Academic Computing Policy Board
Meeting Minutes
October 27, 2008
Members Present: Clare Mather, Roberta Lembke, Brian Bjorklund (chair), Olaf Hall-Holt
I. Reports from IIT:
Roberta met with the student representative from SGA, who brought up HEOA to the SGA. They felt that students don’t want to be monitored, so they thought it would be a good idea to educate students about this issue. The SGA would welcome someone from the ACPB coming to their meeting.
video support services meeting
faculty technology showcase
II. Future of IT document
IIT does an annual student survey, and we could also seek similar feedback from faculty and staff. The survey could be quite short, since the most useful feedback happens on the last, open-ended question of the survey.
One possibility would be to hand a paper survey out just before the faculty meeting, perhaps combined with a short item on the meeting agenda. Overall, the ACPB is agreed that a survey of faculty and staff is a good idea.
We see a decreasing level of satisfaction as students go from first-year to sophomore to junior to senior. Is this trend just a normal part of student development? We are concerned about the level of wireless connectivity in the dorms, and are beginning a help-desk services make-over.
The CRM software for the help-desk (which includes managing inventory, work-orders, and features for logging who has called in) is getting old. We plan to look into a new system that is web-savvy and allows better communication.
Considerations of organizational structure at IIT.
A new project management system could be a software package, but more likely a software package with a system for approvals. On the administrative side, we are now required to have a formal process for starting new projects, and a similar though less formal structure may be appropriate on the academic side.
Library/WLC/IIT: There is some confusion among faculty about the relationships between these three organizations, and we need to think about how to share resources. We used to operate almost completely independently. Now we have check-out of equipment (e.g. small AV) from the library, and spaces that represent other kinds of collaboration.
III. Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is an emerging set of social technologies that have changed the ways our students communicate with each other. These new communication channels often feature short messages that are communicated quickly, and easily discarded. For example, the Google package has a built-in chat function, and the senior administration has taken to it as a way to ask a quick question when someone happens to be available on-line. Interestingly, faculty do not seem to be using it as much.
As part of the help-desk services makeover, we are considering having a presence in Second Life, which is a virtual space where more and more of our students spend time. Other colleges are building virtual galleries and a variety of “buildings” in this on-line environment.
To visit Second Life, you go to the site, and download some software, then create your avatar. You are then able to fly around and see the buildings. This topic might be an interesting lunch event for faculty.
These new communication methods can have a tremendous impact on what we teach, since the methods we are using in classrooms right now are so different than the environment students are used to.
Whether we endorse these changes or not, we need to know what students are doing outside of the classroom. As an example of the huge impact of these technologies, in French literature classes today, the French language isn’t the problem, we instead grapple with the syntax of complete sentences that students are not accustomed to using. In theater, there is a trend toward “performance art,” which then brings up questions of what education means in this new context.
How then do we bring this discussion to the greater faculty, and help everyone to be informed? Perhaps a demonstration at a faculty meeting, with department chairs responsible for facilitating a discussion in individual departments?
Respectfully submitted, OAH
