Educational Technology Meeting

Minutes --- 27 February, 2008-03-07

Present: Tim Whiteford (chair), Bill Anderson, Sue Breeyear, Anne McConnell, Tony Richardson, Lloyd Simons

I.        (Agenda item 1)  Sue Breeyear reported on what is being done to encourage laptop/tablet use in the classroom.

A.     Tony Richardson asked how many faculty members were using multimedia machines.  There are no more than ten.

B.     If faculty members wish to use the Smart Board, there are some classrooms where connections are not available yet.

C.     Bill Anderson will be responsible for sending out an e-mail on the subject.  It was suggested that the message direct faculty to the Ed Tech Web site.

II.      Spam filters for e-mail.

A.     Bill Anderson reported that as of January, approximately 12,000,000 e-mails had been received, of which 11,000,000 had been filtered out.

B.     (Agenda item 3) Barracuda spam filter.

1.      It was suggested that this be explained again to the faculty, since the word “Barracuda” in the subject line may have caused some to delete the e-mail about it without reading it.

2.      IT has lowered the filter’s threshold, since some people were complaining that legitimate mail was being filtered out.

3.      Users should know that they can go to the IT Web site, where there is a manual with instructions for individual “tweaking” of the filter.

III.     Bill Anderson reported that it looks as if ramps can’t be installed on the short flights of stairs between Jeanmarie and Saint Ed’s.  He will check the code further with Physical Plant.

IV.   (Agenda item 2)  Discussion of Cheray 101 as a substitute for the McCarthy recital hall and the role of the Ed Tech Committee in this process.

A.     The air system in McCarthy must be completely changed over, and work cannot start until the end of the Playhouse season.  While the work is being done, the entire building will be closed.  Work will probably go from the end of August to the end of October, 2009.

B.     Other spaces will need to pick up the slack.

1.      One idea is to put 300 seats in Ross at the end of the basketball arena and separate it with a curtain.

2.      Cheray 101 is in dire need of upgrading, and the McCarthy situation is a good catalyst for improvements there.

a.      All the entities using Cheray 101 must be consulted.  Should Ed Tech play a role in these consultations?

b.     Cheray 111 has also been discussed.  Both rooms need upgrades, and we have already looked at a proposal by the Journalism Dept. for 101 which looks as if it might fit 111 better.

c.      Lloyd Simons reminded the Committee that Cheray 101 is vital to science classes, so that it probably could not fill completely the role of the McCarthy hall.

C.     It was decided that no formal role for the Ed Tech Committee will be necessary at this time.  Bill Anderson will report to the Committee at each meeting, and we will respond as an official faculty committee.

V.     (Agenda item 4) Upcoming summer renovations (Sue Breeyear).

A.     IT news.  They are looking into a Web-based password reset tool that would be available round the clock, so that users would not be locked out if a problem occurs outside of IT’s office hours.

B.     Some classroom software will be upgraded, and faculty will be asked via e-mail if they wish upgrades on their own computers.

C.     Christina Bauer-Ramazani is testing collaborative-learning software called Dyno.  So far the students are enthusiastic about it.

D.    Multimedia computers and classroom computers will be replaced.

E.     Renovations, changes to classroom technology.

1.      The Smart Board in Jeanmarie 166 will be moved to SE 207.

2.      New chairs will be installed in the Faculty Development Lab.

3.      In the Davis Lab in Bergeron, Insight will be removed and all computers will be replaced with multimedia computers using AMX controls with Techtron.

4.      In SE 232 and 234, Tech 2 equipment will be installed as well as a Smart Board, as per the request of the Modern Languages Department.

5.      In SE307, the large desk will be removed, and Crestron controls will be installed.  The new podium will be handicapped accessible.

6.      MAC 221 will have Techtron and a standing podium.

7.      SE 309 will have Crestron, as in SE 307.

8.      Cheray 101 will have a Crestron control to replace the current buttons.

9.      The Hall of Fame room will have projection equipment, as well as the Hoehl Center and the Vermont Room.

VI.   Tony Richardson asked if it would be possible to install more memory stick readers on campus, and wondered if the new multimedia computers will have readers.  It was decided that we will acquire one to be kept at the Library Circulation Desk for checking out.(Update: this has been done)

VII.  (Agenda item 5) The Horizon Report (a compilation of the technologies and trends in higher education over the next eight years).

A.     Sue Breeyear distributed a résumé of what the “think-tank people” have come up with for the future. (See attached document).

B.     The Summer Workshop will add a couple of the items in the report to their agenda.

VIII.            Tony Richardson asked if or when there would be broadband access all over the campus.  Bill Anderson responded.

A.     Students want wireless in the dorms, but it would be very expensive to install it in some of them.

B.     The Technology Steering Committee is discussing outsourcing for a student network (RFP), but it leaves the open-space broadband question up in the air.

C.     Sprint has come to campus and done a survey.  They propose installing wireless phone access all over campus.  In return, we would give them access to students to advertise.  Bill suggests we might include an obligation to install wi-fi in all dorms.  Then we could say “if you want wi-fi, talk to Sprint.”

D.    We could charge an extra fee for students, and give them mobile wireless which could be used anywhere, rather than just on campus.  Generally, students are not willing to pay extra for anything.

IX.   (Agenda item 6)  The new large-format printer is up and running, making everyone happy (except George, who says it’s a “bear” to run).

Respectfully submitted,

Anne P. McConnell

Educational Technology Meeting

Minutes --- 27 February, 2008-03-07

Attachment – Prepared by Sue Breeyear

The Horizon Report
“Advances in technology over the next 12-18 months will remove the last barriers to access and bring mobile devices truly into the mainstream for education. “

One year or less:

Grassroots video. Video is easily produced with inexpensive equipment and can be shared via Google, YouTube, or other Web 2.0 sites. Faculty have more options than ever to incorporate video into the course, whether by using video capture to collect data for field work, or for documentation of service learning projects. Many schools are giving students the option of substituting video projects for the classic term paper. When students produce a video on class-related topics, they learn both how to research and how to develop an idea, as well as learning to design and execute the digital project. They become much more careful to make sure their work is done well and correctly once they realize that they’re sharing it, not just with their instructor, but with the world. Some schools are becoming involved with digital storytelling to reinforce research topics.

Collaboration Webs. New web-based applications (webware) allow the sharing of documents and collaboration on content creation, presentations, and slideshows (Google Docs, Zoho Office). Online collaborative workspaces (or funspaces) are available where a group of people can easily work, share resources, capture ideas, and socialize (Facebook, Netvibes). A custom course workspace could include a calendar populated with data from an online calendaring system, an RSS feed with students’ and professors recent blog posts, a course-created tag cloud, a badge featuring related Flickr photos, and a whiteboard widget where course members can leave messages for each other. Students can set up personal portfolios where they can display their work in any form and pull multimedia into their work. The pages are updated automatically as new content appears anywhere within them.

Two to Three Years:

Mobile Broadband - networking on the go
Many students already own and carry mobile devices. Prices are dropping considerably for more sophisticated features. Full-featured internet, touch screen interfaces, remotely upgradeable software, and high quality displays will become as common as camera phones are today. Already people can use their phones to post to their blogs, add appointments to online calendars, find friends in their immediate area, signal the campus police to keep an eye on their whereabouts as they move across campus. Students doing fieldwork can use mobile devices to take notes and photos and send them directly to a course blog for instructor feedback. Huge amounts of data can now be stored on a mobile device, including documents, photos, videos, and PDF files.

Data Mashups
Mash up: a web application that combines data from more than one source via a single, unified tool.
Data mashups are powerful tools for navigating and visualizing datasets, understanding connections between different dimensions such as time, distance, and location, and juxtaposing data from different sources to reveal new relationships. For example, the EPA created a Google Earth mashup that generates maps of the US displaying air quality based on the amount and kind of pollutants emitted by businesses. Another combines data from Wikipedia and Google Maps to identify the location of authors posting updates to Wikipedia almost in real time. New tools are being developed that will make mashups easy to create by non-technical users.

Four to five years:

Collective intelligence - the knowledge embedded within societies or large groups of individuals (Wikipedia, for example). Also the tacit intelligence that results from the data generated by the activities of many people over time. Google’s PageRank system; Amazon.com reviews and recommendations.

Social operating systems. A subtle change, from an emphasis on file sharing to one on relationships via the network.