Academic Computing Policy Advisory Committee

Minutes of October 20, 2010

  • In Attendance: Asamoah, Brzycki, Dadson, Giever, Janosko, Kornfeld, Lenze, McElroy, McGowan, Mocek, Onyett, Pagnucci, Pankaj, Powers, Sherwood, Scandrett, D. Smith, J.B. Smith, VanWieren, Yuhas.
  • Excused: Balint, Kemp, McDevitt, Yost.
  • Absent: Blood, Branthoover, Gruber, O'Neil, Woodland.
  • Guests: Defelice.

Proceedings of the Meeting

  • Approval of Minutes
    • September 15, 2010 Meeting: Minutes approved as posted on the ACPAC website (M/S Brzycki/Scandrett).
  • Financial Report
    • Lloyd Onyett reported that the current balance in SAP is $12,904, but the rollover has not occurred yet.
  • Snacks/Location for Future Meetings
    • At our September meeting, because of the very tight budget this year, and the prospect that we will not receive any additional funds, a motion was passed unanimously to just have drinks in the future at approximately $25 per meeting. However, on August 31, 2010, the Chancellor sent out a new policy concerning "Expenditure of Public Funds, Guidelines, Standards and Limitations" that prohibits, except in a few narrow exceptions, providing refreshments at meetings such as ACPAC. A motion was made (M/S Giever/Brzycki) and passed unanimously to have no refreshments at future meetings. Members can, of course, bring their own.
  • Membership
    • Dr. Mark McGowan (Ed Psych) replaced Dr. Beverly Chiarulli as the representative from the Senate. We still need a student representative and Humanities representatives.
  • Meeting Dates
    • After checking, it was determined that the February meeting will be on February 16, 2011.
  • Standing Reports:
    • CIO office (Balint)
      • Bill Balint was at Meet and Discuss, and was not able to attend the ACPAC meeting.
    • Virtual Environments Coordinating Committee (Lenze)
      • Dr. Luis Almeida was elected as the new chair of the committee. The committee has decided to repurpose Crimson Island in Second Life. The committee is also looking at various Open Source virtual environments as options to Second Life, since Second Life recently announced that they will be discontinuing the 50% educational discount for educational islands. The committee is also looking at Hyper-jumping (a means of moving from one virtual world to another, and the ability to take your avatar and items you own to other virtual worlds).
    • Student Computing Subcommittee (McDevitt)
      • The committee is discussing the survey they traditionally sent out each year, and trying to determine if they will need to send out one survey or need several specific surveys. They also are considering a way to rotate surveys every 2-3 years. The current survey is about 40 questions. They are looking at issues regarding access to IUP services, online services and online classes, VPN access, online lab access, technical issues, and notification to students regarding technology needs for online courses. There needs to be a mechanism when students register for online course, where an automated system would provide generic information such as how to set up VPN so they can get their computer set up properly before classes begin. There was a discussion of past and current processes of orienting students to online technologies. A motion was made (M/S Sherwood/Kornfeld) and passed unanimously to refer the issues related to informing students enrolling in online courses to the Distance Ed Planning work group for review.
    • Online Learning Subcommittee (Brzycki)
      • Issues regarding recommendations for course material storage were discussed by the subcommittee. The subcommittee recommends that faculty be given the ability to store course material on a local IUP server. Feedback from a recent survey regarding concerns with the PASSHE mandate for conversion to D2L include workload issues, intellectual property concerns, academic freedom issues, and continued support for Moodle. The proposals from OLC are:
        • 1. To minimize the impact of LMS changes in the future, the OLC recommends that course materials be stored at a local IUP site, such as a web server or a Content Management System, which is independent of the current Learning Management System(s). To implement this recommendation, the OLC further proposes that:
          • this recommendation be communicated to faculty in training related to online learning.
          • resources to house content for online use be made available, either in each college or in a central university location.
          • the status, timeline and conditions for use of Equella, a CMS purchased by PASSHE, be determined.
        • 2. The OLC endorses with clarification the APSCUF request that the administration guarantee faculty access to and support for the current IUP LMS (Moodle and D2L) through 2015.
        • 3. The OLC endorses with modification the APSCUF request that administration solicit the recommendation of APSCUF and ACPAC before replacing, converting or eliminating any LMS.
      • A motion (M/S Sherwood/Pagnucci) was made and passed unanimously to consider the OLC recommendation as 3 separate paragraphs.
      • Motion for acceptance of item 1 (M/S Giever/Sherwood) passed unanimously.
      • Motion for acceptance of item 2 (M/S Giever/Sherwood) passed unanimously.
      • Motion for acceptance of item 3 (M/S Giever/Sherwood) passed unanimously.
      • All will be sent to Bill Balint, the Provost and the President.
    • Emerging Technologies Subcommittee (D. Smith)
      • At their October meeting the committee had a lengthy discussion about smart phones including discussions about how they are being used around campus, but also how they could be used in the classroom. It was also mentioned that clicker technology can be done on smart phones if the students purchase the software for their smart phones. It was also discussed that the clicker committee had originally discussed the option of using smart phones for the clicker system was because there was a lot of concern by faculty about students their smart phones for other purposes such as texting, emailing, and other uses during class. The committee hopes that the student survey will include questions about smart phone issues.
    • DE Planning and Work Group (Brzycki)
      • Helpdesk and support from IT Services - on call service has been used lightly this fall except the first week of the semester. The Library handles an enormous number of online and computer questions. According to Dan, we currently don't have the data to support 24/7 for IT Services. Maybe it should be open more hours only during peak periods.
      • There have been discussions regarding streaming video and whether it should be housed in the Library, or in the colleges, or centrally in IT Services.
      • There have been discussions about the Provost plan to support three grad programs to convert to fully online by next fall. Resources will be concentrated on those programs that can move rather quickly to online. The services of Dave Porter, some GA's working for him, and some staff in IRT will all be concentrated to get the maximum impact in a relatively short period of time.
      • There was a brief discussion about the continued support for Moodle and the need for support for D2L.
  • Reports from the Action Teams:
    • NONE
  • New Business:
    • Interactive Whiteboards - Ben Dadson led a discussion regarding the potential need for them in classrooms. Ben asked if this should be looked at more globally across university, how they can be used, how popular they would be, and the cost. He also discussed the use of other devices such as a sympodium. A motion was made (M/S Sherwood/Pagnucci) and passed unanimously to ask the Emerging Technology Subcommittee to investigate interactive whiteboards and other related devices and the benefits of them.
    • Clicker Technology - Lloyd Onyett led a brief discussion regarding the current status of the clicker technology, including how faculty are using it in the classrooms. The Clicker committee decided several years ago that students would buy the clickers, not departments. Dan pointed out that there are currently 1,747 registered clickers. Lloyd recommended that we resurrect the Clicker Committee to look at faculty buy-in, political issues, and other issues that may impact use. A new Clicker Action Team was created. Members include Yuhas, Giever, D. Smith, Onyett, but others may be added later.
  • Old Business:
    • Proposed changes to the By-Laws
      • The proposed wording for a change to the By-Laws is:
        "The ACPAC administrative co-chair shall be an Assistant Dean of Technology or a College Technology Manager nominated by the Chief Information Officer and ratified by a majority vote of ACPAC members. The administrative co-chair shall serve for a term of two years, and this term can be repeated if he/she is nominated and ratified as above."
      • A motion was made (M/S Sherwood/JB Smith) that the proposed change be adopted. The motion passed unanimously.
      • After the change was approved for the By-Laws change, a motion was made (M/S JB Smith/Sherwood) that Lloyd Onyett be approved as the administrative co-chair. The motion was passed unanimously.
      • Lloyd suggested that in spring 2011, we consider a change to the By-Laws to make the faculty co-chair position a 2 year term also, but staggered so that each co-chair is elected in separate years so there is better continuity in the future. We will bring this suggested change up in the spring, since Nate McElroy is currently serving a one year term.
  • Other Business:
    • NONE

The meeting was adjourned at 4:40 PM.

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