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Technology Advisory Council Meeting Minutes - June 4, 2004 beginning at 12:00 pm instead of 1:00 pm

Attendees: Kurt Collins, Joe Scarcella, Dick Botting, Owen Owens, Jim Monaghan, Mike Ross, Ian Jacobs, Javier Torner, Steve Cuddigan, Bob McGowan

Several handouts were passed out: An agenda, the May 21st Minutes, document prepared by Owen Owens & Javier Torner on a "News Server for CSUSB", Testimony of Dr. Carol A. Twigg (regarding Educational Technologies), a list of CSU Software

Dr. Torner announced that a Trojan horse has invaded several workstations on campus. He passed around a list of the infected machines. This list will be distributed to the Tech list. Ramifications and resolutions were discussed. Patch management was suggested as a primary topic for technicians next year.

Another suggestion was made that BATS assist Javier Torner write policies to create a more secure environment for the campus.

The discussion switched to setting a retreat date because some members needed to leave early.Thursday, September 2nd was chosen as the date for the retreat.

One agenda item for the retreat is to be active agents/patch management solutions for the campus. The renewed licensing cost is estimated to be about $50,000 per year

News Server for CSUSB - The resolution is documented in the last paragraph of the second page of the handout - "at this time of severe budget cuts and reductions in technical staff, such a project cannot be undertaken at this time."

The advantages and disadvantages of listservs and news servers were discussed. Controlling access to news groups was an important question and whether off campus people would be able to access a campus news group. Another issue is campus personnel having off campus access to campus news groups.

A motion was made that the idea of a news server is to be set-aside because of budget concerns and lack of personnel. This issue will be reviewed in a year's time. The motion was seconded and unanimously passed.

A request was made to send one person to Apple Server training because of the Apple Server that BATS purchased a year ago. The technical configurations are requiring someone attend Apple's Server training so that the Apple Server can get up and running. Currently it is running at 25%. A discussion focused on who to send. It is critical to find someone who would be responsive to the campus' need.

A motion was made to send someone to the Apple's server training at a cost of $4000.00. The motion was seconded. The motion was passed unanimously. Someone will be selected this summer.

The Carol Twigg report (Educational Technologies) was discussed next. Referring to the approved April 2, 2004 BATS minutes it was noted that "BAT Committee believes, after reviewing the Congressional report, that courses exist on campus where informed use of technology leads to improved outcomes and cost savings without increasing faculty workload by intelligent redesign of the courses. It would be advantageous to identify core courses for such redesign. The Committee unanimously agreed."

A motion was suggested to fund an exploratory project to develop "technology enhanced" courses that:

1. Adhere to the findings published in the Carol Twigg report
2. Document measurably improved student outcomes in the redeveloped courses
3. Has the potential to produce a cost saving to the University
4. The first courses redesigned will have the process extensively documented so that additional courses could be developed using the previous design methodology.
5. Funding should guarantee a dollar amount to be split between the participating teams approximately equivalent to two course releases.
6. Its requested that a progress report is due by January 15, 2005

A discussion ensued on this topic as to whether this is a pertinent BATS subject. Also touched on was BATS viability to the campus without funding and the advantages of BATS existence. An observation made was that the training aspect has been the weakest part of BATS' focus. It was suggested that BATS should formulate a focus and a series of goals at the retreat and perhaps a strategic plan.

Returning to the topic of Education Technologies, it was suggested that GE courses should be targeted as a prototype. BATS supports of the idea to set aside $15,000 to fund the redesign of 3 courses. Other sources of funding would be sought from Academic Affairs and other units. Kurt Collins and Jim Monaghan would put together a proposal on how to make this happen.

A motion was made that BATS develop, during the retreat, a clear vision, mission statement and goals before the next year begins. The motion was seconded and passed.

The meeting ended at 3:15 pm. The next time the Technology Advisory Council is scheduled to meet will be on Thursday, September 2, 2004 at the BATS Retreat. The location is to be determined.

Addendum: Per email communication it has been agreed that Matt Richardson from Arts and Letters is to be the technician to attend Apple's Server training that BATS is paying for.

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