CCFIT > Calendar & Minutes > 2004-05 Minutes > October 11, 2004

Excused: John Bruno, Tom Kaiser, Bob Ono, Martine Quinzii, and Fred Wood.

Absent: Stan Nosek, Ning Pan.

Guests: None.

Staff: Ruth Parcell, Babette Schmitt.

I. Welcome and Introductions - Chair Bledsoe

Chair Bledsoe opened the meeting with a PowerPoint slide identifying the various groups and constituencies represented on the Council. She was happy to report that all major segments of the campus community have a voice on the CCFIT this year, from students and faculty to staff and campus administrators (see CCFIT membership slide). She then asked all members in attendance to introduce themselves and to share some of their technology-related areas of interest. Topics that were mentioned include: IT security, spam, central payment gateway, effort reporting, travel and entertainment project, online gift processing, human subjects project, the MyUCDavis portal, course management tools, course approval system, UC Davis Facts Page, etc.

Chair Bledsoe called members' attention to the minutes from the June meeting. The minutes were approved as submitted.

Caroline Bledsoe referred to the CCFIT At-A-Glance document, provided some background information on the formation of the CCFIT, and went over the charge to this group. She encouraged all members to become actively involved in the Council's activities either by participating in discussions of ideas, issues, and projects, and/or by consulting with their constituent groups periodically and submitting feedback and suggestions from their constituencies to the Council. Chair Bledsoe emphasized the importance of two-way communication, noting the Council will rely heavily on its members to represent the interests of students, staff, and faculty. To facilitate those communications, a Web site has been developed (http://ccfit.ucdavis.edu) and an annual report will be produced. The report will summarize last year's work and outline activities/issues to be tackled this year.

In addition, Bledsoe pointed out the recent IT Times article announcing the formation of the CCFIT (see http://technews.ucdavis.edu/news2.cfm?id=856).

Chair Bledsoe provided an overview of the Council's deliberation process, as it was developed and refined over the course of the 2003-04 academic year (see CCFIT deliberations slide). She expects a similar process will be used this year again, starting with the identification of an issue, then the development of a "homework document", discussions and communications with the project teams, and finally the production of a report and recommendations to the project sponsors/oversight committees and/or Provost Hinshaw and Vice Provost Bruno.

Chair Bledsoe then went over topics that have been proposed for Council discussion this academic year (see Potential Discussion Topics). In particular, she noted her intention to follow up on the two projects that Council members focused on last year: the Faculty Merit and Promotion Project, and the Electronic Research Administration Project. She also asked for updates on the following projects:

• Online course approval system. David Bunch provided an update on this project (first presented in May 2004). Bunch reported that the Academic Senate, the Office of the Chancellor and Provost, and Information and Educational Technology are working to resolve two sets of issues related to the online course approval systems: short-term "front end/user interface" issues (e.g., issues with usability, passwords, etc.) and long-term "back end" issues (e.g., inadequacy of system design, performance). Bunch reported the project team has made very good progress over the summer, especially on the front end issues. In addition, a process mapping specialist has been hired to review the current process and make recommendations on how to improve it. A Council member suggested that part of this effort focus on identifying possible commercial software options as well as programs used at other universities. Bunch noted that he believed those were options the project team was already planning to look into.
• Faculty Survey. Andy Jones provided an update on the survey being developed by the Education Subcommittee. The survey's primary goal will be to identify instructors' use of educational technology and to determine their current and future needs in that area. Jones indicated that this survey is a follow-up to the faculty needs assessment conducted by the Learning Environment Architecture Development (LEAD) Project Team in the late 1990s. The new survey will be short and Web-based. Council members agreed that the note inviting faculty to participate in this survey should be co-signed by the chairs of the Academic Senate and Academic Federation. There was some discussion about the return rate expected from such a survey and what incentives might be available. Jones encouraged members to submit suggestions for possible incentives directly to him.
• Effort reporting and cost sharing. Mike Allred announced that he'd like to bring these two projects for discussion and feedback at the November meeting.
• Mediaworks. Dave Shelby indicated that a discussion of the Mediaworks unit within Information and Educational Technology could take the form of a campus Administrative Unit Review (AUR) or could focus on specific issues for which the Council's feedback will be most valuable.

Dave Shelby, Vice Provost for Information and Educational Technology, provided an update on the campuswide information technology planning effort initiated last year by Vice Provost Bruno (see March minutes). Shelby went over two handouts: the list of seven IT projects currently in the planning/analysis phase as well as the Proposed IT Project Plan for 04-05 through 07-08. Shelby noted that proposals have been completed for four of the projects on the list of IT projects (IT security, Electronic Research Administration, Faculty Merit and Promotion, and Webcasting). The spreadsheet identifies one-time as well as ongoing costs (including software, hardware, maintenance, etc.) for FY 04-05 through 07-08 for each of the seven IT projects in the planning phase. Both the spreadsheet and the list of IT projects will be submitted to Provost Hinshaw, along with the four budget proposals already completed, for her consideration. Shelby indicated that the Provost has set aside $2M in one-time funds for IT projects. Of the four proposals already submitted, the Electronic Research Administration and the Faculty Merit and Promotion projects are expected to require the most funds. (See http://itstrategicplan.ucdavis.edu for a description of these and other campus IT projects.)

Flash drives are compact, portable, and easy-to-use devices that are similar in use to computer hard drives. They can be used to easily transport data and other electronic files from computer to computer, home to office, office to classroom, etc. In addition to these convenient features, Caroline Bledsoe illustrated the fairly recent marketing of those devices as fashion accessories. She noted that they can easily slip into a pocket, but they can also be worn as a pendant around one's neck, on a keychain, as earrings, or as a watch for ultimate portable storage. (See PowerPoint slides)