Committee on Educational Technology
10:30-12:00 noon, Thursday, May 6, 2010
Present: Jamie Hubbard, Eric Loehr, Thomas Laughner, Fernando Armstrong-Fumero, John Davis, Jefferson Hunter, Gary Felder, Herb Nickles, and Roisin O’Sullivan
Absent: Sara Pruss and Melissa Choyce
Guests: Helene Visentin and Michael Barresi
Approval of April 1, 2010 Minutes
The minutes of the April 1, 2010 were approved as submitted.
Discussion of report by the Ad Hoc Committee on Educational Technology
The committee was given a copy of the draft produced by the Ad Hoc Committee and they had been asked to read the report in advance of the meeting and make comments about it. The committee members were Tom Laughner, Michael Barresi, Gary Felder, Joseph O’Rourke, Roisin O’Sullivan, and Helene Visentin. Michael and Helene were guests at this meeting in order to provide input regarding the report.
Tom said that the charge of the committee was to look at the long term Educational Technology strategy; to explore Five College collaborations and faculty development using technology. He briefly reviewed the vision statement which focuses on the role of technology in a liberal arts education. Gary and Roisin, members of the Ad Hoc Committee, noted that technology enhances the ability to teach students and they recommend that Smith commit funds for improvements to infrastructure as well as funds for on-going equipment renewal and replacement.
Jefferson asked what was to happen next with this document and he was told that once it had been scrutinized by CET, the trustees and advancement would be given copies. Herb noted that the trustees are very interested in seeing significant advances in I.T. and infrastructure upgrades.
Jefferson also thought there should be a critical evaluation of how the various technologies really work in a liberal arts environment. A lot of money is being committed to hardware and software purchases and more emphasis should be on faculty development and support. He suggested re-ordering the recommendations and requesting more funding for instructional designers. Herb agreed and suggested that a summary page could be included that prioritized the recommendations and even displayed them on a timeline.
The section on virtual reality needs editing and the section on digital humanities should include a request for an instructional designer.
The committee thanked the members of the Ad Hoc Committee for their work in developing this draft document.
Grant Requests
Jim Johnson’s request for $2500 toward a Polar Field Monitor was approved. The balance of funding needed, about $1500, has been committed by the department of ESS.
Glen Ellis’ request for $1000 to purchase 3 additional databases for Knowledge Forum was approved. This will enable the FLC to convene a Knowledge Forum “users group” to explore the use of Knowledge Forum in promoting ongoing discourse among students in the process of their active construction of new knowledge of our courses.
Other Matters
Roisin said that this was her last meeting as a member of CET but that she would like to propose that the next time that FCAP standards are reviewed that the committee should ask for a configuration that included a laptop with a small screen for portability but with an additional large screen and keyboard for use when the equipment is in the faculty office. She said that this would represent a piece of equipment that more closely met her needs and many other faculty on campus. The committee agreed that this was an interesting idea and promised to follow up on it next academic year.
The next meeting will be in the fall at a time yet to be determined.
Respectfully submitted,
Connie McGinn, recorder