Minutes of the Academic Information Technology of the Academic Senate

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO
Fresno, California 93740-8023
Office of the Academic Senate
Telephone: 278-2743 FAX: 278-5745

Members Present: R. Amarasinghe (CSM), B. Auernheimer, M. Bach, A. Nambiar (JCAST), O. Leon (CIO), D. Drexler(Library), D. Nef, A. Iriberri (CSB), T. Siechert, (DISCOVERe)

Members Excused: M. Pronovost

Guest: B. Berrett (CFE), M. Tsai (Technology Services)

Meeting called to order at 1.00pm by A. Nambiar

  1. Agenda: MSC to approve the Agenda of October 09, 2017

  2. Minutes: MSC to approve Minutes of May 01 and September 11.

  3. Communication and Announcements

    1. B Auernheimer mentioned that here is an immersive learning day on Oct 26 at SDSU. M. Tsai and a faculty from CAH are planning to attend.

  4. LMS FLC - B Hyatt

    1. B Hyatt shared the charge for the FLC around LMS. There is one representative from each college on the FLC. The representatives are listed on CFE website. There is a wide variety of skills on the FLC - new users, power users, fully online, and fully face-to-face faculty.

    2. In the Spring, each faculty is planning to use atleast one LMS as a pilot for a course.

    3. B Auernheimer mentioned that it is important to know that the FLC is in active contact with the 3 vendors. He also shared that there is an option to post comments or questions pertaining to the LMS on the CFE website.

    4. B Hyatt mentioned that there is good representation in terms of way faculty teach in addition to different disciplines.

    5. O Leon inquired about the criteria. B Hyatt mentioned that this is on the agenda for an upcoming meeting. There will probably be a better idea after that meeting.

    6. O Leon mentioned that CSU came up with a comparison matrix after the RFP and inquired if FLC has access to it. B Auernheimer mentioned that the comparison matrix is not a public document.

    7. B Berrett mentioned that there are other data points in this study. N Nisbett has completed a focus group with students. A survey went out to all faculty. A slightly modified version of the survey will go out to a subset of students. B Auernheimer is working with TS to set up meeting times for dialogs.

  5. Technology Services – O Leon

    1. O Leon mentioned that the biggest initiatives are centered on student success. The idea is to come up with solutions to help faculty and students to help students graduate in time.

    2. O Leon mentioned that there is a lot of effort on compliance related to financial aid and other things.

    3. CalState and Amazon has partnered to provide $2 million credit for CSU campuses. Any campus will be able to apply for up to $50,000 per year in AWS credit. Proposals will be invited to see how it will advance the mission of the University.

    4. CalState created a Chief Innovation Officer. Currently the CIO is doubling up as Chief Innovation Officer.

    5. O Leon mentioned that M. Tsai and he have been working to develop innovative projects.

    6. M Tsai mentioned that it has been one year since this initiative started. He mentioned that there are several projects such as IoT, entrepreneurship with Lyles, AI to develop ChatBots. O Leon mentioned that there has been interest from LCOE and CSB in this area.

    7. O Leon mentioned that there will be a hackathon in Spring. Last year, there were more than 200 who applied but around 60 showed up.

    8. R Amarasinghe mentioned about adaptive testing. Dept of Mathematics would be interested in adaptive testing.

    9. O Leon mentioned that there is a company called Pluralsoft which allows adaptive testing for 60 different categories.

  6. Center for Faculty Excellence – B Berrett

    1. B Berrett mentioned that the DISCOVERe proposals are being reviewed now.

    2. B Berrett mentioned that there are numerous FLCs in which faculty can participate. The details are available on CFE website.

    3. R Amarasinghe mentioned about availability of rooms. B Berrett mentioned that one could reach out to D. Ashton for classrooms.

  7. Computer Configuration

    1. B Auernheimer shared the minimum recommendations for computers. AIT could take a look at this and make recommendation

    2. B Berrett mentioned that PeopleSoft would be a place to inform students about this.

    3. B Auernheimer mentioned that the syllabus template refers to a minimum specifications but there was no place to look for it.

    4. O Leon inquired about specifications which may be hard to visualize for students.

    5. B Auernheimer mentioned that some of the minimum specs might not be enough.

    6. T Siechert inquired who would be responsible for maintaining this.

    7. B Auernheimer mentioned that this committee used to review them and give a thumbs up or down.

    8. O Leon suggested that this could be an annual thing where we pull out last year’s spec and update if necessary.

    9. B Auernheimer mentioned that TS might be a good place to point students to.

    10. O Leon inquired if there is an issue with some of our students

    11. T Siechert mentioned that CalPoly has different options for each college.

    12. O Leon mentioned that M Pronovost and Chip could be good resources.

    13. D Nef suggests that it might be better to have it recommended specifications instead of minimum specifications.

  8. Old Business - none

  9. New Business - NONE

Adjourned at 2.00pm

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