TAG Meeting Notes 3/3

4 03 2011

Just a few quick updates from yesterday’s TAG meeting:

  • We have three new members! Welcome to Dave Dzurec (History), Wesley Wang (Economics/Finance), and Sandy Pesavento (Education).
  • The Classroom Mediation survey has been distributed and is due today (Friday).  There was some confusion reported between the Classroom Mediation survey (which focused on equipment and was distributed by department chairs) and the Knowledge Base survey (which focused on software and was handed out in department meetings visited by TAG members).  Unfortunately, our timing didn’t work out as well as planned.
  • The Identity and Access Management system upgrade is still in progress. User IDs will likely be R numbers, but current email addresses will be carried forward.  You’ll likely be able to log into the my.scranton portal using your email address rather than your R number.
  • We discussed the plan for the email transition and debated how to get the word out about this plan to faculty members.  We recently sent out an email to all full-time faculty via FAC, and Jeremy, Kristen, and Jim will present to the Faculty Senate next Friday (March 11) about the transition plan.  We’re not sure how to reach part-time faculty.
  • TAG members have been visiting academic department meetings, to varying degrees of success.  We’ve gathered a lot of feedback from faculty about their technology needs.  The more specific feedback (e.g., projectors in a certain room not working) can be addressed by IR.  But TAG needs to address some of the larger issues (e.g., how do we get faculty to report problem computers/equipment to Tech Support so that they can be fixed?).
  • Faculty are still concerned about the lack of Mac support on campus, especially for things like antivirus software and uploading files to ANGEL from Safari (though that’s an issue with ANGEL rather than with our IR division).
  • There seems to be a need for discussions with faculty about academic & pedagogical uses of social media tools.  TAG will be looking into this more in the future.
  • There is a reported perception that TAG serves as a mouthpiece for the administration rather than as an independent body – but we’d like to beg to differ.  TAG has been asked by Academic Affairs and Information Resources to provide feedback on technology issues, not to repeat a previously determined message.  And communication between TAG and both Academic Affairs and Information Resources has been two-way rather than one-way.

Thanks to everyone who attended – and as usual, please feel free to address any of these points in the comments!


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Categories : Classroom Mediation, Email, TAG Administrative

Meeting Notes 1/24/2011

25 01 2011

Sorry for the outburst of posts today! But just wanted to share some news from our TAG meeting yesterday.

The meeting centered around our frighteningly long to-do list and how to tackle all of TAG’s various projects.  One of our main discussion points was how to get more faculty actively involved in TAG – so if anyone has any suggestions, please let us know! We’re hoping that our departmental meeting visits in early Spring 2011 will help us recruit more willing victims volunteers.  If not, we may have to cut back on our project list.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the projects we’re working on, somewhat in order of priority:

  1. Transition to Microsoft Live @ Edu email.  This transition will have two main impacts on faculty.  Firstly, faculty who currently use Thunderbird will need to adjust to a new interface (Outlook desktop client or web client).  Secondly, IR is still exploring ways to migrate faculty email both from the current RoyalMail server and especially from faculty local drives to Live @ Edu cloud storage.  TAG is figuring out the best ways for us to be involved in this transition – whether that means training faculty on the new interface, participating in discussions about migration strategies, etc.
  2. Classroom Mediation Survey. TAG is working with IR, Academic Affairs, and the CTLE to put together a survey that will determine what classroom technology is used in what classrooms, so that equipment budgets can be allocated more efficiently.
  3. User ID change. TAG’s role here will basically be to help get the word out to faculty so that no one will be surprised come March/April when they need to log in with their R number.
  4. Knowledge base. TAG hopes to provide here on our website lists of faculty who use certain classroom technologies (see, for example, our list of campus resources on Facebook and other social media) – so that if you’re interested in trying out a new technology tool in your classroom, you’ll know who on campus you can talk to about it.
  5. Faculty websites. TAG is working with PR to establish protocols for requesting and building faculty websites within the new CMS.  We’re on track to have two models to show other faculty, one built using a basic template and one built using an advanced template.
  6. Faculty scholarship database. Word has it that Academic Affairs is reviewing products for tracking and cataloging faculty publications. TAG hopes to provide faculty feedback on the products reviewed before a decision is made.
  7. Keeping the TAG website up to date. We hope that this website becomes (if it isn’t already) a useful resource for faculty.
  8. Evaluating and providing feedback on technology training for faculty.

If you or anyone you know would be interested in and willing to lend a hand on any of these projects, please let us know!

Last but not least, TAG’s next major step is to visit a department meeting in early Spring 2011 for each department on campus. We’re currently working on developing talking points for those visits. Keep an eye out for your TAG liaison at your next faculty meeting!

 


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