ITS Meeting Minutes - 2-05-2003
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Distance Education
Presented by Gail Evans

Planning Council unit plans should include IT funding specified through each Department.

Current SCH (semester credit hours) are greater than 8%. A survey to determine more specific information is being planned.

Remote centers have light offerings next semester because of budget concerns.

The distance education fee may be cancelled in placement of funds from a fee placed on SCH.

We have experienced increased enrollment in all online courses and are nearing maximum capacity with current resources.

We have an obligation to continue off-campus course offerings. Despite budget cuts off-campus enrollment is still rising and will continue to do so.

Avoid putting copyrighted material in non-password protected web sites.

Utilize training available to students through Prep 2 Go.

IT Initiatives and Priorities in Institutional Planning
Presented by Erin Mayer

The IT unit plan has already been turned in to Chaney Anderson but it's not too late to push technology concerns in department unit plans.

The official IT unit plan for this year was discussed on a line-by-line basis.

W.I. Dykes Library
Presented by Steve Casburn

1. New and re-named databases

The library has added two databases since the last ITS meeting:
a. D&B Key Business Ratios: provides key business ratio information, which is of interest to accounting and finance.
b . Plunkett Business Online: provides industry-specific information for a variety of business sectors. For each business sector, you can gather important information such as market research, industry statistics, profiles of companies, and industry associations. Plunkett Research Online also includes a Job Seekers Center, which provides profiles of leading employers, job market trends, links to job search sites, and more. This database was a donation facilitated by Dean Bizzell of the College of Business.

In addition, two of our database vendors have re-named databases we subscribe to:
What was once called “USP/Drug Index Volume 2” is now called “Clinical Pharmacology”.
What was once called “FIS Online” is now called “Mergent Online”.

2. Library personnel changes
The library has a new webmaster, Steven Ring. Some of you might know Steven: He was a librarian here from 1999 to 2001, and returned to UHD last month. He took over the updating of the library web pages last week.
Unfortunately, the library has temporarily lost one of our technology people. Cesar Alvarado was called up to active duty by the Marines, and will be gone until next January. We do not yet have a mailing address for him, but if you want to write to him, let me know, and I will get that address to you as soon as I get it.

3. Database funding situation
As you’re all aware, the state of Texas is facing a large budget shortfall, and might be required to reduce or cancel some state programs. One state program which might be affected by this budget situation is the TexShare program.

Part of what the TexShare program does for UHD is purchase statewide access to scholarly databases. TexShare negotiates a rate that covers all of the residents of the state of Texas, and then allows public and academic libraries within the state to pay TexShare a flat rate to access those databases. The state of Texas subsidizes much of the cost of this service.

The UHD library currently provides campus access to 71 databases. Of those 71 databases, we receive 34 – almost half of them – through TexShare. Several of our most heavily used databases, such as Academic Search Premier and Business Source Premier, are among the 34 databases provided by TexShare. If you want to learn which databases the library receives through TexShare, go to the library’s “Find Articles” page and look for the database titles with a little state of Texas icon next to them – those are the TexShare-subsidized databases.

The library does not yet know what will happen with the state subsidy for TexShare. We also do not know how we would react – or be able to react – if the subsidy were ended. But because of the potential gravity of the situation, we just wanted to make y’all aware of it now.

ITV / Multimedia Services
Presented by Lloyd Matzner

MM Services is now accepting proposals for Summer and Fall classes. Information about class size software needs and general computer usage info should be forwarded to Lloyd.

There will be a PBS teleconference concerning copyright issues in education on Feb. 20th from 1:30 to 3:30 pm in the TTLC Training Room. The presentation will also be video taped for anyone who is unable to make the original time frame.

Academic Computing Lab & User Support Services
Presented by Said Fattouh and Lucy Bowen

Training sessions are under way in the ACL for Gatormail, Linux and Dreamweaver.

Software needed in the lab for Summer session should be sent to Lucy for consideration and evaluation as soon as possible.

There was some group discussion about the longevity of Gatormail accounts. Currently, former students must be paid alumni to have access to their Gatormail accounts.

Students must also manually check their Gatormail email before they are notified of new mail. A suggestion was made to allow students to be automatically notified of new mail as soon as they log on to a campus computer. This option is not currently integrated into the Gatormail project but may be given some consideration at a later date.

Said Fattouh facilitated some discussion regarding the current UHD budget situation and how this will effect both the Satellite Lab Upgrade Project and the Desktop Computing Project. The Satellite Lab Upgrade Project has been suspended for the moment and the Desktop Computing Project (the program upgrading most faculty and staff computers on campus) will be heavily affected. Exactly how and what will be effected has not been determined as of yet.

 

General TTLC / Instructional Technology
Presented by Mark Henderson

Rhonda Steedman has officially resigned from the TTLC in order to care for her 7 1/2 lbs newborn, Heather. She will, however, be teaching part-time for FACIS.

A new Intro to WebCT training class is available in the TTLC. This class is designed as a basic information course to be taken before Beginner WebCT. New WebCT training manuals are also available to faculty and staff from the TTLC for no charge.

WebCT 4.0 is to be released this month. The TTLC will be evaluating the new version and considering it for upgrade. WebCT Vista is not currently being considered as an upgrade option for UHD.