Minutes: Academic Computing Advisory Council
Meeting of October 19, 1995
Present: David Phillips (Chair), Peter Baker, Jim Campbell, Michael
Kubovy, Worthy Martin, Jerry McGann, Bob Ribando, Tim Sigmon,
Martha Sites, George Williams, John Lloyd, Rick Fore, Kirk
Martini, Alice Howard
During the committee's review of the "Draft 96-98 Biennial Budget
Initiatives from ITC" and the "Draft Progress Report of ITC",
discussion revolved around several topics:
* Adequate and effective faculty input into ITC's current and future
direction (particularly with respect to pedagogical matters). The
new overall ITC advisory committee structure was examined with
attention to the expert groups (e.g. Information Technology in
Instruction) as well as the representative councils. The new
"technology classrooms" in Wilson Hall were cited as an example where
faculty perceive their input to have been inadequate.
* The new process for soliciting and prioritizing Classroom
Improvement Projects. There was discussion of the underlying
philosophies for the new and former processes, as well as the timing
of the requests/proposals for this year. Concern was expressed that
attention should be paid to the links between Classroom Improvement
Projects and TTI projects.
* The Teaching and Technology Initiative (TTI). The council reviewed
the selection process used for this year's Fellows and the kinds of
support currently provided to them. Two proposals arose from this
discussion: 1) that the ACAC perform the peer review and selection for
the TTI fellows; 2) that the ACAC devote part of a future meeting to a
more in-depth review of how the TTI Fellows program is going this year.
Council's review of the Draft Budget Initiatives, revealed concern and
prompted discussion about expansion of the TTI Fellows program -- if
the model for the current program is that of the IATH and/or Lilly
Fellows, this model does not readily scale up to a large number (e.g.
50) of Fellows. There was discussion about the nature of the Budget
Initiative process -- that initiatives were expressed in general terms
and that an expansion could happen in a number of different ways
(including a "tiered" approach). Again, the council expressed their
desire to have faculty input (and control) into these processes and
projects.
* Dialin Access. Council learned that more modems are on order and
that a new pool of modems with a 1-hour-usage-limit is about to be
implemented by ITC -- both are intended to help alleviate the current
overload on dialin access. The UCIT has suggested that the 1 hour
limit be reviewed at the end of this semester. It was suggested that
UVA/ITC try to accelerate the process of finding alternate ways to
provide remote access (e.g. Adelphia Cable).
* Capacity of the Unix systems. Tim Sigmon reviewed the plans to add
nodes to the SP (in the Jan-Feb '96 timeframe) which would add
considerable compute/cpu power and have the effect of off-loading the
existing RS6000s (like darwin, etc) -- so that response time on all
systems should be improved. The details of this plan are still being
worked out with IBM.
* Process for handling the Academic Computing Support Proposals. The
council agreed to use the same model that Michael Kubovy had proposed
and implemented last year for the first-pass assessment; 2
primary/in-depth readers will be assigned to each proposal -- these
readers will help guide the discussion of proposals that fall "in the
margins" after the initial assessment.
* Future meetings.
Kirk Martini will attend the next UCIT meeting on 11/1 as a "sub"
for David Philips.
Nov. 9, 1995 -- Polley McClure will be invited to attend and
discuss the evolution of the TTI and the role of faculty in
providing input into this program (and others?). This meeting
is likely to be held in the Academic Computing Health Sciences
conference room.
Nov. 30, 1995 -- meeting to discuss/evaluate the ACSP -- probably
in the ITC-Forestry conference room.
Dec. 7, 1995 -- only if necessary to have a last meeting for this
semester -- in the ITC-Forestry conference room.
Council decided to write a memo to Peter Low and Polley McClure which
outlines the ACAC concerns about adequate and effective faculty input
into ITC's projects/proposals which have a direct/important impact on
pedagogical matters. David Phillips will draft the memo.
There is some additional ITC "strategic planning" material online
which can be viewed using Netscape/Mosaic. The address (aka URL) for
this material is: http://minerva.acc.virginia.edu/~rfg5h/main.html.
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