FACULTY SENATE UNIVERSITY COMPUTING AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
September 19, 2002
MINUTES

Attendees: Murray Eisenberg (Math), Marilyn Hanley (Library, secretary), Gary Hough (Library), Tadd Jackson (UIS), Joe Kunkel (Biology, chair), Norman Sims (Journalism), Ed Stanek (Public Health), Howard D. Stidham (Chemistry)

Agenda for FSUCECC meeting September 19, 2002
Location: Campus Center 911-15

I. Minutes of past meetings to be distributed via email and website.

II. Introductions and organization for 2002-03: chair, secretary

  1. Chair: Joe Kunkel, nominated and elected
  2. Secretary: Marilyn Hanley, nominated and elected

III. Set agenda for Fall semester
Agenda topics:

  1. Email lists:
    Action item: Murray will write, send to Joe to send to group for approval, then forward to Faculty Senate
  2. Communication and computing:
    1. Number of other committees dealing with IT issues. Are we paying attention to all the issues?
    2. Faculty Senate Council for Teaching, Learning, and Instructional Technology. Both Murray and Steve Brewer are on this council.
    3. IT Council: What happens with this council this year?
    4. We are the only Faculty Senate Committee dealing with IT so we need to maintain liaison with other groups or at least promote information transfer among groups in some way.
  3. Membership from OIT:
    Action item: Joe will contact Academic Computing (Pat Kochin)
  4. Review and examination of OIT:
    1. They should discuss with this committee IT issues involving students, academics, and computing.
    2. Examples:
      1. OIT decided not to have open student labs but convert to classrooms
      2. OIT support of platforms: Mac, LINUX, Windows
      3. Finances of OIT and effect on support to campus
      4. Is OIT putting the services where we think they should be put to carry on the educational process?
      5. What about the support that OIT has provided to other operations: Database support?
  5. UMass Online:
    1. Three areas of conflict: Continuing Education (E-College), Academic Computing (WebCT), and UmassOnline (Prometheus / Blackboard and Intralearn)
      - budget conflict?
    2. Distance learners vs on-campus learners
    3. Funding and integrity and quality of programs
    Action item: Invite Harlan Sturm to a meeting to discuss this topic
    Action item for next time: Develop questions that we might ask Jack Wilson.
  6. Classroom connectivity. The jacks are connected. Projection is an issue plus need to take own laptop. What about personal projection equipment?
    Need to address in terms of Lombardi quote: "Research and education at the highest level"

IV. Old business:

  1. Email policy
    1. Freedom of information issue.
    2. Freedom of use of publication means.
    3. Status: Murray was to work on during summer. He agreed to continue working with David Powicki this fall.
V. Adjourned