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UC DAVIS LAUNCHES LECTURE CAPTURE STUDENT ASSISTANT PROGRAM The program allows students to record in-person lectures for those who cannot attend class
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VOLUME 140, ISSUE 17 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022
SB #46, #47, #49 PASS UNANIMOUSLY AT FEB. 10 ASUCD SENATE MEETING Senators debated SB #47 and SB #49 which proposed establishing and funding a committee to provide vouchers for community needs
AGGIE FILE BY CAROLINE VAN ZANT campus@theaggie.org
Lecture hall at UC Davis, photographed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lecturers can request lecture capture assistants. (Aggie File) BY ISABELLA KRZESNIAK campus@theaggie.org In response to requests from students and faculty, several units of the campus administration are working to implement the Lecture Capture Student Assistant (LCSA) program, which hires student employees to record lectures for instructors. The program was first briefly mentioned in Chancellor Gary May’s email to students about returning to in-person instruction on Jan. 24. Onehundred-seventy lecturers have requested lecture capture assistants, and an employment survey has been sent to over 13,000 students, as of Feb. 1. Fourth-year animal biology major Kimberly Aguirre applied for the job after seeing a survey for one of her classes. “I wanted to do it because I thought it would be a good way to make a little more money,” Aguirre said. “I’m going to be starting grad school in the fall, so I won’t be able to work as much as I am able to right now.” Students are expected to attend class, record lectures and upload their recordings at an hourly rate of $15.25. Gabriela Tsudik, the chair of the Academic Affairs Commission, feels that implementing the program is a critical action item for ASUCD. “If professors catch [COVID-19 or] students miss class […] and there’s no option for lecture recording, that can be up to two weeks of them not having access to lectures,” Tsudik said. “It’s definitely going to be a problem.”
Tsudik discussed lecture capture with the Academic Senate. “Basically, we’re under-resourced, and we can’t require professors to record lectures even if they do have lecture capture available in the classroom,” Tsudik said. After completing a short training course, students can start working. Since Aguirre applied, she said she has received little information on the work she will be doing. “They were lagging a bit in getting back to us in terms of when onboarding was going to start and what to expect,” Aguirre said. “The expectations are a bit vague in general, which I didn’t really like.” Physics professor Erfan Nourbakhsh opted in to the program but has yet to work with any student assistants to record lectures. “I actually started recording everything myself because I didn’t have access to that program,” Nourbakhsh said. “Someone who can take care of this separately would be very helpful.” According to Jason Stewart, the assistant director of Budget and Institutional Analysis for UC Davis, LCSA has been a collaborative effort. “Many people in multiple offices are working as quickly as possible to get this new program up and running,” Stewart said. Tsudik said she believes that, ideally, lecture capture would be mandatory for all instructors. “I think [...] the general student population does wish it was required,” Tsudik said. “Obviously it’s not feasible if lecture capture is not available, [or] professors catch [COVID-19], it’s going to be difficult. I think students are realizing this is a big issue.”
Internal Vice President Juliana Martinez Hernandez called the meeting to order at 6:18 p.m. Following roll call, she recited the UC Davis Land Acknowledgement. Four members of various ASUCD commissions were randomly selected for service on the Elections Committee. Vice Chancellor of Finance, Operations and Administration Kelly Ratliff presented an overview of UC Davis’ budget and income. Her presentation was followed by a debate about whether students should have more say in the campus budget. “From buildings, to infrastructure, whatever you want to say […] every single dollar affects us,” Senator Sergio Bocardo-Aguilar said. Next, the STEM Committee provided its quarterly report, focusing on transparency in grade curving. “We are working on a resolution to address the toxic environment created by curving,” Committee Co-Chair Aaron Wright said. Omar Flores was confirmed as the chairperson of the DREAM Committee. Flores is a fourth-year political science major with experience working with on-campus organizations such as La Familia. Alice Deloise Atiegar, a fourth-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major, was confirmed as a member of the DREAM Committee. Following a short break, the Entertainment Council presented its quarterly report, focusing on adapting to COVID-19 with outdoor events and its goals regarding advertising and investment in new equipment. Each official gave an overview of the work they did over the past week during elected officer and ex-officio reports. During Public Announcements, Jackson Gould, the CALPIRG pledge captain, spoke about the organization’s campaign to end plastic use and its goal to get 1,000 signatures on its petition by the end of the week. International Student Representative Keven Zhou announced the Global Learning Conference on April 2. Next, the table moved into Public Discussion. ASUCD President Ryan Manriquez brought up the news that Yolo Country plans to end its mask mandate on Feb. 15. While no legislation was passed, senators were in agreement that UC Davis must keep its mandate in place until positivity rates decrease. Senator Celeste Palmer argued for a more stringent mask mandate. “If you want to have a truly effective mask mandate you need to start insisting on either surgical masks or N95s,” Palmer said. SENATE on 9
UC DAVIS PROGRAM FOR STUDENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES COMPLETES FIRST QUARTER The Redwood SEED (Supported Education to Elevate Diversity) Scholars Program, launched in the fall of 2021, is a four-year inclusive college program for students with intellectual disabilities BY KAYA DO-KHANH campus@theaggie.org The UC Davis Redwood SEED (Supported Education to Elevate Diversity) Scholars Program is the first four-year inclusive college program with a residential area for students with intellectual disabilities in California. Beth Foraker, an instructor for the School of Education, and Leonard Abbeduto, the director of the Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (MIND) Institute, are co-directors of the program. “[The purpose of the program is] to provide a full college experience that leads to competitive integrated employment for young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” Abbeduto said via email. “This is important since so few people with intellectual and developmental disabilities have the opportunity for post-secondary education and the personal growth that it promotes and few end up with jobs that pay a living wage and are in inclusive environments.” Since the 1960s, there have been programs for students with intellectual disabilities from preschool through 12th grade in the Davis area, according to Foraker. The addition of the Redwood SEED Scholars Program makes Davis the first city in the state with preschool to four-year college inclusion. “We have data from other places, and we know that if you finish our program, a four-year program, you have between a 65-80% chance of getting a living wage at graduation,” Foraker said. “We know that building these skills — independent living, employment skills, communication skills and academic skills — will launch them into a real chance at living in their community on their terms and having a job that pays them enough to pursue their hopes and dreams.” The program welcomed their first group of 12 students in the fall of 2021. Nine of these students continued with the program for the year and engaged in on-campus dormitory living, college courses, social activities and internship opportunities. “We had 23 that we thought would be a good fit for our program, and of those 23, two-thirds of those people had never even spent one night away from home,” Foraker said. “The nine were very successful, and they grew so much. Their emotional growth, communication skills, ability to deal with complex problems and sticking with the classes that they were taking — all of it has been really beautiful.” This year, the students are taking their first college course, NUT 10: Discoveries and Concepts in Nutrition, which is a popular course among UC Davis students. “It is amazing the ripple effect it has, not only for our scholars
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and their mentors, but for typical UC Davis students all around who are getting to see, ‘Oh, look, there’s somebody here that looks a little different from me, but they are part of this campus community.’ That is a very important aspect,” Sarah Barnes, the program’s academic director, said. The Redwood SEED Scholars Program has access to mentors who assist the students with residential living, academics, health and wellness and social inclusion. There are a total of 50 mentors, and a majority of them are volunteers. “What happens when you make it a volunteer position is you get people who are very interested in this,” Foraker said. “They just really care about this effort, and it becomes an effort of the heart instead of an effort of the checkbook.” The SEED Scholars Program is facilitated by campus-wide collaboration and support. UC Davis Continuing and Professional
Education has aided in the creation and management of the program, UC Davis Health has helped in finding internships for the SEED scholars and the MIND Institute has shared its research and skill sets to launch the program. “I think the program is rather unique nationally because it is embedded in a campus-wide unit — the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion — rather than being the responsibility of a single college or school or center,” Abbeduto said. Abbeduto expressed hopes of expansion and increased exposure for the future of the program. “The program will expand in terms of [the] number of students [that will] interact with, get to know, and learn from the SEED scholars,” Abbeduto said. “I also want the program to serve as a model for the other UC campuses and we look forward to working with other campuses to create their programs.”