MEETING MINUTES

Committee on Educational Technology

1:00-2:00 PM, Tuesday, May 1, 2012

MEETING MINUTES

Present: Nick Howe, Eric Loehr, Thomas Laughner, Jefferson Hunter, Eric Brewer, Sara Pruss, Fraser Stables, John Davis and Susannah Howe.

T. Laughner provided an update on the interviews. CET will work closely with the 2 new positions per Smith College Provost, M. Schuster. J. Davis recommended that CET members do outreach work to Smith Faculty in order to share CET’s visions.

Discussion on increased annual licensing price for renewal followed. This licensing fee is currently paid by CET. E. Brewer provided an update on Virtual Desktop Infrastructure which hosts this program. Conversation about the annual licensing fee led to a vote. There was a motion to approve the increased licensing price for Mathematica renewal and passed in favor of the increase & payment, unanimously. J. Hunter expressed his trust in Math Dept. colleagues to make judicious choices regarding this matter.

J. Davis requested an update to the SPSS budget and provided an explanation to members about it first. The SPSS funding is in T. Laughner’s budget. T. Laughner shared that IBM has purchased SPSS. Discussion ensued, weighing costs and resources around continuing with SPSS and related Psychology Dept.’s stake in the matter. There were inquiries about 5 College collaborations around license renewals. There was more discussion about budget transfers, licensing, IBM’s role in academia and the transition from SPSS to R. Members weighed the risks to turn over large sums of money to individual departments and recognized that this action thereby sets a dangerous precedent. Other possible solutions to handle the Psychology Dept’s specific needs around funding for licensure were brainstormed. A member proposed that one possible solution to resolve the budget transfer dilemma to fund license renewal fees could be for individual departments to search for funds on their own.

After the discussion, CET’s conclusion was to go ahead with a one-time, 1 -year purchase of this particular version of SPSS however, there were two contingency plans agreed upon should the actual plan fail.

CET members met Aisha Gabriel, Faculty Development Coordinator at ITS. She explained her role on the Instructional Design Team with ETS and the 90 minute Faculty Workshops. She also explained the role of ETS as well as her role to CET. She invited feedback such as the best time to offer Faculty Seminars which are offered as education resource tools to Smith Faculty. She also sought dates and topics Faculty are interested in learning. She provided an overview of past seminars. She explained the means of spreading the word for these workshops to faculty and circulated relevant paraphernalia as part of presentation. Poor attendance was due to Faculty feeling too overwhelmed to attend. J. Hunter suggested she delegate the responsibility to outreach and advertizing to early, enthusiastic responders. Some members like the time of day when the seminars are provided, others didn’t. It was suggested that some old seminars be offered again. Members also suggested that 5 College Faculty be invited to participate in seminars offered by Smith College. Aisha explained that 5 College Faculty are always invited to attend.

T. Laughner provided an explanation and an update on the Horizon Report. It is the focal piece of an annual IT conference he attends. He invited feedback about the relevance of this report to Liberal Arts schools from CET members. Members responded that they noted many opportunities and challenges in the report which can apply to Smith College, for example Distance Learning and Hybrid Learning. Game based learning is already happening on campus thanks to an Economics Professor. The ideas of Media Literacy Programs and implications were also introduced. Discussion and feedback ensued.