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Council Minutes - October 3, 2005

Technology Council - Minutes
Monday, October 3, 2005

Present:  Sharon Dimmer, Scott Hildebrand, Fergus Hughes, David Kieper, Dan McIver, Barbara Mcclure-Lukens (representing Jan Thornton) Erik Mims, Kathy Pletcher, Dean Rodeheaver, Meir Russ, Tim Sewall, and Mike Stearney (representing Sue Keihn)).
Not present: Fritz Erickson, Steve Dutch, E. Nicole Meyer

The meeting was called to order at 10:00 am.

Minutes of the September meeting were approved by consensus.

Review of lab utilization of academic computer labs. Fergus reported on his discussions with unit chairs regarding utilization of the academic computer labs in MAC Hall. The goal of the discussions was to encourage sharing of computer labs to reduce cost and free up Lab Mod funds for other instructional needs. The discussion focused on the Social Science lab, which had a low utilization rate during 2004/05. The faculty reported that the Social Science computer lab had a low utilization rate because it is too small to accommodate statistics classes. There are only 24 student workstations in the lab and 48 chairs. The original concept for the SS lab was that two students could share a workstation. This has proved to be too crowded for optimal teaching. The statistics classes are being scheduled in general assignment classrooms and the class goes to the general access computer labs as needed during the semester. Statistics classes typically have 45 students so the larger GAC labs provides for a computer for each student. Unit chairs had asked whether Statistics classes could be accommodated in the Computer Science Lab. Kathy indicated that the Computer Science Lab has been restricted to computer science students because there are special software loads and administrative settings. It would also be too small for the Statistics classes because it only has 30 computers. The Wood Hall Lab has 50 computers and is much more spacious. Currently it is only scheduled 19 hours per week for instruction so it may well be able to accommodate the Statistics classes. The Technology Council discussed making the Social Science lab available for open access. It was generally agreed that it was not cost effective to build a teaching lab and then justify its existence based on general use by students. There was consensus among the Council members that if the Social Sciences lab is not meeting its intended purpose it should be considered for elimination in 2006/07. Questions arose about what to do with the space: should it be converted to a General Assignment Classroom; could it be used as a seminar room? Dean said that the furniture was donated by a local company and needs to stay in the room. Dave said that the furniture could not be moved around because of the electrical hook ups. Meir pointed out that a seminar room without movable furniture was not very functional. One possibility for this space would be to relocate the 4 year old computers from one of the writing labs to this room and make it available to writing faculty for instruction. Since writing classes are capped at 24, half the seats could be removed and it would not be so crowded. The Council also discussed the low utilization of the Ecology Lab and the GIS lab. In both cases the log data show that there more computers in the room than are ever used at any one time. Fergus will follow up with the faculty and work with Kathy on a revised lab plan for 2006/07, which will be reviewed at the November meeting.

Electronic Records Management. The Council had a preliminary discussion about electronic records management. The Council reviewed Wisconsin Statutes regarding records definitions, the types of electronic records, issues to be considered and how we might approach tackling this large topic. Mike Stearney provided background information on the document imaging system. Several years ago the Technology Council adopted ImageNow as the campus standard for document imaging. At the time, Ron Ronnenberg was interested in using document imaging in Financial Aid. The rest of the campus was not ready to use this application, but the Council did approve Image Now for Financial Aid and for other departmental applications. Following the Financial Aid Office's implementation other offices have begun using it (Purchasing, Registrarand Admissions) andrecently moreoffices have expressed interest in ImageNow (HR, SOFAS, Outreach and Housing.) The Council discussed methodologies for approaching the electronic records management. Sharon suggested that offices need training on understanding records management and what our obligations are. Tim suggested a small planning group get together to develop a comprehensive plan. Meir asked if there was a particular “driver” for this topic, such as legal pressure. Kathy expressed concern that the expanded use of ImageNow as an enterprise document imaging system is the most time critical issue because server hardware needs to be replaced this fiscal year and a number of departments are interested in getting started with their planning.

The meeting adjourned at 11:05.

Respectfully Submitted,
Kathy Pletcher, Chair

 

 

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