Minutes: Academic Computing Advisory Council Meeting of October 14, 1997 Attending: David Phillips (Chair), Mitch Rosen, Jim Campbell, Michael Levenson, Cathrine Kane, Robert Rood, Bill Pearson, Alice Howard Introductions and Summaries of School/Department Computing Concerns and Issues: ============================================================================== David asked each member to describe the current computing-related interests and problems within their own school (or department) and also to relate how long they had served on the ACAC. Time of membership ranged from "this is my first meeting" to "a very long time". A wide range of computing-related issues and concerns was covered during the introductions: support for research (and research labs) and instructional technology (including multimedia classrooms, and instructors who are trying to incorporate aspects of technology in their teaching); plus concerns about computing and communications infrastructure (network backbone, computing labs, high-performance computing), about the staff needed to support all of the above, and about what should be provided by a central computing center and what is more appropriately provided on a school/department level. Concerns were also expressed that faculty need help in learning how to use the new electronic classrooms, and that it is not clear that instructional technology is effective for some types of courses and some kinds of students. The high costs of maintaining and replacing electronic classrooms was discussed. History of ACAC: =============== The current Academic Computing Advisory Council has its roots in the advisory committee for the old Academic Computing Center (before it was merged with the Administrative Computing Center and became ITC) -- it focused on computing-related research and instruction issues and administered the Academic Computing Support Program (previously funded by the Provost). Since the Academic Computing Support Program disappeared, the ACAC has been looking for other topics and concerns on which to focus its attention What About This Year's Agenda? ============================== In surveying the current computing-using climates within Schools some positive developments were noted: for at least one school, the state of computing (and computing-related support) has improved recently; several cited examples of cross-disciplinary dialogue about teaching and technology in the classroom -- while also noting that a gap exists between faculty who are technology advocates and other faculty. On the "problematic" side, concerns were expressed about the explosive growth in users and their demands -- about rising expectations, costs, fixed budgets, and the allocation of resources -- about the replacement cycle (not currently part of the regular budget process) -- and about the need to train faculty and help them convert material for use in an electronic classroom. The discussion coalesced around the topic of funding for adequate computing (desktops and servers) and computing support across both research and instruction -- as well as funding for a reasonable (4-5 year?) replacement cycle for existing equipment. Questions were raised about how ITC allocates its resources and about how faculty might be able to influence ITC's priorities, also about expectations concerning who is responsible for providing computing resources. There was also some discussion about how an advisory committee (such as the ACAC) might be most effective: by promoting dialogue and cooperation? by keeping a ferment going to sustain some agitation? by finding some institutional structure that can be moved? by communicating with Deans and colleagues? It was decided to ask Virginia Bergland (Chief Operating Officer of ITC) to attend the next meeting to discuss the issue of budgeting and funding of Information Technology and to also ask Terry Lockard to provide an update on the Departmental Computing Support Program. The next meeting is on Tuesday, November 4, 2:00-3:15pm, in the Board Room of Newcomb Hall.