Academic Technology Advisory Committee Minutes of Meeting on February 23, 2007

Members Present Chat Chatterji, Michael Hoadley, David Wolski, Judy Barford, Andrew Mertz, Steve Conn, Mark Borzi, Diane Hoadley, John Looby, John Henderson, Nackil Sung, Brian Poulter, Jeff Stowell, James Painter, William Higelmire, Mary Anne Hanner, William Hine, Doug Lawhead, and David Keyes Members Absent Blair Lord, Jeff Cooley, Karen Nantz, Andrew Methven, Lucy Campanis, and Sean Anderson. Visitors Antoine Thomas, Michael McBride, Emily Silby, Don Braswell, Jim Toner, Ted Genders, Bill Witsman, Greg DeYoung, John Bailey, Sandra Nees, Janel Moore, Tom Grissom, John Koontz, and Max Swango. Approval of Minutes Michael Hoadley opened the meeting at 2 p.m. in Room 4440 of Booth Library. He then asked for approval of minutes from the last ATAC meeting held on December 1, 2006. Acceptance of the minutes was unanimous. Informational Items

A. Updates and Announcements about Technology Initiatives at EIU

1. CITRIX: Don Braswell, Ted Genders, and Michael McBride presented an update on the Citrix server.

Michael McBride distributed a copy of the new Citrix policies and procedures [Attachment #1], particularly the one for requesting new applications/software to be added to Citrix. He also directed everyone’s attention to the section of the handout for reporting Citrix issues.

Ted Genders then gave an update on where EIU currently is and where it is going with respect to Citrix usage. He explained that more demand from instructors to have access for off-campus students has produced a burden on the active directory leading to the installation of a new secure access gateway appliance. He explained that this is a huge move forward for Citrix users. [Attachment #2] Ted also announced that all Citrix servers have now been moved to Lumpkin Hall to establish a server farm. This move makes administration of the servers much easier and provides approximately six times the computer power for sharing applications. Don Braswell stated that all of this information will be posted on the ATAC website pointing out that there will be two links – one for faculty and one for students. He also stated that the application for additions to Citrix will be posted on the website which will require approximately a one-month turn around for testing and evaluation of licensing of software for both services.

2. Banner: Bill Witsman presented an update on the Banner project stating that major milestones are being

accomplished as initially established. He reported that the Banner team has been doing an excellent job since its establishment in April of 2005. Finance and Recruiting/Admissions became fully active in July of 2006, followed by Human Resources, Benefits, and Payroll in January of 2007. The first payrolls were produced on 1//07 and 1/5/07 and they are currently working on automating time and attendance reporting. Financial Aid went online in February of 2007 with processing being activated for the Fall of 2007.

He also reported that the student module is moving along as expected for Fall 2007 registration with Banner beginning on 3/26/07 for the 1st time; the first student bills will be produced by Accounts Receivable in July of 2007. Mid-term and final grades will also be on Banner in the Fall semester, as well as degree auditing, certification, and student transcripts.

The Alumni Office will “go live” in June 2007. Others improvements yet to come include a Banner to WebCT interface (projected to occur during the summer of 2007), an operational data store, improved reporting portal, and workflow between operation units. Registration for non-credit classes will be included in the processing. No entities will be left out of the process when complete. Overall, Witsman emphasized that Banner is on schedule and within budget. [Attachment #3]

3. WebCT: Antoine Thomas [representing the academic side] reported that he and Janel Moore

[representing the technical side] have been meeting weekly regarding the WebCT update to Campus Edition v6. The timetable is currently for training materials to be developed in CATS during March of 2007 with information sessions/training offered beginning in May of 2007. The Banner effects on WebCT 6 are unknown at this point, but will be addressed in the Summer of 2007 by working with consultants from WebCT/Blackboard on the interface. WebCT CE v6 is scheduled to be online in Fall 2007 so it can be used for training and to help faculty migrate their current courses. By January 2008, everyone should be trained and their courses converted to WebCT CE v6 for use during the spring semester. He also reported that CE v6 is very user friendly with many benefits to the EIU campus.

4. Elluminate: Antoine Thomas distributed a copy of the Elluminate training schedule being offered by

CATS in conjunction with Elluminate. Elluminate is an online tool that allows faculty to enhance their ability to teach and share information in an online environment. Besides teaching, it also allows for distance meetings, virtual office hours, and presentations. EIU is currently utilizing a free 30-day trial of 30 licenses and so far the feedback from faculty and staff has been very positive. Currently 25 faculty and staff and about 60 students are participating in the pilot-project. At the end of the trial, a survey will be sent out to all participants requesting input that will eventually be used in making the decision whether or not to purchase the product. [Attachment #4]

5. Zimbra: Dave Emrich addressed the question as to why EIU is making the switch from Outlook to

Zimbra, which basically came down to a matter of cost. He reported that there is a new login page for EIU Panther Mail service with basic and advanced options. Users will be able to switch between the two options and maintain the changes they have made in their calendars. He stated that Zimbra’s features are very similar to those in Outlook and that they are currently testing it with Safari. Training materials are currently being developed in conjunction with various users around campus.

Chat Chatterji stated the problems initially experienced by campus users have all been addressed with this latest version and it is looking good. He has very high hopes for this change.

Greg DeYoung interjected an announcement here regarding Daylight Savings Time being three weeks earlier this year than in the past. He directed everyone to the ITS website for instructions on how to update their computers for this change.

6. Network: Chat Chatterji provided an update on the EIU Network stating that he had some concerns with

the recent snow days with everyone staying inside and possibly being on the Internet etc., but that the EIU Network held up perfectly with the load. [Attachment #5] He also reported that the new telephone contract included some additional bandwidth which will provide two paths to the Internet.

Chatterji also reported that next Tuesday’s University Newsletter will have an article containing instructions and alerts about the upcoming changes in Daylight Savings Time. He stated that information will be coming in many forms and that most patches are being handled by ITS with very little needing to be done by individuals.

7. TurningPoint Conference: John Henderson reported that EIU/CATS will be hosting the first-ever

TurningPoint Regional User Conference on March 5th and 6th. Registration is available online and is free for this conference, but the last day to register is Monday, February 26th. [Attachment #6]

Michael Hoadley stated this is a great opportunity for EIU as this is the first conference to be held in the country and that it is very exciting for EIU to have been selected. The response has been great so far with 20 institutions in the region currently being represented. The staff from Turning Technologies is looking forward to direct input from the EIU campus.

8. Laptop Pilot Project: Michael Hoadley reported that an ad hoc committee is now in place to address the Laptop Pilot Project, with himself and Will Hine serving as Co-Chairs. Members of the ad hoc committee include:

Kent Ohms, Student Government Mark Borzi, CAH Jim Novak, COS Rigoberto Chinchilla, LCBAS Tom Grissom, CEPS Travis Gresens, ITS Connie Downey, Purchasing Will Hine, ATAC & SCE John Henderson, ATAC & CATS Michael Hoadley, CATS

They will begin meeting next week to address the issues related to a Pilot Project date of Fall 2008. The department of Communication Disorders and Sciences is very interested in being the leader in this pilot program. The committee is being very careful to investigate all the issues regarding infrastructure, etc. and plans to visit other campuses that currently have some form of laptop program in place. The process is very time consuming with meetings at least once per week. This is currently just a “concept” and not yet being required of all students at EIU. The process will be faculty directed and driven to investigate a model for the future.

Discussion Items A. Subcommittee Reports

1. Student Technology Fee: Mark Borzi reported that this subcommittee recommends continuing with the replacement and upgrade cycle for classrooms currently in place. He states that 100% of requested upgrades should be completed by Summer 2008 and that funds will continue to be reinvested in the cycle at that time. He reported that the subcommittee also recommends waiting to move forward with the regional laboratory concept until the individual Colleges have the opportunity to develop or revise their technology plans. The subcommittee will revisit this issue in Spring 2008 when drafts of those plans are completed. [Attachment #7]

Michael Hoadley stated that the TEAM Grants Council has decided to look into financial support for bringing in an outside consulting firm to standardize a technology plan for the campus.

John Henderson noted that this year’s upgrades will be completed by August 15th and that all areas on campus are in agreement of the completion of this goal.

2. Academic Technology and Instruction Support: Jeff Stowell stated that he is pleased to see CATS and

ITS moving ahead with the recommendation of this subcommittee to convert to WebCT/Blackboard CE v6.

3. Coordination of Technology Resources: Will Hine reported that the laptop issues have now been passed

to an ad hoc subcommittee and that there is nothing else to report at this time.

B. Open Forum about Technology Issues and Related Matters:

Doug Lawhead announced that the yearly Digital Campus Institute by Apple is coming up April 2 – 4, 2007 in Columbia, Missouri. More information can be obtained at their website: http://muconf.missouri.edu/dci/index.html Jeff Stowell requested an update on the new telephone contract from ITS. Chat Chatterji reported that, after investigation and consultation, they found the most cost-effective solution was to stay with the current analog phone system. ITS was also able to negotiate some concessions with Consolidated and all desk phones will be changed/upgraded, but the network will remain the same. This is a 5 year contract with Consolidated. David Keyes questioned why he received so many internal server errors [#404] while on the Internet. Greg DeYoung asked him to always report these errors along with the actual error # to the Help Desk so they can track their occurrence.

Mark Borzi stated that faculty and advisors have concerns about the switch to Banner in the Fall 2007 and the lack of information they have received concerning this switch. Bill Witsman agreed that notification to users has not been very forthcoming and he would push for improvement from the Banner team on this issue. He also noted that there is space on the Banner site for addressing any questions or concerns anyone might have.

Andrew Mertz requested more communication from ITS when a server would be taken down. He stated that last Thursday he received emails from students stating their off-campus access was being filtered and that the server remained off-line four days without any notification from ITS. John Koontz stated that was because the machine was down for four days. Greg DeYoung apologized for the situation, stating there was obviously a breakdown in communications and that ITS needs to work on improved communications in the future.

New Items A. Remaining meeting Dates in FY07 Michael Hoadley reminded everyone of the one remaining meeting date for FY07. The meeting will be April

20, 2007, 2 – 4:00 p.m., 4440 Booth Library. B. Deadline for submitting agenda items for next meeting: Friday, April 6, 2007

The meeting adjourned at 3:40 p.m.

Submitted by Rhonda Brotherton Recording Secretary, CATS Administrative Aide