Carol welcomed everyone for attending. Richard Alexander is acknowledged as guest.

 

II.   Approve Agenda

 

Two items are being added to the agenda. 1) Printing policy for students   Tim: 2) Information needed to capture in order to notify students in emergency situation

 

*Kam announced that the proposed printing policy for students in the library was approved by Board of Trustees this noon. 

III.      Approve minutes of April 11, 2007  meeting

 

The minutes from the February 14, 2007 meeting was approved as submitted. Motioned by Kamlesh and seconded by Becky.

IV.    Old Business 

 Kam stated that he wanted to dispel some rumors that we would be going with Angel this fall. This is not true. The question has been; do we stay with Blackboard basic or go to Enterprise version. We will upgrade to Enterprise for fall, 2007,   MCC will be hosting the system that houses BB, it has formerly been hosted by consortium but due to changes it will be here. This year we are not buying the software that integrates with the Colleague system. The software costs $45,000 for them to build it. The reason is what if we buy this software and the committee decides they want to go with Angel. Due the budget constraints we don’t want to spend that  money and later decide to go another way. What this means for I.T. is that Scott will have to once again manually input the courses for Fall. If sub-committee decides in January to purchase the software we will pursue.

 

Question: Tim asked when will the Enterprise version be available for course development?

 

Kam explained that we will not be spending dollars for hardware until next fiscal year but he has talked with the vendor and explained that we want this in place for class development and they have decided to send the contracts by end of May and bill us later in July. We did buy the new server. Blackboard will bring all the courses over. So we expect it to be ready before July 1^st. 

 

Becky noted that it was her understanding that the main reason for making change was to integrate with Colleague and now that we are buying the software to do this, why are we making the temporary change. Kam said it is so everyone will have an opportunity to play with the software. The difference is 20,000 and we didn’t want to have to put 20,000 on top of the 45,000.

 

Mark stated there are other added benefits with Enterprise. Single login capability is a plus. The integration tools plus we will control the server in our own house which gives better security.

 

Tim asked if I.E. 7 works well with Enterprise and Mak said that I.E.7 does work with it but not IE7 that’s on Vista and Microsoft is not doing anything to remedy this.

 

Kam: A lot of people are switching to Angel. In the economy we are in, Angel is giving good price.  

 Carol asked for clarification on this-Is this the checking out of a laptop or desktop vs laptop. Kam said it is more on security. He asked that we table this discussion because he still gathering information. It is moved and seconded. 

Richard interjecting a little humor; stated that because he has a continuing contract can be a little cranky. It is not the issue of the value of the clicker but rather the choosing of one clicker versus the other. He uses the I-clicker. It is a pretty simple tool to use. Richard actually has 4 clickers and one can be designated as the instructor’s clicker. If you are doing a PowerPoint presentation, you can use it to advance the slides or back up slides. Kathy noted that the other ones come with a LED. The software for this comes on a jump drive which means it can be used on any computer, anywhere around campus as opposed to the CPS-e-instruction where the software would have to be installed. You can use for prepared quizzes or in class participations. You can set it up to score quizzes or take attendance. Students would register their clicker before class. Kathy noted that students can register their clickers in Blackboard.  Quizzes can be done in class or online. Tim asked if the quizzes are scored online. Richard said no. 

 

Tim stated that registering the clickers could be consequential because if we went as a community to several different clickers, students had 2 or 3 classes that used clickers.   Software is easily upgraded by going to the website.   Bookstore would have to purchase number needed for the appropriate size of class using it.

 

Becky asked what students get back. Answer: Students would spend $35.00, they would get $17.50 back.  Richard continued to share some of the other features of the I-Clicker and how it works as he presented examples from his class presentation

 

Kathy noted that she compared 3 systems and she will be going with the CPS in the fall. She did an online demonstration with each 3 and it took an hour and a half and when done, she was thoroughly confused. There are similarities and some differences.

 

Questions: Can you turn off so the answers are anonymous?

 

Carol: It seems to be a useful tool and sure there will be more questions as we ponder this issue. It would be nice if we had one college-wide and students could take one to each class. 

 

Richard: It is not an easy issue. It could be lead to some discussion same as whether or not all psych 201 classes would have to use the same textbook. Tim noted that some departments do that now. It is not mandatory but agreed upon by departments

 

Kam asked, “Is this technology is linked to textbooks”? Kathy stated that in some respects, yes in some cases. McGraw Hill does have an exam view where they provide questions. The product however can be used independent. Kathy is waiting for call from CPS to verify that one does not have to use software. One could use any textbook and use software with it. 

 

Kam: Is it fair to have students buy several different clickers for each different classe? Kathy asked if this is done with calculators. Tim said it’s a bit different. Each calculator can get you a right answer. But each clicker cannot do that. It’s not an apple to apple comparison. The math teachers do try to be flexible on this. 

 

Kam: Should we try to look at the different technology and find one that meets everyone needs? At what point, does it stop for student. These are not inexpensive. Becky noted that we should start to look at this before fall semester because it is bound to become an issue as more faculty begin to use the clickers.

 

Carol: Is this the top three: CPS, I-Clicker or Turning Point? There are many more.

Tim asked if maybe it should not be put in the class schedules that clicker is required and students can start selecting which class by being able to see the requirement up front.

 

Kathy: How is different than students buying 4 different short story books for the literature class? 

Becky: The decision to be made is whether we treat is as Kathy says or as a tool for instructors to diversify their teaching methods.

 

Kelly noted that with books, you buy for that particular class and the technology you buy for several classes where the technology can be from course to course.

 

Kam: We are telling students to buy different pens for each class? They would need red pen for class A, blue for class B and etc.

 

Tim said unlike with the calculators or pens, everyone has to have the same technology to make it work.  Rather student uses blue, red or black pen they come up with the same information. Richard cannot use the CPS with his class because his class is designed to use the I-Clicker. 

 

Carol: What would happen if there were two input devices up there? That would not work. The vendors would not support this. 

Question: How difficult is it to pick one? Richard said he would not feel comfortable making a recommendation until he had time to work with the others. 

 

Carol stated that if we had a recommendation from the committee that maybe faculty would be more apt to buy one over the other.

 

Kathy asked; what is the difference between using PowerPoint or overhead in presenting her material. Kam noted- with PowerPoint or overhead, we are not asking the student to make any purchases. The reason he is having opposition to this is that we are asking student’s to purchase multiple technology. 

 

Tim: Why don’t we have committee go out and make recommendation to the council? The committee will have rationale for making the recommendation and it would be common sense to have one clicker. 

 

Richard read note from Toby that the association would like hear the matter before any motion goes to the coordinating council. The association is concerned with student cost. Kam suggested Toby be invited to come to council as guest.

 

The committee will consist of Kathy Pollack, Richard Alexander, Tim Trainor with Kathy as chair. 

 

Kam thought:

Why not have college purchase instead of student?   We just charge them the $5.00 fee. Carol said that would be good down the road but not every class would be using.  

Carol did check on this for a week but had to go off to Ann Arbor so she does not have any documented notes to share. She did find out that there are few people using My Space to successfully to promote their college. The students are there being paid to actually be out there. She will continue to check. It is student run space. 

 

Mark: There was an article in Chronicle for Higher Education about the low student perception about colleges who do this. It is used more for social networking. 

 

Kam announced that he is trying to Christi Seagal to come and do presentation on the technology and college trends. 

 

V.       New business

 

1.       Email policy

 

The Coordinating Council approved the Acceptable use and the wireless policy but nothing on the wireless. Has it gone to coordinating council.

 

Now we can control the ‘all’ group with the new system. We had talked a little before about how we could control this group as well as the classified folders-stuff for sale. Kam has looked over policy and think it is ready to go. Suggestion: #3. everyone should send message to their V.P. and V.P. can approve before any ‘all’ messages are sent.

 

Tim asked if there was a problem now. Kam thinks so. Tim does not think it is a problem, he gets more SPAM. Are we creating a hierachal procedure for a problem that there is not. Maybe it is more of an educational system. The only reason I am saying this what if we have this interim person who gone for a few days and there is a really important message that needs to go out and it is held up for a week. 

 

Kam: Let’s start out with seeing if it is or isn’t a problem.

 

Tim suggested that we start with education as an alternative. Becky added that when one looks at the policy; it does make one think before sending it out. Carol thinks that yes it is a problem and when you think about how many people an all message goes out to, we need to get a handle on this. 

 

Other discussion ensued. Carol suggested that the committee look over sheet and send suggestions/comments back to Kam. A motion is solicited to send all general message to V.P.’s. Julie asked if all was inclusive of students. Kathy thought we should first do the educating of others on the all and the classified. Mark wondered if it would carry more weight coming from Dr. Rule.  

 

Other Thoughts:

 

Have Dr. Rule send out a general reminder of how to use the ‘all’ email

Set up general rule of how to use the ‘all’ email

Use folder that once was there such as ‘Announcements’

Let people be their own police officers-just remind them of policy

 

Question: What are the qualifications for harassment and how will we define that?

 

Tim: Suggestions are: Proposal accepted

 

Add to current email policy-reference website or definition that clearly states what harassing is.

 

Create a cover letter that is sent along with email usage policy that IDs the all and states the desire to minimize the use of these and a little reminder that the I.T. council is reviewing this now and invite I.T. council feedback and set next meeting time as deadline- 

 

2.       Printing Policy

 

Printing policy approved by Board of Trustees today will give each student $30.00 each semester which is 300 copies. It has installed the software that keeps track of this process. Students will get a popup window and each time they print, it will tell them how much it cost to print and how much they have left. Band White costs .10 cents and color prints costs .25 cents.  Community has to purchase prints. Students will get an email that lets them know their balance is low. The balance can go up to -$30.00. It can be increased by increments of $5.00. Students should purchase at front desk in library. If classes are requesting students to print book, the instructor should contact OIT HD to request increase in student’s cost. This will become effective on Monday May 19^th. 

Question: Can students carry over balance from one semester to another? No. 

 

Sue noted that students should be reminded to keep passwords secure for this very reason. Carol asked if students are printing black and white and the printers 1 and 2 malfunctions, they can be set to print to #3 which is color. Is Library staff is able to adjust student’s balance? Yes. Scott noted that if student is printing and 3 blank pages come out, the library staff can go in and add .30 cents back in. 

 

Scott: This process is designed to monitor printers not people in the library. The only lab that is monitored now is 160/162.  If staff/faculty wants to print to any of these printers, they will need this program running on their computer as well. Question: Will Higher Ed colleges be charged? Yes. GVSU is the top printing partners. The business council will keep track and bill them directly.

 

3.       Emergency Notification

 

Tim complimented I.T. for smooth email transition.

 

Tim attended one of Mark’s web broadcast and it got him to thinking-how do we notify students if they don’t read their email? This took place right after the Virginia Tech incident and everyone was pretty concerned about how do we do this. Do we use instant messages?  This is a great time to start thinking about the options to do this.  Kam noted that he has researched a couple of companies and has given his findings to Diana. A lot of colleges are going with EdConnect because of pricing and what they do. The other colleges get the database to them with the information and they do the rest. We cannot force students to give information, we can only ask.   Tim said just school closings around here would justify having something in place.

 

VI.    Subcommittee and informational reports-Rosemary

 

1.       Datatel

 

Financial Aid went live the end of April and Active Apply went live Monday, May 14 for students applying for admission. The student module is still scheduled to go live on July 1^st. which includes registrations, accounts receivable and billing. 

 

Kam: When Financial Aid went live, they had to auto package over 900 students before they live. Right now when someone comes in to apply on hard copy, someone has to manually input all this information. When student fill out the information in active apply, all info stays there and when someone verifies it, starts the process, goes to Colleague. This saves time. This also curtails data entry problem. Question: Is a student number needed to pt info in? No, student numbers are assigned after they apply.

 

Tim: Are new student numbers being used? The communications management team is coming with all email to send out to faculty/staff on how students numbers are being assigned. Students can find their student numbers online by putting in first name last name which will cut down on duplicate name issues. Question: How often do students have to change their password. It is semester driven but it is 120 days.

 

2.       CIO monthly report review

 

Rooms that were approved for updated equipment are done. The network services group has upgraded every switch and closet on campus. Mike came in over a weekend and completed this. This will allow us to get ready to move over everyone to IP phones throughout campus and also allow us to make   Instruction Technology has attended a couple web conferencing. During faculty seminar more presentations will be done. 

 

Tim: Vista is added in a couple classrooms and looking at for fall in room 363. Office 2007 is running in couple classes.   It seems to be working fine. 

 

Scott: Vista will require a new server. Before you could just type in license code from box, vista checks it every run so we will have to have a license server. 

 

Kam: Audio Visual request are going down because we have more permanent technology installed. We are in the process of getting more bandwidth. We are at 98% usage. We continue to get killed on bandwidth. We had 1.1 million emails come through and out of those only 16% were legitimate.    Question: Kathy asked where would she report something that she keeps getting through that is not a good email. Answer: Report it to Barracuda and blacklist it.. Exchange does a good job for filtering junk as does Barracuda.     Wireless connectivity was 554 for month. February, 474 March,571,  April, 492. The main building is the main ‘Hot Spot’.

 

3.       Strategic Plan

 

Nothing else has been done on this. Over the summer this committee will spend some time going over the plan.

 

VII.   Announcement

 

There was a webinar held and several attended. We had thought of having a gaming tournament. The library would host in Information commons on a Friday night. A llot of colleges are doing this have vendors come in and show off some things. It would be a nice way to show off the college. 

 

It is multi-player online games. It was thought to maybe tie it in to Global Awareness. We are hoping to do this sometime in Fall. Jeff Stipes is interested because of his class. 

 

With no other business, announcements meeting was adjourned at 2:50 p.m.