The recent Student Congress bill regarding professors' use of Desire2Learn was discussed at the Faculty Senate meeting Monday in Jacobson Hall.

Faculty Senate



o The major topic of the meeting was to discuss a bill that would require all OU professors to post their class syllabi and current grade information on Desire2Learn.



o Some professors insist most professors already use Desire2Learn, whiile others use WebCT or their personal Web sites.

Student Congress requested that all professors post the current form of their class syllabi and current grade information for each student on learn.ou.edu.

Roy Knapp, Faculty Senate chairman and professor of petroleum and geology engineering, said the point of the discussion was that the majority of professors already utilize the convenience of the Internet.

During the meeting, a show of hands showed that the majority of the faculty senators already post syllabi online.

"It's an infringement on their freedom to do their jobs the way they like it," Knapp said.

Jozef C. Raadschelders, faculty senator and political science professor, said he doesn't see why online grades and syllabi will help students.

Raadschelders said he doesn't mind if students ask him for another syllabus or have questions about their grade.

"It gives me a chance to wring them by the neck and tell them what they've done wrong," Raadschelders said. "We can grab students if they have something wrong, but they should come to us."

Susan Sharp, senate member and associate professor of sociology, presented a motion proposing that "the Faculty Senate endorses a goal of having 90 percent of the undergraduate course syllabi available online within two years in order to provide students with greater access to the course materials."

Sharp said her motives behind the motion are simple.

"I feel like the students have the right to have access to syllabi," Sharp said. "And online is the easiest way to do it."

Deborah Trytten, senate member and computer science associate professor, said some professors have their own Web site where they post syllabi and grades.

"Everyone does things differently, and that definitely was a legitimate complaint," Trytten said.

Most senators agreed that their goal is to make sure their classes are informed and updated.

"We are students' clients, and what's important is that they have access," Raadschelders said. "But just as there are lazy students, there are lazy professors."

Sharp's motion will be discussed at the December meeting.
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