Minutes: Educational Technology Committee, March 27, 1997

Date and location: March 27, 1997, from 3:30 to 5:00 pm, Maggini Conference Room

Present: Rich Abrahams, Will Baty, Russ Bowden, Jim Burke, Elizabeth Carlson, Mary Frost, Xuan Ho, Kathy McGreevy, Randy McNally, Karen Petersen

1) Fall 1997 PDA workshops. Elizabeth got the meeting rolling by asking for volunteers to offer PDA workshops next fall. Several members of the group felt they were experiencing deja vu as she spoke. The following ideas for PDA workshops surfaced during the ensuing discussion:

Jim Burke: CATE workshop or open house

Mary Frost: PowerPoint workshop at the Petaluma Center

Kathy McGreevy: Hands-on Internet workshop

Rich Abrahams: Agreed to coordinate another edition of "7 Minutes of Fame"

Karen Petersen: Women Artists Archive slide database as topic for "7 Minutes of Fame"

Mahoney Library CD Rom system as topic for "On The Bus"

Additional suggestions included asking Ed LaFrance to demonstrate the new digital editing system in Communication Studies, Doni Bird to offer a workshop on grading applications, and Tim Allwine to offer a workshop on using online forms. Other workshops might explore Petaluma’s Project Five, or the satellite tracking system.

2) Management Team Training. Marie Thompson is part of a Management Team sub-committee that sets up periodic training; the next one is set for April 24 at 2 pm. Russ asked the group for trainers who could offer 40-minute workshops about various aspects of technology. Russ will do a session on Word tips for managers; Kathy will do a session on Internet research techniques; Will will do a session on wizards. Discussion ensued about who might do a session on PowerPoint. Russ pushed once more for volunteers but the group remained eerily quiet.

3) Programmatic Web Page Links. Xuan Ho discussed problems using CWIS to set up campus web pages. Randy suggested that Xuan talk with Tim Allwine about accessing external links now available. The Internet Advisory Group is working on letting the campus community know about this. Everyone liked the idea of a PDA workshop about putting up pages on the Web. Russ volunteered Rich for this, who volunteered the Hemenways, who couldn’t say no because they were not present. Xuan agreed to offer some sort of PDA workshop about CWIS web pages. Elizabeth said she would ask Mike Donovan and Tim to assist with the workshop. Meanwhile, those pursuing CWIS web page development should be aware that layout must be approved by Kerry Campbell-Price, and that Tim is currently working on a system to evaluate page content. Kathy and Rich agreed to report back to the Internet Advisory Committee and check on the official process by which individuals may pursue campus-related web pages.

4) Technology Training Survey Results. Jim and Russ discussed the survey sent out this winter, and asked for feedback. 1640 surveys were distributed, 365 were returned (22% response rate.) Of the respondents, 27% were full-time, 28% were part-time, 33% were classified, and 12% were management. Anyone not at the meeting wishing to see the complete results can contact Jim or Russ for copies.

Jim and Russ have put together materials designed to make recommendations based on the survey results. They asked the group to comment, with the goal of improving the overall presentation. Russ and Jim will be addressing the President’s Office, Administrative Services, and Business Services; Elizabeth and Will will be addressing Academic Affairs; Rich and Bob Schooling will be addressing Student Services. A summary of the commentary follows.

Kathy: explain the numbers more clearly on slide 2. People generally agreed that some of the numbers are hard to understand on the slides.

General discussion: 91% of respondents are computer users, which should be considered as results are analyzed. Rich said that most faculty and staff have access to computers. Jim noted that when reports are made to Department Chairs, feedback about how departments reflect numerical totals should be sought.

Split campus: half of us use PCs, half of us use Macs; conclusion is that it’s not a good idea to move toward a unified platform at SRJC.

Training: Access to training seems adequate; many respondents said they just didn’t have the time. People like small groups, one-on-one interactive modes of training best. Self-paced tutorials are also okay. Large groups and videos are least desirable. Karen suggested pairing instructors with students in a workshop setting, noting that the Sonoma County Office of Education uses this method successfully. Survey results also revealed that people prefer weekday trainings, 1 day per week, 2 hours max, and during the day. Best location: Santa Rosa campus.

At this point the group spent some time discussing how to present the vast amount of information collected in the survey. Percentages rather than totals might make the graphs clearer. It was suggested that the slides included too much information, and that audiences might be overwhelmed or confused by the organization and sheer quantity of statistics included in each slide. We did not finish looking at the slides.

By 5:00 people began inching toward the door, and the meeting was officially adjourned. Anyone wishing to amend or add to these minutes is encouraged to do so; the recorder apologizes for missing a single nuance.

Respectfully submitted, Mary Frost, Communication Studies Department