Technology Advisory Board (TAB)
Minutes of Meeting, September 19, 2007
Location: Andy Holt Tower, 4th Floor Conference Room, 2:30PM
Attendance: Kyle Blackburn, Jean Derco, Barbara Dewey, Robert Holub, Jackie Hurst, Judy Huddleston, Laura Knotts, Joanne Logan, Jamie Lonie, Mike McNeil, Robin McNeil, Robert Osborne, Stan Pinkleton, David Ratledge, Harriette Spiegel
The meeting was called to order and Robin McNeil welcomed everyone to the meeting.
New Members
This was the first meeting of the TAB for this academic year so Ms. McNeil asked everyone to introduce themselves. She then introduced the new student co-chair for this year, Harriette Spiegel.
Schedule & Agenda for TAB
Ms. McNeil presented the agenda and schedule for the board meetings for this year, which can be found on the Technology Fee webpage, web.utk.edu/~techfee. She asked everyone to review the webpages to familiarize themselves with the fee and the board.
Technology Fee Impact
She asked each of the OIT Directors as well as Barbara Dewey, Dean of the University Libraries, to speak about their participation on TAB and the impact of the Technology Fee in each of their areas.
Judy Huddleston gave a brief summary of the Technology Fee budget, approximately $5.2 million per year, and the four categories of expenditures: networking, labs, services and instructional technology. Ms. McNeil elaborated on the labs portion of funds which are used to fund the departmental proposals, to purchase and/or subsidize software for student usage and to subsidize VolPrint. She also emphasized that one of the most important tasks of the board was to review departmental proposals for awards from the labs portion of the Technology Fee. All of the budgets & expenditures can be found on the webpage.
Stan Pinkleton spoke of the areas within Customer Technology Services that were funded from or impacted by the Technology Fee such as the Help Desk, labs, statistical consulting and the training provided to students.
Jean Derco spoke about the START, Student Technology Assistants for Research and Teaching, Program. The START students provide assistance to faculty with creating computer-based instructional materials and Web sites to disseminate research outcomes. They also provide training to students for use of the presentation equipment in the Commons.
Mike McNeil said that email for the students will continue to be funded by the Technology Fee and he was interested in receiving input from the students on other services they would be interested in such as storage and backup of student files.
Barbara Dewey spoke of the positive impact of the Technology Fee in providing technology resources in the libraries, especially in the Commons.
Student Concerns
Laura Knotts and Jamie Lonie were interested in providing more information to students about technology resources available to them that many are unaware of, such as the location of computer labs on campus. Suggestions were made to target incoming freshmen by posting information in the Daily Life section of the UTK homepage, advertising in the Beacon, incorporating it into the Orientation tours as well as the Passport for Success program, email to @Tennessee for students, distribution of bookmarks or flyers in the dorm areas, and announcements on Blackboard.
Ms. Knotts expressed concern about the physical suitability of the Presidential Court computer lab since water and sewage periodically leak through the ceiling into the lab. Ms. McNeil indicated that this had been a recurring problem and that OIT was working with Jeff Maples to find a permanent solution. Ms. Knotts also expressed concern about the DART machines and copiers available in the Hodges Library. She indicated that the DART machine and copiers that are located in the Commons are frequently out of order. She suggested that additional copiers as well as another DART machine should be installed. Ms. Dewey responded that the DART machines were very expensive, approximately $12,000 each, and that consideration has been given to adding another machine. Additionally, she will follow up on the copiers.
Ms. Knotts was interested in expanding lab hours in the Communication’s computer labs in order to gain access to specific software packages, Quark and Avid, used in her curriculum. She also expressed a need for additional hours in The Studio in Hodges Library. Ms. McNeil will pursue conversations with the appropriate groups to increase the availability of the software packages.
Kyle Blackburn asked about the current music download service, Ruckus, available to students. He expressed concern that Apple users were not being served. He also thought that there should be more information given to students about illegal downloading as many are still not aware of the ramifications of illegal downloading and file sharing. An awareness campaign was suggested.
Ms. McNeil thanked the students for their input and with no further business, the meeting was adjourned. The next meeting of the Technology Advisory Board is scheduled for Wednesday, October 17, 2007, at 2:30 PM, in the AHT 4th floor Conference Room. The agenda will include a brief presentation of the results of the ECAR Student Usage Survey.
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