Academic Technology Subcommittee

Minutes

June 10th, 2016, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. SSB 330C

Attending: Mike Hart, Michael Erskine (co-chair), Jeff Loats (co-chair), Nick Pistentis,Kevin Taylor, Kathy Heyl, James Lyall, Patsy Hernandez, Lindsey Stewart

Absent: Leticia Pleis, Diane Watkins, Lisa Ortiz, Michael Kolb

Announcements/Updates

  1. Michael has created an Office 365 Group so we can share documents/information.
  2. Update on SSB Lab. It opened in April and we now have usage information. We can tell usage of the workstations when they are logging in and what apps they are using.
  3. Update on Learning Space. Michael distributed a list of which rooms are prioritized this year. The Plaza room is a large lecture hall that has had acoustic challenges. It has a lot of windows with shades. Will look at more closely. All upgraded to the standard used everywhere else.
  4. ELCC took place in the spring. The COLTT Conference is August 3rd and 4th at CU Boulder. We are trying new things, in terms of sessions. Registration will open soon.
  5. We will be hosting the Teaching and Learning with Technology Symposium on Friday, October 7, 2016. Call for presentations going live next week. Will be one day only this year.
  6. Updated Instructional Design Process. Piloted Course Constellationlast fall. Looking to develop new courses and develop cohorts from the same department and let those groups be self-guided. The first set of Course Constellation meetings are taking place all over campus. CourseAssistis a bit more structured. We are recruiting faculty who have gone through the Elite Programto help with CourseAssist, which helps faculty incrementally improve courses over time. Tracking as much as we can.
  7. Software Request Process. There is a lot of duplication in software applications and we currently have 279 duplicate applications. We are coming up with a process of removing software that is no longer being used. Most of the action is in three programs. We would like to introduce rigor. There are two types of install requests; for every single lab or for a departmental lab. The request will go to chairs, if a departmental lab, and if every lab, it goes two different places. Lindsey will be looking at licenses and getting quotes and Mike’s team is looking at the security risk of each application and the technical feasibility. It is a huge step that we can actually track usage. We now have data that shows if a classroom is not being used. We have been collecting data over the past 6 months, to use for room utilization. We needed the data first to have a conversation. We want to turn over the scheduling of classrooms to the Registrar’s office so there is a global view of utilization on campus. ITS Business Services reviews. Software removal process: Lindsey will generate recommendation to remove. This process should be presented to the Council of Chairs. We will have to send a lot of reminders until people get used to it. It will involve a culture change. We need to have conversations with deans at a global level about what our funding model is. ITS needs partnerships at the departmental level. We are tracking software usage on all student computers and trying to get away from one-size-fits-all.
  8. Blackboard Analytics Update. Is finally installed, running, collecting data, and producing reports. As we develop reports, it pulls data out of Banner and combines with real-time data from the learning management system. There are many benefits for recruitment and retention. The student and faculty dashboard is turned on at a department level. The student dashboard can be turned on and off by the instructor. The Instructional Design Team can track tools that have an impact on teaching and learning. There are 130 dashboards that we are looking into how to deliver. We are testing at this time and engaging stakeholders to work with us. We have a consultant starting next week.

Procedural Items

  1. Cannot approve minutes from December 2015 and February 2016 meetings, as we do not have a quorum.
  2. Summer Meetings? Move the August 12th meeting to August 26th, after the start of fall semester.

Items for Discussion/Recommendation

  1. VoiceThreadRecommendation. VoiceThread is a way of taking online video and attaching voice annotations. We already have a handful of subscriptions across campus. Our Instructional Design Team likes it, and our peers are using. When the Nursing accreditors were here, they expressed concern that we’re not using it. If we procure, we will make sure everyone knows about it. We will start with a small number of faculty. This is external to learning management system.
  2. Online SRI Message. We did a pilot this spring, and it went well. We don’t know how many people responded by pencil and paper. 68% response rate when done during class. Summer pilot right now by department. You can opt out, but we strongly encourage you to opt in. Logistically speaking, everything will be much easier. This fall everyone will be on it. The Council of Chairs is aware of this.
  3. Learning Space Improvement Project. We are actively working on it.
  4. Fair Use and Streaming Media. Fair use is a gray area, as the film is still available when the semester ends. We need to explore, as we have hundreds of movies stored. We incur$150,000 in annual cost for captioning.