Technology Council Meeting Minutes
April 9, 2008
Attendance:
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Name
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Unit Represented
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Department
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Date:04/09/2008
|
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Voting Members
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|
|
|
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Tim Trainor
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Faculty
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CIS
|
P
|
|
Becky Evans
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Faculty(teaching online)
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English
|
A
|
|
Maria Andersen
|
Faculty
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Math
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P
|
|
Jeff Stipes
|
Faculty
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Technology
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P
|
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Sue Meeuwenberg
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Distance Education
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Business
|
A
|
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Carol Briggs-Erickson
(Vice Chair)
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Librarian
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Library
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P
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Phyllis Robey
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Clerical
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|
A
|
|
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Custodial
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Maintenance
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A
|
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Joe Doyle
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Administrative
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Administrative SVCS
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A
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Rosemary Zink
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Administrative
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Financial SVCS
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A
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Kelley Conrad
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Student SVCS
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Counseling
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A
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Jean Roberts
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Student SVCS
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Registration
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A
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Jason Miller
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Student
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Student
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P
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Scott O’Neal (Chair)
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CIO or designee
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Information Technology
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P
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Non-Voting Members
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|
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Julie Weller
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Web Committee Chair
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Public Information
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A
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Patricia Werly
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Systems Analyst
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Information Technology
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P
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Mindy Stevens
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Recorder
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Information Technology
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P
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Mike Alstrom
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Network Administrator
Technical Director
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Information
Technology
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P
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I. Welcome and Introduction of Guests
· The regular monthly meeting for the technology council met on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 in room L167-L169 at 1:30 pm with Scott O’Neal as chair.
· Scott O’Neal announces his resignation of CIO position, but will remain until position is filled
II. Agenda Approval
· Maria Andersen would like to add Forms to new business - Jerry
· Agenda Approved
III. Minutes Approval
· Spelling error of Maria Andersen to correct name
· With no other additions or revisions, minutes are approved
IV. Council Membership Updates
· Council member Jason Miller was hired into SunGard and will be moved to non-voting member next Technology Council Meeting.
· New Student Member addition Andrew Potts from IT
· Still one student position avail-Maria Andersen suggested that the position should not be an OIT student worker, to maintain balance.
V. Old Business
· No old business
VI. New Business
· Draft Policy presented by Mike Alstrom tabled until next meeting.
o Mike had sent out an email to the group regarding new email policy; he requested feedback before next meeting.
· Blackboard updates presented by Jerry Voltura
o Snapshot will make student class list synchronize with Datatel.
o Snapshot migration in Blackboard 8.
o Training will be made available for Blackboard 8.
o Updates on default course menu will create a friendlier user interface.
§ Creating a link to go directly to the syllabus, and other direct links
Tim Trainor asked- What do you do with screenshot? How does survey screenshot work? Assuming that the decision to move to Blackboard 8 has been made. Scott O’Neal stated -I do not make those decisions that will be done through CTL and Academic Affairs, when everyone is ready, (and I assume the college approved Blackboard 8), we will move that way. Tim Trainor stated - Were ready to move now. General assumptions is that no matter what one we will be running, we will have an automatic update feature for classes in place. Scott O’Neal stated – Theoretically, Blackboard technicians are the ones who will be doing the work to get the module online. Datatel and Blackboard will have to work together on it. Tim Trainor asked- Do we have all the paper work done to get this moving? Scott O’Neal replied- No, right now it is the budget approval process, it is a 99% chance it will be after speaking with Dr. Rule, Diana Osborn, Bob Wall. Once it is approved we will call Blackboard and schedule the actual work to be done. Tim Trainor asked- Are the technicians going to be available when it gets approved? Scott O’Neal stated- The sooner it gets approved the sooner we can get that scheduled. Tim Trainor asked- So we have no idea if the technicians will be available when we are ready? Scott O’Neal replied- The last conversation with Patrick Bower, he stated that they are available now, but if we continue to wait it may be problematic. Tim Trainor asked– So we have some sense that it could happen before fall? Scott O’Neal stated- The train is currently on course as we speak. Mike Alstrom asked- Does the Board approve this? Scott O’Neal stated- Yes, if the cost is over $25,000 board must approve it. Any questions for Jerry regarding Blackboard? No questions rose.
· Blackboard Policy presented by Jerry Voltura
Jerry Voltura stated- Blackboard will need to adhere to the Blackboard policy with section 5 compliance for special needs. Images in Blackboard need to be tagged for visually impaired etc. Maria Andersen asked- What about videos? Who would approve them? Jerry Voltura stated- Faculty will be trained on the video compliance. Maria Andersen stated- That could be a problem. Instructors are already creating videos that take up two hours of class time and the college does not require them to learn sign language. Jerry Voltura stated - He does not create the policy and that it is a Federal issue. Scott O’Neal stated- This policy is not being driven by OIT, this is just a draft written by Academic Affairs and CTL and any input or suggestions would be appreciated. Carol Briggs-Erickson stated- Students can go to special services to get the help they need already. Maria Andersen stated- She has seen this before where it is required to close-caption all of their classes and she would not teach a class if that was the case. Jerry Voltura added- The only other thing to mention real quick is the removal of courses, after three years time they will be deleted, but not moving anywhere on this too soon.
· Vista lab updates presented by John Mihelich
o Windows Vista and office 2007 available in L363, library commons and library research:
§ Will be expanded to additional classrooms near end of summer to support fall classes.
§ Includes L361,L363 all of Library commons and one in room 340
§ Will be on 133 new HP computers
§ XP and Vista will be available on all of these computers
· These computers will use a dual boot option giving the option to choose either Vista or XP
· If a selection is not made the default will be XP
· Avoids directing Vista students to using only Vista computers to complete assignments
o Labs will continue having Office 2003 and Office 2007 will be room 162. 1214, L26, L263 and OSE lab.
o Campus standard for MCC staff will remain Office 2003 and Windows XP
Any questions? Maria Andersen asked- When the person chooses Vista, will they be choosing Office 2007, and with XP choosing Office 2003? John Mihelich stated- Planning to default the computers to Windows XP. Carol Briggs-Erickson asked- So when they choose Vista they will be choosing Office 2007 and if XP it will Office 2003? Tim Trainor stated- The plan is that when you choose XP then you can choose Office 2003 or 2007 there will be a twenty second pause. John Mihelich stated- If you are in windows XP and both versions of Office are available it will default to 2007. We can’t make it default to 2003; Microsoft products automatically default to newest version of software installed. Tim Trainor stated- You can click on 2003 and open a 2007 word doc in it.
· Forms requested and presented by Maria Andersen
Maria Andersen stated- Forms for requesting software, hardware etc. are being filled out, signed and sent to IT. I had a couple cases that were filled out and turned in to IT and they disappear and I am unsure of where they disappeared to. Is it possible to have a tracking system in Datatel, so we can tell if it has been approved or just sitting on a desk somewhere? Scott O’Neal stated- The problem is that these items are not in the budget and we are getting requests forms for things that aren’t budgeted, so the question is where does the money come from? Maria Andersen stated- We don’t know either. That is why we need to have a tracking form so we can see where it is in the process and who to bug about getting a request moved forward. Also faculty does not know who is supposed to be paying for the requested items. Is this covered by SunGard? Scott O’Neal stated- SunGard does not buy anything. Maria Andersen- So SunGard does not buy anything it is all paid for by the college. Scott O’Neal explained- All software, hardware, etc.. is purchased through MCC budget controlled by Diana, DR. Rule, Bob, Rosemary etc... and if you know that you are going to want software or hardware through the year then your departments fill out hardware, software request forms and then the VP’s sit down and decide what is approved and not approved. Once approved it comes in on the software I.T. line item and Rosemary gives us the list of what is approved. Maria Andersen stated- The faculty is not notified of what items were approved. Scott O’Neal stated- At beginning of budget year, we are given the approvals for the year and we are to implement this approved request for the whole budget year. What happens is that these requests come in through the year and they are not in the budget. Maria Andersen asked- How do we know if they are approved and if extra licenses are available? Scott O’Neal stated- Microsoft products are under campus agreement along with McAfee. If you want Camtasia you will need to request it. Maria Andersen asked- Who has this information? Scott O’Neal stated- The information is from their VP or the person holding the list. If there is a one copy license the department would take it and we would never see it again. I.T. does not make the decision on any software or computers. The only involvement we have on the decisions is the life cycle for computers in the college, beyond that we do not make any decisions and the misconception is that we do. Maria Andersen stated- We need a clean process on this for communication between IT and staff. Scott O’Neal replied- . I agree that it is not a clear process. I think you would need to speak with Finance for more information. Maria Andersen stated- She will contact Finance then and this may help create a cleaner process. Mindy Stevens asked- If a dept has a budget request with information that it is in their own budget, do they have to send it to us? Scott O’Neal stated- That is a good question, if you have a request that is being paid for by your own department the request does not need to come to us, it can be ordered in your own department through Datatel. Unless a quote is needed, we can add one and send it back to your department. Mike Alstrom feels it is important to add if the software is needed to be added to a server, then there is a process in change management that needs to be followed. If server software is ordered this needs to follow this process. Maria stated that this is a valid point and needs to be verified that this is the process. Scott O’Neal stated –You will need to contact finance department for more information on the process. Any questions? No replies
VII. Sub-Committee and Informational Reports
· Datatel Overview presented by Patricia Werly
o Working on communications on modules in order to send out automatic letters in emails
o Looking at CE enrollment in WebAdvisor this fall
o Budget on WebAdvisor (Rosemary doing training on that)
Any Questions?
Maria Andersen asked- Will there be hope for emailing to students from WebAdvisor class lists? Scott O’Neal replied- No. Blackboard has that available. Maria Andersen asked- What if a secretary needs to email students? Scott O’Neal stated – Then the secretary can be added as instructor in the class. Due to the amount of changes by students it is not conceivable to do this in WebAdvisor.
· OIT monthly Overview
o Postings on Web Page for monthly report on: resources: information technology: monthly report. Once Dr Rule approves this month’s it will be added to the website.
o Leapfrog going well.
o Vista labs going well.
o New employees in IT are currently in training and are getting up to speed.
Any Questions? None rose.
VIII. Announcements
Open Discussion
Carol Briggs-Erickson – There used to be a website that shows statistics about information as to what area and background students are coming from. Scott O’Neal stated- It is a separate report for statistics. I am unsure of where that is, I will look into it. Jerry Voltura added- Training is going to be added for Faculty and Staff, called Tech Fellows. These are intense training classes for determined categories and will be presented by staff members with knowledge on the subjects.
One more voting member enters, Jeff Stipes and voting is done for Agenda, minutes approval and for voting in new student member. All votes are yes. Also a student position is still available and the student does not have to be from IT.
Any last minute comments? Mike Alstrom requested- That everyone looks at the email policy and adds comments and suggestions in order to get a policy completed that is appropriate.
Add to Agenda to decide on next Chairperson as Scott O’Neal will no longer be Chair when he leaves CIO position. Meeting Adjourned
