CCFIT > Calendar & Minutes > 1998-2003 Minutes > April 15, 2002 AC4 Minutes

Agenda

1. Approval of Minutes
2. Report from the Educational Subcommittee on Course Management Systems
3. Status Report and Update on Mediaworks
4. New Business Architecture Update
5. Electronic Plagiarism

Minutes

Excused: James Case, Mani Tripathi, Pat Turner, and Jason Wood.

Absent: Angela Cheer, Cristina Gonzalez, Paul Singh, Kathi Sylva, and Pam Thomas.

Guests: Tor Cross.

Staff to the Councils: Randy Moory, Julie Saylor, and Babette Schmitt.

I. Approval of Minutes

Chair Plant requested comments on the March meeting minutes. The minutes were approved as submitted.

Matt Bishop, chair of the Educational Technology Subcommittee, summarized the recommendations of the subcommittee regarding whether the campus should continue to fund the WebCT course management system (following the completion of the pilot) given that the MyUCDavis portal has received permanent funding from the campus. MyUCDavis offers some course management features, including a Web-based course grade book.

Bishop noted that the subcommittee recommends that UC Davis support MyUCDavis as the preferred course management system for the campus. The subcommittee also recommends that:

1. The Teaching Resources Center (TRC) and Information and Educational Technology (IET) create a plan to transition WebCT pilot participants to MyUCDavis, and to maintain the WebCT server during the transition.
2. Support for MyUCDavis be expanded so the portal can effectively handle expected increases in student and faculty usage and so new course management features and services (including those offered by WebCT) can be integrated into MyUCDavis. (Bishop noted that MyUCDavis has not yet been allocated funds to develop these new features. The subcommittee therefore recommended that IET and TRC draft a proposal identifying levels of service and sources of funding.)
3. Departments and colleges should be permitted to run WebCT at their discretion, with the understanding that the campus would not provide centralized support for this product.
4. Current and future faculty hires using WebCT should be assisted in transitioning their materials to MyUCDavis.

Bishop reported that the subcommittee's cost analysis was based upon three possible scenarios:

1. Continue WebCT with current pilot participants and new faculty who already know how to use WebCT.
2. Support between 10,000 and 25,000 students.
3. No central support for WebCT.

The subcommittee reached the conclusion that supporting WebCT, even under the first scenario, would be more expensive than converting courses from WebCT to MyUCDavis (see handout for cost estimates).

In addition to costs, the subcommittee also took the following criteria into consideration:

1. Features: The subcommittee reported that WebCT offers features that are not yet available through MyUCDavis. Such features include online discussions in real time, selective release of materials, glossaries, better support for multiple class sections, and quizzes. Bishop noted that the MyUCDavis team is already working on adding quizzes to the portal.
2. Maintenance: The subcommittee report identifies the existence of a local portal development team as an asset. The report notes that the local team will be more likely to respond quickly to problems and will be in a better position to effectively integrate the MyUCDavis course management system with major campus computing systems (such as the Student Information System). Bishop underscored the importance of being able to develop enhancements as UC Davis customer demands change.
3. Other considerations: The subcommittee recognized the immaturity of the course management system market place and expressed concern about binding the campus to a single vendor.

Council members asked whether the subcommittee reached consensus on these issues. Bishop replied that there were no objections to the report from the subcommittee members. Other highlights from Council discussion:

• Technical support for WebCT and MyUCDavis. Bishop noted that TRC has the lead on the support of WebCT. Technical support for MyUCDavis is currently provided by staff in TRC (Victoria Cross) and the Arbor (Joseph Coulombe). The subcommittee recognized the need for additional support resources (particularly to help faculty transition to MyUCDavis) and included that in their recommendations.
• Continuing support for WebCT in departments. Bishop indicated that the subcommittee did not believe the campus had the resources to support use of WebCT by departments (in addition to the centrally-supported and funded MyUCDavis portal). However, campus departments will still be able to use and support WebCT themselves, if they so choose. Members asked about the cost involved in departmental use and support of WebCT. Bishop replied that the subcommittee did not evaluate this cost. Bishop also noted that the intent is to continue to develop MyUCDavis so a product like WebCT is no longer needed or required.

Chair Plant notified Council that he will submit this proposal to the Information Technology Policy Board for review and discussion at its next meeting.

Vice Provost Bruno provided a brief history of the establishment of Mediaworks, now one of three departments within Information and Educational Technology (IET). Bruno reported that, in 1999, Assistant Executive Vice Chancellor Jerry Hallee proposed the creation of a new "Technology and Media Services Unit" to provide more focused educational technology and media services support for faculty. The proposed unit was intended to address concerns that surfaced during the Administrative Unit Review of the Division of Information Technology as well as recommendations presented in the AUR final report. Hallee proposed a 2-year pilot and suggested an evaluation be conducted to determine the future of the new unit.

Upon his appointment in September 1999, Vice Provost Bruno moved forward with the creation of the Information Technology and Digital Media Center. The ITDMC combined two former Creative Communications Services units as well as staff from Information Resources to form a core of educational technology specialists. In July 2000, Dr. Matthews accepted Dr. Bruno's invitation to serve as the Director for the new ITDMC.

Bruno reported that Mediaworks is now approaching the end of the 2-year pilot phase and has applied for a permanent budget. The campus needs to make a decision regarding this funding request and the future of the unit.

Director Harry Matthews then provided a report on Mediaworks' genealogy as well as the unit's work in response to the AUR recommendations (see PowerPoint presentation). Matthews summarized the adjustments made to enhance service delivery and strengthen support of instructional technology. During his presentation, Matthews pointed out the benefits of the re-organization of services for faculty as well as major accomplishments in Mediaworks' first two years of existence. Major accomplishments include the establishment of a proposal review process for educational technology grants, the identification of priorities and processes for resource allocation to faculty projects, the development of hybrid online courses to help deal with classroom overcrowding, the piloting of a new Educational Technology Partners Program to train faculty in the effective use of technology, and Mediaworks' close collaboration with key campus partners (Teaching Resources Center, Library, etc.).

In light of these major contributions and the growing need for instructional technology support, Matthews asked that the Council support IET's funding request to allow Mediaworks to transition from pilot status into a permanent service unit.

Council discussion focused on the following areas:

• Comparison with other institutions. Council members asked how the type of educational technology support offered on campus compares with other Universities. Matthews replied that on our campus the focus is more internal. The emphasis is on determining the needs of our faculty and helping them integrate and use information technology in their current classes. The focus at other universities tends to be more external, with an emphasis on putting course content on the Web. Matthews noted that the materials produced at UC Davis are much better coordinated, but some areas, such as the delivery of online video, need to be improved upon (in this case with better infrastructure and support). Compared to other comparable institutions, Matthews estimates that our campus is on the leading edge of educational technology, especially when it comes to melding different mediums to produce class materials.
• MyUCDavis. Matthews agreed that the MyUCDavis course management system needs to be expanded if it is to meet faculty's teaching needs.
• Connection with University Extension. Matthews indicated that Mediaworks collaborates closely with University Extension on the delivery of courses, especially for summer session courses. Matthews reported that there are many opportunities to avoid duplication of work and forge stronger partnerships, but noted that the two units' priorities differ in fundamental ways. Mediaworks' main priority is to address overcrowding of classrooms through the judicious application of educational technology (e.g., Virtual Chemistry Lab).

Council postponed action on Mediaworks' funding request until next month's meeting.

NBA Implementation co-chairs Dave Shelby and Mike Allred provided an update on the campus implementation of the New Business Architecture (NBA). Shelby reported on four ongoing efforts:

1. Portal performance. Shelby reported that the University of Michigan had just announced that it was ending its portal effort. Michigan plans to join a consortium of higher education institutions to work collaboratively on the development of portals. Michigan reported that their home-grown effort was proving too slow, too costly, and required expertise they did not have locally. (The implementation of personalization was not proceeding particularly well.) Shelby indicated that on our campus, an Advanced Technology Project has been formed to examine the performance and reliability of the MyUCDavis portal. This performance review will involve consulting expertise from outside the university. The project team, comprised of staff from IET and several campus departments, is expected to produce a report with recommendations on how to ensure the portal's reliability as usage increases and more applications are integrated into MyUCDavis. The report is expected in late June.
2. UC-wide RFP. Shelby noted that the Office of the President has expressed interest in a systemwide Request for Proposals for content management and portal software. The NBA Implementation Workgroup is following this effort closely, particularly to ensure that UC Davis' needs are taken into consideration.
3. Funding for MyUCDavis. Shelby reported that the annual budget that was allocated last year to support the maintenance of MyUCDavis is $187,000. The Implementation Workgroup is developing a budget proposal to cover additional planned and future portal enhancements (including helping WebCT pilot participants transition to MyUCDavis as well additional staffing and user training needs). The budget proposal will be presented to AC4 at an upcoming meeting.
4. Customer input. Shelby noted that all major computing applications on campus (e.g., Banner, DaFIS) are guided by both an oversight committee and customer advisory groups. The New Business Architecture Implementation Workgroup serves as the oversight committee for MyUCDavis, which is expected to gradually develop into an enterprise portal capable of serving students, faculty and staff. Shelby reported that the Implementation Workgroup has been discussing the need for two customer advisory groups. Both an academic and an administrative customer advisory group are being considered. They will provide a feedback mechanism and guidance on how the portal can be made more relevant and useful to faculty and students on one hand, and staff, on the other.

Council asked about the long-term budget to support the portal. Shelby replied that the original estimate was approximately $1,000,000 annually, but that estimate did not include any of the issues and needs that have surfaced in the last few months. A revised cost estimate needs to be developed.

Mike Allred gave a quick update on the NBA project teams that remain to be formed. He noted that the plan to fund the project management office has been approved, and the project manager position will be posted in the next couple of weeks. Allred then announced that Kathleen Moore (from the Office of Administration) and Bob Loessberg-Zahl (Assistant Executive Vice Chancellor) have agreed to co-chair the Change Management Team. Allred and Shelby are coordinating with several campus groups to obtain nominations to the Change Management Team and the Business Process Team (see http://nba.ucdavis.edu for more information on the New Business Architecture initiative).

Chair Plant reported on his meeting with Student Judicial Affairs to discuss plagiarism as it relates to electronic materials. Plant informed Council members that Student Judicial Affairs has developed resources on this topic that they share with students when they are accepted to UC Davis. The literature stipulates that it is the responsibility of students to understand what plagiarism is, to know how to avoid it, and that ignorance does not excuse a violation.

Plant also noted that Student Judicial Affairs has been testing a commercial software product to detect plagiarism of electronic materials. They have a one-year contract with "TurnItIn.com" for a trial that runs through December, 2002. During this period, the campus will be able to submit 28,000 papers to be screened for plagiarism. Plant said that Student Judicial Affairs is aware of 7 faculty members using this product this quarter.

• The tool could be made available to students so that they could submit papers to be checked for plagiarism before submitting them to their instructors.
• There is a concern that electronic plagiarism increases the workload on faculty because it requires them to be more diligent in their review of papers submitted by students.
• Anti-plagiarism tools could be made available as part of the effort to develop an enterprise portal.

Council discussed the issues of plagiarism. Some members expressed concern about the potential for some instructors of becoming too involved in investigating plagiarism. Such investigations should be conducted through Student Judicial Affairs. The need to resolve plagiarism under the campus Code of Academic Conduct and Honor Code was also raised. Members recognized current efforts to raise awareness but recommended that education efforts be expanded to ensure students understand how to appropriately use others' ideas and words, whether they are on the Web or published in print. Similarly plagiarism resources should be provided to instructors.

Council recognized that plagiarism of electronic materials has increased over the last few years. Some Council members agreed that allowing students to screen their papers prior to submitting them could help them learn how to properly credit sources and avoid plagiarism. There was a concern about privacy of student information if the TurnItIn.com process keeps a repository of papers it screens.