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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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