University Committee on Information Technology
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REPORT ON MEETING
January 20, 1999Noon - 1:30 p.m., Newcomb Hall 389
Report written by Melinda Church
Attendees: John Alexander, Melinda Church, Brian Davis, Louise Dudley, Jonathan Einbinder, Jim French, Leah Goswall, Karen Grandage, Charlie Grisham, Jeannie Inge, Katherine Kane, Laurie Kelsh, Polley McClure, Sam Miller, Debbie Mills, Bill Randolph, Bob Ribando, Karen Ryan, Tim Sigmon, Randy Smith, Tom Spraggins, Rip Verkerke, Diane Walker
I. Introductory Remarks and Introductions -- Charlie Grisham
Mr. Grisham distributed his summary of work underway to develop a pilot undergraduate course for computer literacy. The work is being done by a small committee of faculty, and it was charged by Vice Provost Barbara Nolan. Mr. Grisham said that the course will emphasize both skills and concepts, including such matters as ethics and responsible computing principles. The pilot likely will begin as a one-semester course that will be offered to a small number of students in the fall of 1999. Plans are for the course to develop into a two-semester program for a substantial number of undergraduates.
Mr. Grisham's summary also included information about a meeting held earlier in the month with Vice President for Development Bob Sweeney. The group -- which also included Vice President Polley McClure, Melinda Church, and Laurie Kelsh - discussed how fund-raising initiatives are conceived and implemented. Mr. Sweeney said that one of the most important things in beginning new development efforts is to gain University-wide consensus about the needs for which funds are being raised. He said that UCIT's comprehensive plan could serve s the backbone for fund-raising work if it articulated well with clearly identified and agreed-upon needs.
II. Diane Walker, Alderman Library
Ms. Walker passed out copies of the library's user education brochure and explained that the education division reports to her. She said that helping users to locate, evaluate, and use information always has been a fundamental part of the library's mission, but that their specific educational programs have changed as the ways information is presented and accessed have changed. Ms. Walker explained that the library provides one-on-one instruction, group instruction to clusters of students (particularly as needs arise in certain courses), and IT-oriented courses aimed at helping users learn how to locate, evaluate, and use electronic information. An increasing amount of the library's instructional sessions involve course-related matters. The library staff develops courses in response to users' needs, and it works with ITC to coordinate the kinds of IT instruction provided so that minimal overlap exists. She said that an additional mechanism to improve this coordination might be a single web calendar that lists all of the IT-related courses offered by the various entities across the Grounds. Presently, the webpage are linked., not integrated.
Ms. Walker described the library's primary IT needs as being basic infrastructure. She cited bandwidth and storage as essential to providing users with better access to data. She said that it is her hope that the various IT-related courses would figure into UCIT's plan for the future.
During a brief open discussion among UCIT members, Jim French said that he is concerned that information cannot always be obtained remotely because information providers rely too heavily on detailed graphics that consume a great deal of bandwidth. Laurie Kelsh said that she favors applications courses geared toward specific work tasks, and Ms. Walker responded that those kinds of courses are growing in popularity among users.
III. Karen Grandage, Health Sciences Center Library
Ms. Grandage explained that the Health Sciences Library offers courses for the convenience of Health Sciences faculty, staff, and students, who often have unique needs and unpredictable schedules. She said that her library offers IT courses on such topics as database searching and web browsing. She said that most of the Health Sciences Library's courses are tailored to specific contexts.
The group discussed the need for flexibility and dedicated teaching space for all kinds of IT courses. Alderman Library has its own classroom, and the Health Sciences Center has two laboratories that it uses as classrooms.
Ms. Grandage explained her electronic self-assessment and tutorial program, which she developed out of concern over the IT competency of residents leaving the University. She handed out information about the program as well as a sample of her related "learning contract." Ms. Grandage said that the program is self-directed and aimed at adult learners. The self-assessment was required for graduate students entering the health evaluation sciences program in the fall of 1998. Mr. Grisham commented that he would like to see how self-teaching tools such as this can be made more interactive.
IV. Bill Randolph, Integrated Systems Project
Mr. Randolph passed out copies of a summary, produced by Jeannie Inge, of the Integrated Systems Project (ISP) milestones through the end of 1998. He explained that his comments would be focused on events that have occurred in the past few weeks.
The University has signed a planning contract with the consulting firm KPMG, which will act as an implementation partner to help the University get the ISP software purchased and installed. Among KPMG's duties is a total cost of ownership comparison between the software firms SAP and Oracle. KPMG also will assist us with the final negotiations and the drafting of a blueprint for the entire project (including budget, schedule, staff, and the like).
Mr. Randolph said that the ISP will be, in large measure, a challenge of changing work behaviors. He cited the example of the University's e-forms project, which has produced solid electronic products that are acknowledged as being simple and effective, but which are not used as widely as possible. He said that eventually, as the ISP develops analogous kinds of products and processes, the University will have to shut down paper processes that overlap the electronic ones.
Mr. Randolph said that his immediate challenge in getting the ISP up and running is finding the best people he can to help. He said that project teams will need all kinds of employees, from all kinds of offices. He said that the importance of the project extends beyond the University itself -- that through the ISP, the University will be designing products that will be used by other research universities across the country.
V. Charlie Grisham, Closing Comments
Mr. Grisham said that he hopes to have a rough draft of the comprehensive plan by the next meeting date, which is February 17.