CCFIT > Calendar & Minutes > 1998-2003 Minutes > January 22, 2001 AC4 Minutes

Agenda

1. Approval of minutes
2. Progress Report on the Administrative Unit Review Report for Information and Educational Technology - Dave Shelby
3. MyUCDavis Status Report- John Bruno/Carol Wall

Minutes

Excused: Mat Bishop, Angela Cheer, Cristina González, Dave Shelby, Kathi Sylva, Mani Tripathi, John Vohs.

Absent: Lamar Heystek, Dorothea Hoew, John Meyer, Jennifer Ramesh, Pat Turner.

Guest: Carol Wall.

Staff to the Council: Babette Schmitt.

I. Approval of Minutes

The Council approved the minutes as submitted.

Item postponed until next month.

Council members discussed the future of the MyUCDavis project: should we transition the project from pilot to production status? The discussion revolved around three main issues Council members had asked Vice Provost Bruno to investigate and present at this meeting. These issues are: the possible incorporation of shared file space for collaborative purposes, budget and costs associated with the pilot and possible campuswide implementation of MyUCDavis, and new features that should be added to the portal.

Council members commented that such a feature would be very valuable. The 55 Megabyte storage limit, however, might be too confining for faculty, particularly those who teach large classes. The space allocation might need to be increased for this audience.

Council members inquired about the scalability of the system. Vice Provost Bruno indicated that IET is conducting a scalability experiment and developing a hardware contingency plan. In addition, Council members discussed the choice of portal technology as the foundation for providing services to students, staff, and faculty. Vice Provost Bruno commented that the New Business Architecture report issued last July also advocates the use of portal technology to conduct business in the future.

Vice Chancellor Wall noted that the portal provides a good paradigm for how we might provide services to students (e.g., financial aid, access to student records, housing, Degree Navigator). She also noted that other institutions have already implemented student portals; others are well behind us in this area. As we look to increase student enrollment in the next ten years, the campus will have to rely more heavily on technology, particularly for interactions students have with campus business and academic units. We can use portal technology to minimize the hassle and maximize the value of studentsâ interactions with the campus.

Vice Provost Bruno commented that portal technology presents major technological advantages, including the following:

• it's browser-based, and therefore accessible "anywhere, anytime" and compatible with various platforms;
• it can be personalized, thereby offering information tailored to each user's needs and interests;
• it's secure, which offers the ability to conduct transactions online (e.g., renewing books, checking financial aid status, etc.).

Council members inquired about who would be responsible for the portalâs ongoing maintenance. Vice Provost Bruno indicated that IET would be responsible for maintaining the portalâs technological components. Vice Chancellor Wall suggested that control over content should be very broad. Services need not be delivered through the portal; however, the business and academic units that offer their services through MyUCDavis should be responsible for the creation and maintenance of content. Many units will need to adjust their processes (within their budgets) to function well with the portal. To accommodate these units' needs, IET could be required to make adjustments to the system. To make the MyUCDavis portal truly valuable, the campus will need to ensure business units collaborate and become engaged in this initiative.

Council inquired about evaluation plans both for the pilot and for a possible campuswide implementation. Registrar Farrell, speaking on behalf of the MyUCDavis Oversight Committee, indicated that the project team has involved users at various stages of the project, including in the planning and design stages. Current usage statistics are also available on the portal site. Members indicated it is important to obtain feedback, particularly to determine if the portal is beneficial to students and faculty. One member suggested we carefully examine the portal's search logs and, based on this analysis, refine the presentation and nature of the portal's content. Having a user-friendly search engine is also important. Another member suggested we investigate what applications are most commonly used through the MyUCLA portal.

Other issues members discussed include: back-ups of data, intellectual property and ownership of data stored in students' MySpace areas, and the need to ensure a smooth transition from MyUCDavis to the Alumni portal (to help build a stronger sense of community). Members also asked what drove the decision to develop our own portal rather than using a commercial product. Registrar Farrell indicated that the team had looked at commercial products but faculty voiced great concern early on regarding the nature and amount of advertising built into these products.

Members agreed that the MyUCDavis pilot seems reasonably successful and recommended it be transitioned to a more permanent status.