Open Forums

On November 17^th, the Campus Council for Information Technology will sponsor an open forum with the community to discuss the focused pilot and upcoming upgrade for SmartSite, the campus system for managing coursework and collaborating online.  Professor Joe Kiskis, chair of CCFIT, will host the session. All members of the community, including faculty, are encouraged to attend and participate in the discussion. Feedback collected during the open forum will help inform the 'go/no go' decision to be made in December about the proposal to host the upgraded SmartSite in partnership with rSmart, a leading commercial affiliate of the Sakai community.

The open forum is scheduled as follows:

Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Time: 3:30-5:00 p.m.

Location: Plant and Environmental Sciences Building, room 3001

(see campus map at http://www.cevs.ucdavis.edu/map/map_detail.cfm?assetInfo=101 )

The following topics will be covered:

• The focused eight-week pilot program to evaluate changes for SmartSite, which are conditionally scheduled to be implemented beginning 5 p.m., December 17, 2009 and released by December 20, in time for Winter Quarter, 2010;
• A demo of the new features and tools included in the upgrade to version 2.6;
• An overview of the partnership with rSmart, a leading commercial affiliate of Sakai, to host SmartSite;
• Options for getting involved in the pilot and staying informed (e.g., hands-on ‘discovery sessions' available on most Wednesdays through Dec. 9; FAQ at smartsite.ucdavis.edu; etc.); and
• A Q&A with the SmartSite team and representatives from the CCFIT Educational Technologies Subcommittee that provides guidance and oversight for SmartSite.

CCFIT sponsors open forums as a way to engage and collect substantive input from interested members of the community about current issues and initiatives related to campus information and educational technologies.

Seating is limited. To secure a seat, please RSVP at trainers@smartsite.ucdavis.edu by Wednesday, November 11, 2009.

Overview

In an effort to actively promote ongoing information-sharing, effective collaboration, and two-way communications among Council constituents and with the broader campus community, the CCFIT sponsors open forums on a variety of topics. 

These community sessions are offered as a way to engage interested members of the community on current issues and initiatives related to campus information and educational technologies.  The purpose of the open forums is twofold:

1)   To bring our community together for campus discussions of IT investments, priorities, proposals and plans; and

2)   To provide substantive input into CCFIT steering committee processes and deliberations.

The audience for the forums is determined based on the nature of the topics and issues to be explored. For the two sessions sponsored in 2008-09, students, faculty, staff, campus administrators, and various community groups were invited to share ideas, perspectives, comments, and questions.

Forums are generally structured around a brief presentation followed by a Q&A and discussion session. Facilitators include at least one member of the CCFIT steering committee.

To ensure broad campus awareness, promotion of CCFIT open forums take several forms.

• Through a broad general campus outreach program we publish, announcements in major campus publications including Dateline, and the Friday Update electronic newsletter as well as on the UC Davis and IET Web sites at least a week in advance of the forums. The schedule and descriptions for all CCFIT-sponsored events are featured on the CCFIT Web site (ccfit.ucdavis.edu), and pointers are available from other campus sites.
• Council members act as Forum Ambassadors, notifying the groups they represent on the CCFIT of upcoming forums and underscoring the importance of participating in these forums.
• Based on the nature of the issues and discussion topics, the CCFIT steering committee works with campus constituencies to identify the most appropriate meeting, communication, and discussion venues - i.e., those that are already established; familiar to faculty, staff and students; and conducive to discussions and Q&A sessions.

Support for these community forums is provided through the Office of the Vice Provost for Information and Educational Technology.

For suggestions and feedback on ccfit-sponsored open forums, contact council-support@ucdavis.edu.

 Open Forums offered in 2008-09 (PDF)

Potential Topics for CCFIT-sponsored forums for 2009-10

Copyright © The Regents of the University of California, Davis campus, 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Questions or comments?

Last update: November 5, 2009