CCFIT > Calendar & Minutes > 2004-05 Minutes > December 13, 2004

Excused: Ann Bliss, John Bruno, James Chalfant (Vice Chair), Bella Corbin, John Meyer, and Stan Nosek.

Absent: None

Guests: None

Staff: Ruth Parcell, and Babette Schmitt.

I. Welcome and Introductions - Chair Bledsoe

Chair Bledsoe introduced and welcomed Peter Yellowlees to the CCFIT. Yellowlees is Director of Academic Information Systems with the UC Davis Health System.

The minutes from the November meeting were approved as submitted.

Caroline Bledsoe introduced Craig Farris, Chair of the UC Davis Home Site Redesign Project Committee.

Farris provided an overview of the project and gave a brief demo of the new redesign. By way of background, Farris indicated that this project was initiated in summer 2004 with the intent to create a new UC Davis home page (www.ucdavis.edu) and high-level subpages that will "represent the campus positively and provide an easy user experience to any site visitor." Working with a very aggressive timeline, the redesign team has focused on updating the site to reflect growth and changes since the last redesign 4-5 years ago. The team is also attempting to reinforce the campus' overall brand and identity, and to incorporate current best practices in design, usability and accessibility. To accomplish these goals, the Web strategy committee, led by Farris, is using research (including analysis of 30+ peer institutions), user personas, feedback from the campus community (by way of a survey conducted this Fall), usability testing, and the expertise of its members. Farris noted that this presentation is one in a series of campus consultations to collect feedback on the protosite before the roll-out of the final version in late January-early February. (See the project's Web site at http://redesign.ucdavis.edu for more information and to view drafts of the campus site redesign.)

Council members provided a number of suggestions and comments. They suggested improving the functionality and user-friendliness of the search engine (the campus is using the free version of Google); making it possible to search course pages (a list is already available at http://classes.ucdavis.edu); making parts of the course information in MyUCDavis accessible from the campus site; posting UC Davis facts and statistics (e.g., admissions); adjusting the color palette to add more vibrancy to the site; etc. Both the Library and the Office of Administration expressed interest in being provided an opportunity for further input. Farris welcomed additional feedback, both now and following the roll-out. He encouraged Council members to contact him directly (cfarris@ucdavis.edu).

Julia Silvis, Graduate Student Association representative, reported on information technology topics of interest to graduate students. These topics were identified during the GSA November meeting (see Graduate Students' IT Suggestions). Among the topics mentioned were: spam filtering; improving access to software (including shareware) and hardware; being able to conduct course evaluations online; developing an interactive campus events calendar; making lectures available online; providing more flexibility with the Grade Book tool in MyUCDavis; and expanding wireless coverage.

On the topic of wireless networking, Dave Shelby, Assistant Vice Provost for Information and Educational Technology (IET), noted that a proposal is available on the Web that outlines steps IET is taking to further improve the infrastructure and security of wireless networking on campus (http://cr.ucdavis.edu/UCDavisWirelessInfrastructureProposal.pdf). He also indicated that wireless coverage was expanded to include a number of new areas and buildings this fall (see http://wireless.ucdavis.edu).

On the topic of online courses and video streaming, Peter Yellowlees noted that the UC Davis Medical Center's Clinical Resource Center has been streaming videos for years. AVP Shelby noted that the campus has been taking steps in that direction as well. In addition, he noted that IET recently submitted a number of proposals to Provost Hinshaw for her review and approval. These proposals, including one for Webcasting of special events, are for projects identified as high priorities through campus consultations and described in the UC Davis Information Technology Plan (see http://itstrategicplan.ucdavis.edu).

Bob Ono, IT Security Coordinator, noted that IET is maintaining spam and virus controls on the campus servers and is exploring alternatives to these open source programs in an effort to provide more robust services.

On the topic of online course evaluations, Caroline Bledsoe suggested engaging the Academic Senate in a discussion of whether and how such evaluations could/should be conducted. She will ask Jim Chalfant, CCFIT liaison with the Academic Senate, to follow up on this issue. She thanked Julia Silvis for her report.

Caroline Bledsoe provided an overview of the Sakai Conference she attended, along with other UC Davis and CCFIT representatives, earlier this month (see her Winter 2004 Sakai Project Conference on Course Management Systems Report).

She noted that the Sakai Project is a $6.8M program founded by a handful of universities (including Michigan, Indiana, MIT, Stanford, uPortal Consortium) to develop open source collaboration and learning environment (CLE) software that can be accessed, customized, and enhanced by any participating institution. ("Sakai" is the Japanese word for "chef"; the Sakai project is using the University of Michigan's course management tool software, named 'CHEF', a take-off on the TV show The Iron Chef.) UC Davis, through IET's Mediaworks department, is a member of Sakai's Educational Partners Program. Bledsoe then shared highlights from the conference, noting the transition from "course management systems" (emphasizing student-based interactive tools) to "collaborative learning environments" (emphasizing principles of learning and learning assessments). She also noted the shift from the 'e-decade' of the 1990s (email, e-learning, e-portfolios, etc.) to the current 'o-decade' (open source, online activities, online access). Bledsoe attended exciting demos of new software, such as a tool to teach "Concepts" (see some of those demos on the conference Web site at http://www.sakaiproject.org/conferenceDec_04/).

Peter Yellowlees, who also attended the conference, noted that Sakai provides the best alternative for course management tools in terms of the breadth and quality of the institutions participating in this effort. He indicated that the School of Medicine intends to move forward with the use of Sakai tools (e.g., to organize course materials, deliver content, assess and grade, and communicate among students and with instructors). IET, the School of Medicine, and the School of Veterinary Medicine are joining forces to develop/adapt those tools for campus use. They intend to launch a pilot by the end of January 2005 and offer a few courses by next Fall. Dave Shelby, who also attended the conference, added that IET is working very closely with both the Schools and Sakai institutions to provide the technical infrastructure (e.g., LDAP directory, access protocols, etc.) needed to support the adoption and use of those tools on our campus. He suggested that CCFIT could play an important role in assessing whether Sakai will be a good fit for the campus from a functional standpoint. The group could also outline issues and recommendations for helping faculty make the transition to this new way of thinking and learning.

Caroline Bledsoe is forming a working group to delve into these issues, and Ann Orel agreed to chair the group.