Technology Committee

 

December 3, 2004

 

Present:  Louis Mays, Virginia Ferguson, Julie Basham, Jody Gray, Carol Callahan, Sherry Stout, Cathy LaParl, Sue Leach, Nancy Wolford, Nicole Roades, Shirley Cornwell, Annie Rankin, Bob Snellman, Cathy Kelley, Dennis Griffith, Denise Decker-Flum, and Jeff Montgomery, Josh Montgomery.

 

Report from Laptop Sub-Committee – Nicole

 

She passed out information.  They met November 18th, and their minutes are attached. (get from Nicole).  Janeen had one statement against laptops.  Cost at SSCC is $6,980.00, Pell and OIG won’t help that much.  Laptops will increase the amount of loans the student will need to take out. Perhaps we can concentrate on teaching technology and training issues for faculty. 

 

Comments:  Denise, training is an issue.  Mobile labs can’t be used in each class, logistics, availability, and other issues don’t make the labs accessible.  Recommends the committee look at other access points, like WebCT, etc. 

 

Should we do a technology survey?  What is the current demand?  Other comments: Carol has a concern about the mobile lab, battery charging is an issue, consistent usage isn’t possible in order to charge the batteries.  The labs are stretched thin.  The survey should address the issue if the technology were available, anticipated frequency of use should be a question on the survey.  Jody: look into possibility for getting financial assistance for students who wish to get a laptop.  We can help them keep costs down because of bulk purchasing.  Cathy LaParl:  Laptops with students will help with computer and information literacy. 

 

Recommendations:  Get back together and see what we can do with vendors to get price breaks for students.  Survey on technology usage, shall they proceed?  Yes.  Student and faculty surveys.  Denise recommended:  if you were given release time or money, would that impact your decision? 

 

The faculty survey will be done first, and compiled, then the student survey will go out.

 

Jeff, don’t be shortsighted about this.  3-5 year implementation, gives IT time to plan, put it in the plan, is the commitment down the road?  Mary Jo would be a good resource person on the survey, she’s had experience in her course work.

 

Distance Education Report – Virginia

 

Met in November at North Campus.  Four major topics were addressed.  Next meeting will be at Jan. 11th 9am at North Campus. 

 

  1. Student service area
  2. Marketing
  3. Faculty support and training
  4. Evaluation and assessment

 

January’s meeting will be on student services.  Contact Cathy LaParl for electronic version of attachment.  Jody, what is the prerequisite for entering an online class?  This needs to be addressed.  The assessment, according to Jeff, should be available online.  We need to be careful to not allow students to enroll without being assessed. 

 

This committee will present at the next meeting of the Technology Committee.  Carol, does distance learning need to address the issue of cheating in academic work?  This will be addressed by faculty at a later time, but it is important and of general interest to faculty.

 

Academic Technology – Jeff Montgomery

 

No formal meeting yet.  How do up date the Technology Plan.  He passed out the current Plan, and wants revisions or recommendations from the college personnel.  Return your comments and recommendations to him and he’ll compile them by January, 2005.  Cathy LaParl, has anyone been making monitoring reports on the plan?  Yes, Karen Newby.  Barb Fleming also has this monitoring report.  The report is on the college’s web site under college reports.  Dennis said on the executive summary on the Plan, we should consider more broader objectives instead of more specific objectives.  Keep those objectives broader and not as specific.  This was suggested by Dr. Dukes.

 

Web Development – Josh Montgomery

 

The committee met in November.  Accomplished 8 of their 12 recommendations set forth by the committee.  The site needs to load faster.  This is caused by the drop menus.  Give them an option, low band and high bandwidth, this was discussed.  If you want a form on the site, notify Josh and he’ll take care of it.

 

Jeff suggested the college could print a document to faculty of what is available on the web site.  This would be helpful. 

 

Presentation from Denise on “Doing Science Online”.  Learning activities should be used on the computer, and she gave examples of a program she has used. 

 

Louis mentioned staff development opportunities for the college staff, including our membership and participation in Starlink, ITC and SOCHE. 

 

Next meeting will be Friday February 11th, noon at Central, luncheon.