chair. It also included one abstention, and two no votes, according to the letter sent to Hebert. Shipp said in his deposition that he was never told the Graybills voted against him, but was told that the Graybills considered leaving. The depositions also gave detail to the sexual harassment and gender discrimination part of the lawsuit. The discrimination part of the lawsuit was dismissed in January. The trial date is set for March 2013. Visit our website! www.HoustonianOnline.com