News Update: Graduate Programs Committee (Jan 20th)

News Update: Graduate Programs Committee (Jan 20th)

Faculty of Physical Education andRecreation

Graduate Programs Committee

Meeting: January 20, 2012

1.    Update on Master of Coaching degree proposal.

We are in the final stages ofgetting this degree accepted. A board learning and discovery committee meetingis to be held January 23, 2012. If/when it is accepted, the last stage is tothe Ministry of Advanced Education.

2.     Updateon RECON 2012.

The Radisson Hotel, Canmore, ABis booked Sept 6-9. A tentative program outline has been developed. This timearound the RECON committee has more time for poster sessions, has planned agroup dinner, and made a significant effort to reduce the ‘rush’ of the programcontent. Poster sessions are being paired with breakfasts and snacks, as it wasthought that snacking, presenting and mingling worked well the last conference.The next RECON meeting is on January 26 to discuss the keynote speaker.

3.     Student-supervisorrelationships.

The committee is looking todevelop optimal behaviours and critical responsibilities of supervisors. StewPeterson would like to see a working group of faculty and PERGSS reps.Currently FGSR is working on some sort of hand-book or guide for thestudent-supervisor relationship; however Stew Peterson feels that we should notwait for FGSR and continue this initiative in the PER faculty. Ideally, wouldlike to incorporate some guide/handbook into policy for the May FacultyCouncil.

4.     Mentorshipof new faculty.

Right now there is no formaldocument indicating how faculty should progress their supervision of students.The Vice-Dean and Dean think that it would be a good idea to create a formaldocument for supervisory progression (ref. Graduate Program Manual). Thisdocument would identify ‘typical’ procedures for new professors. The committeemembers expressed that they were hesitant regarding this idea. Having a formaldocument seems like it might put a constraint on the new professors. Thecommittee would like to see the current document revised such that it includesmore guidelines and suggestions for the typical procedures in supervisoryprogression. The committee would not like this to be strict, formal procedures.Stew Peterson is to revise the current documentation and present it to thecommittee.

5.     GraduateCourse Review.

a)    Course development philosophy – It is importantto have fundamental principles for course development. The program should takeprecedence over the individual, that is, the good of the program shouldoutweigh professors’ personal preferences or situations. Thus, it is importantnot to tie courses to specific individuals. More than one person needs to beable to teach a course if the usual instructor is on sabbatical, on leave, orunable to teach for some other reason.

b)    PERLS 582

a.    PERLS 582 is an open course that has been usedwhen trying out new courses or when planning to use a course for a short periodof time. An effort needs to be made to reduce the use of PERLS 582.

b.    There are some new course proposals.

                                                       i.     Issuesin coaching

                                                     ii.     SportPhysiology

                                                    iii.     CommunicationSkills and Strategies

                                                    iv.     CardiopulmonaryPhysiology

c.    Other Courses? It was suggested that a doctoralseminar be added. This course would teach skills more so than content. Anniefelt that it was important to ask the graduate students. Stew indicated thatthis has not been done as of late.

c)    Review of current Courses

a.    Identification and allocation of disciplinaryareas

                                                       i.     Biological

                                                     ii.     Recreationand leisure

                                                    iii.     Socio-cultural

                                                    iv.     Behavioural

                                                      v.     Coaching

                                                    vi.     Adaptive

b.    Process and review within areas.

Facilitators for each disciplinary area have been named:Stew Peterson (biological), Gordon Walker (recreation and leisure), Jay Schere(socio-cultural), Tanya Berry (behavioural), Jim Denison (coaching), andpossibly Janice for adaptive (Stew to discuss). Facilitators are to organizefaculty groups to get together and discuss: 1) the courses currently beingoffered, 2) the relevance of courses to the area, 3) the importance of thecourses to the area, 4) the student demand for the courses, and 5) possiblecourse changes. Annie is to involve graduate students - contact PERGSS membersfirst, then other senior students in the respective area. The committee feltthat it is important to be strategic about the students involved on thecommittees. They want students who were engaged, had a good knowledge of thecourses being offered, and a good knowledge of the disciplinary area. This is atime sensitive manner, so it is urgent to get sub-committees together ASAP.Committee facilitators are to have feedback ready for the committee by February28^th.

d)    Identification of course rotation

This was quickly discussed as the meeting was already overthe allotted time. Committee members were to leave the meeting and think aboutcourse rotation 1) each term, 2) each year, and 3) alternate years. This is tobe discussed in more detail next meeting.

Meeting adjourned.