Meeting Minutes for
April 8, 2002
A meeting of the University Information Technology
Advisory Committee was called to order at 3:10 p.m. on April 8,
2002, in the 4th floor conference room of Cabell Library. Dr. David
Sarrett, co-chair, presided. Members present were Dr. Lynn Nelson,
Ms. Fran Smith, Dr. James Shultz, Ms. Veronica Shuford, Dr. Phyllis
Self, Mr. John Ulmschneider, and Mr. Mark Willis. Dr. Timothy Broderick,
Dr. Robert Mattauch, and Mr. Carl Gattuso were absent. Dr. Joseph
Marolla, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence also attended.
I. REVIEW AND APPROVAL
OF MINUTES FROM MARCH 18, 2002
There were 3 clarifications reported:
• Dr. Self clarified the Academic Technology’s procedures
for dealing with compromised servers. AT will identify the problem,
and at the first instance will: work with the server’s owner
to reconfigure and reset it so it is resistant to invasion, point
the owner to resources to help them keep their server resistant,
and help them get reconnected to the network.
• Email quotas were clarified: the quotas discussed at last
month’s meeting only refer to mail1/mail2 servers. There are
separate quotas for Lotus Notes servers.
• Mr. Ulmschneider noted that he did not approve of email
quotas.
There were no amendments to the minutes, and they were approved
as written.
II. STUDENT TECHNOLOGY
COMPETENCE ASSESSMENT (SMARTFORCE INITIATIVE)
Guest speaker Dr. Joseph Marolla, Director of the Center for Teaching
Excellence, was introduced. Dr. Marolla discussed the SCHEV mandate
for assessing student technology skills. VCU’s first proposal
to SCHEV was rejected because they felt a third party should verify
the assessment. The solution implemented, after much investigation,
was SmartForce. VCU purchased a contract for 300 on-line classes,
but only around 50 are general purpose for all students. The rest
are designed for specialized use, especially some of the more advanced
computer certification classes. He emphasized that these were both
classes and assessments; many students start by taking the assessments
and find that they need to go back and take the class portion first.
Right now, only students from the School of Social
Work and the College of Humanities and Sciences are required to
complete the assessment before graduation this spring. All other
schools will be participating soon. Four assessments are required
of Social Work and College graduating seniors this spring:
• Browser Use (either Explorer or Netscape)
• Basic IT Concepts
• Basic Internet Concepts (essentially Email)
• Beginning Word
Dr. Nelson pointed out that there was a
list of 10 required competencies for graduation for the College
of Humanities and Sciences. Dr. Marolla replied that he was concerned
with suddenly requiring more than the 4 assessments this spring,
which requires about an hour and a half of all the graduates, but
eventually the College could require more of the incoming freshmen.
Dr. Marolla was asked if this was a graduation requirement, and
he noted that it was—students would not be allowed to graduate
until they’ve taken the assessments.
The SmartForce Website was demonstrated. Dr. Marolla
reported that individual schools are able to create school-specific
assessment tracks for their students. Courses/assessments can be
downloaded onto zip disks, taken home, completed, and uploaded at
the same computer they were downloaded from so students can avoid
using slow modems to do their assessments. He also noted that since
most of the elementary computer classes have been eliminated, this
is the only place for students lacking in computer skills to get
those skills. Faculty should know the class resources are available
to the students and recommend that students lacking in these skills
use this resource. Staff members are also encouraged to use the
classes.
Initial feedback for the courses has been positive.
Most of the problems have been the result of our learning how to
administer a very large, complex database of users. VCU has a significant
investment of time, as well as a 3-year contract at $94,000 per
year, in the program, and will only have a good return on investment
if faculty and staff take advantage of the resource.
Finally, Dr. Marolla noted that the system would
be taken off-line for a short period in late May or June to reorganize
some of the administrative functions to make it easier to administer
and easier to generate specialized reports and create subgroups
for Schools and the College.
III. APPROVAL OF WIRELESS
NETWORKING STANDARDS—CONDITIONS OF USE
Mr. Willis noted that he incorporated the comments and addressed
concerns from the last meeting. Dr. Self asked if Blackboard should
be available in the wireless network. The group generally agreed
that it should, with cautions to the faculty about the security
issues, including changing passwords frequently. Discussed and decided
to add “grades” to the list of sensitive information
in item 2, change the wording in item one to “Certain servers
with sensitive and confidential information will not …”
and move item 4 to be item 2. Motion to accept this attachment as
amended was made and seconded, and passed unanimously. Mr. Willis
was asked if a pop-up window could appear when logged onto the wireless
network to raise security awareness. He and Dr. Self will check
with the programmers to see if this is possible.
IV. RE-APPROVAL OF PATRIOT
ACT PROCEDURES
Mr. Willis noted that as he was modifying this document after the
last meeting he ended up changing the organization of the document,
so he was bringing it back for reauthorization. Dr. Shultz noted
that it was now much more clear. Discussed and agreed to add “(VCU)”
after the word “provider” in “Emergency Disclosures”
section, and also take the word “police” out of the
protocol part of the same section. Motion to accept this document
as amended was made and seconded, and passed unanimously.
V. STUDENT EMAIL POLICY
Dr. Self introduced the Student Email Policy, designed to ensure
all students received and used a vcu.edu email account. As the University
is faced with budget cuts, several departments want to use email
for official University communications to save money. Discussion
was held regarding email forwarding. Dr. Nelson noted that weekly
he receives several returned Emails because a Hotmail or Yahoo box
is full. Students do not know they are missing their email. Decided
to take out the forwarding section and add language to discourage
forwards, since all VCU mail can be accessed via webmail. Discussed
reworking the “Appropriate Use of Student Email” section.
Dr. Self will make the noted changes and redistribute this document
via Email. She noted that it is currently being reviewed by University
Counsel, and will then go to the President for approval.
VI. STATUS OF IT STRATEGIC
PLANNING PROCESS
Mr. Willis noted that he is developing the RFP with the purchasing
department. He has decided to go with an informal RFP, for contracts
under $50,000, which allows us to target 5-6 firms rather than a
formal RFP, which allows anyone to bid on the contract. An informal
RFP speeds the procurement process, but given the late start this
semester, the Strategic Plan will probably wait until fall to facilitate
faculty involvement.
There being no further business, the meeting
was adjourned at 5:10 p.m.
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