CCFIT > Calendar & Minutes > 2006-07 Minutes > January 08, 2007 Minutes

Chair Caroline Bledsoe opened the meeting with a few announcements:

• The latest issue of the IT Times is included in the meeting packets. The issue covers several topics recently discussed with CCFIT, including the spam reduction measures implemented in November, the availability of Sophos anti-virus software, the expansion of wireless networking to several areas frequented by students, etc.



• A second 45-minute tour of the campus data center has been scheduled this month specifically for CCFIT members. The dates are 01/18/07 and 01/26/07. Anyone interested is asked to contact Laura Molander at (530) 754-4393. Caroline Bledsoe mentioned she learned a lot about how campus systems are managed and backed up from the tour she attended in December.  She encouraged others to attend as well.



• The UC-wide event with Google representatives is scheduled for January 24 at the Alumni Center on campus. The event will start with an overview of Google’s Web-based email offering, and participants will have an opportunity to participate in a Q&A session about the service. Also in attendance will be an Arizona State University IT executive who oversaw the launch of GmAil as a new service to all 65,000 ASU students. This UC-wide event kicks off the informal campus consultation phase for the possible outsourcing of Web-based email for UC Davis students.

Caroline Bledsoe invited comments on the minutes from the December meeting. The minutes were approved as submitted.

Jeff Gibeling, Dean of Graduate Studies, provided an update on the revisions made to GradSMAART, the Graduate System for Management of Admissions and Records Tracking, since the discussion with CCFIT in November 2005. Gibeling summarized the development of the project, the functionality goals, the system components, and anticipated costs (See the GradSMAART PowerPoint presentation).
An advisory committee comprised of campus graduate program staff, Graduate Studies staff, and technical specialists met from June through October 2005 to identify and document user requirements and workflow issues, and to develop the system’s architecture. Information and Educational Technology (IET) provided design and technical support.
The system has four main components.
Under development (expected by the start of the 2007-08 academic year):

• A contemporary online application process. Embark, a product of the Princeton Review, was selected after an RFP was issued and responses evaluated in the fall of 2006. A contract was negotiated and signed in December. Deployment of Embark is planned for the beginning of Fall 2007. Embark will interface with the Banner system via a daily information feed.



• Web-based admission review and evaluation system. This module is expected to reduce storage and file management needs. Gibeling indicated that the campus processes 7500 graduate applications every year (~1250 new graduate students and ~6250 files for applicants who will not enroll). Two options are being evaluated --GSOAR and GARP -- for automating the review of applicants for admission by program staff in academic units. GSOAR was locally developed based on an application from the Computer Science Department. It has been piloted and enhanced over the past two years. GARP is an early version of an admissions review application from UC Santa Cruz; it includes document management features. Graduate Studies will evaluate these applications in February and select one to be rolled out in the fall. 

For future implementation:

• Student tracking database, to be developed in collaboration with the Office of Resource Management and Planning. This database will provide integrated access to data from Banner, the Payroll Personnel System, DaFIS, and other campus systems. A number of student tracking elements and reports will be available (e.g., individual student academic and financial records, student roster status milestones, faculty roster committee participation).



• An alumni tracking and reporting database, to be developed in collaboration with University Relations (e.g., degree title, emphasis, date awarded, contact information, Major Professor).

Bo Chen, programmer in Graduate Studies, demonstrated the system. Following the demo, Gibeling noted that 30 campus graduate programs (out of a total of 86) have elected to use the system this year, and requests for participation are still coming in. Gibeling provided an overview of cost estimates (i.e., labor, hardware, software, training, and maintenance and annual fees) for each of the four modules (see PowerPoint presentation).

Gibeling invited CCFIT involvement in this project. He proposed the formation of a user advisory group to provide feedback on the system’s functionality and operation, to assist with testing, and to make recommendations for improvements. Representation would include an MSO, campus graduate program staff, faculty, Office of Graduate Studies staff, and representatives from other administrative organizations. Members agreed that such a group would be useful. Gibeling and Bledsoe will develop a charge letter.

Dave Shelby, Assistant Vice Provost for IET, provided an update on the Draft Policy for Proposed Administrative Computing Systems. Since it was first discussed with CCFIT in early December, the draft policy has undergone several revisions and continues to be vetted informally.  In addition to CCFIT, the Senior Advisors Group, AdMAN, the deans, and the technology leads in the schools, colleges and administrative units have been consulted and provided copies of the policy. Their comments, concerns, and questions were incorporated into the revised draft in today’s meeting packets.   Following this informal vetting process, the policy will be submitted to the Chancellor’s office for formal campus review and approval. Once finalized, this document will replace the original policy adopted in 1999 (PPM 200-45).

Shelby summarized the revisions made since the last CCFIT meeting. They include:

• Emphasizing the need for a flexible and timely review process;
• Clarifying which projects should be reviewed, and which are sufficiently small and self-contained that they are unlikely to affect other campus systems;
• Referencing the high-level campus overview committee that will review the proposals based on the work of ad hoc review groups appointed by the project’s sponsors;
• Making open and complete disclosure of findings on the Web;
• Defining a stronger role for project sponsors;
• Clarifying the peer-review nature of the process; and
• Inserting a new appendix with several scenarios to help reviewers understand how the policy and procedures is expected to play out.        

Also under development is a flowchart to illustrate key steps in the proposed review and coordination process.

Pete Siegel, Vice Provost for IET, said he met with Academic Senate Chair Linda Bisson today and discussed the draft with her. The policy will be shared with the Senate as part of this informal vetting process. It will also be discussed with the Council of Deans and Vice Chancellors.

Dean Gibeling noted that he appreciates the proposed policy and process given his recent experience with the GradSMAART project.

Pete Siegel, Vice Provost-IET, provided an update on the draft materials developed by the UC-wide Information Technology Guidance Committee (ITGC). He indicated that the latest draft of the recommendations has not yet been released by the Office of the President. As soon as they are released, input will be solicited from CCFIT, the Academic Senate, and other campus groups. Feedback from the community will be compiled, analyzed, and used to advise Provost Hinshaw.

By way of background, Siegel explained that the ITGC is sponsored by the Office of the President and was established by Wyatt Hume, Acting Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, in January 2006. The committee was charged with identifying strategic directions to guide investments in information and educational technologies across campuses.  Pete Siegel and Marilyn Sharrow (University Librarian) have been asked by Provost Hinshaw to coordinate UC Davis input on the ITGC recommendations. Linda Bisson (Chair of the Academic Senate) will oversee the involvement of the Senate in this campus consultation process.  Peter Yellowlees, Director of Academic Information Systems at the Medical Center, will continue to represent UC Davis on the ITGC.

As for the recommendations, Siegel noted that the ITGC materials cover six areas where the ITGC feels strategic planning and/or coordinated action promise to benefit campuses and/or the system in terms of efficiency, economies and innovation. Those six areas are:

• Information technology in student experience;
• Instructional technology;
• Stewardship of digital assets;
• High-performance research computing;
• Advanced networking services; and
• Common IT architecture.

The preliminary set of draft recommendations is available at www.universityofcalifornia.edu/itgc.

Caroline Bledsoe asked if the Office of the President will expect individual campuses to participate financially in UC-wide initiatives. Siegel noted that partnering with other campuses could be beneficial to UC Davis in some instances, but those decisions will be left to individual campuses to make.

Wes Wallender noted that the current document is very lengthy and does not make for a very agile consultation process. A shorter document would be very helpful.

Pete Siegel will update CCFIT members as soon as the Office of the President distributes the revised recommendations and the campuses can initiate their consultation process. Caroline Bledsoe noted that this topic will be discussed in more depth in February or March, once the materials are available.

Liz Gibson, Director, IET-Mediaworks and Classroom Technology Services, provided an overview of the podcasting experience at UC Davis. Gibson explained what podcasting is and summarized the services offered at UC Davis (see Powerpoint presentation and statistics). The pilot, conducted in Fall 2005, was very successful and paved the way for podcasting services to be offered to all faculty starting in winter 2006. Today 10 lecture halls are equipped with built-in digital audio recorders; 10 portable digital recorders can be checked out from IET’s audio-visual unit. Once recorded, materials can be uploaded to MyUCDavis for access by students, TAs, and others as needed. Gibson expects podcasting to be fully integrated into SmartSite in Fall 2007. She noted that the UC Davis podcasting system does not require use of an iPod to download or listen to lecture podcasts.

Interest in podcasting has grown over the last few years, while use of older technologies (tape recordings and lecture notes) has dropped significantly (see podcasting and tape statistics).  Some faculty have expressed some concern that podcasting may encourage students to skip lectures. Both Tor Cross and Beth Post, lecturers in the Psychology department, noted that they did not notice any decline in student attendance since they started using podcasting in their classes. Both also mentioned that learning to use the system was easy, and that students responded well to the use of podcasts.

Roger McDonald (Academic Senate representative) congratulated Gibson on making a simple and efficient system available to instructors and students. Jon Wagner (Director, Teaching Resources Center) raised the need for the campus to establish a policy and a mechanism for archiving class materials from quarter to quarter, including materials that instructors store in MyUCDavis or SmartSite. Gail Martinez (Undergraduate Studies) asked whether there is any evidence that podcasting is impacting students’ academic performance or the way in which instructors construct their exams. Tor Cross noted that she hasn’t analyzed the impact of podcasting in those terms but did note a decrease in the number of absences and requests for incompletes. Beth Post said she has used the system for a little over a quarter now and would need to audit her classes to answer this question. Gibson invited Council members to contact her with any suggestions or questions about the podcasting service (see podcast.ucdavis.edu).

Bledsoe thanked Gibson, Cross, and Post for their presentation and for an interesting discussion.

The meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m.