ICT at S@Y

Requirements for Labs and Classrooms

Background

I was in Mary Lynn's office voicing concerns about what is happening in our labs and with our content delivery, and how I am hearing of impending changes which I find worrisome. For example, we will no longer use removable hard drives, possibly to be replaced by virtualization over "the cloud".

Of further concern is the fact that I am not sure where to voice my concerns in a forum where they will be heard and appropriately acted upon. Mary Lynn informed me that IT Services (ITS) is holding off on making changes to our labs until September. I fear that changes will be implemented during the summer which will render me incapable of delivering my course content in an effective way. It was suggested that the ball is in faculty's court and someone needs to play it. So, I'm taking a swipe.

Thanks, I look forward, for the most part, to hearing from you, Mike Martin

Proposal

I would like to propose that we form some kind of committee, or at least online discussion / fact finding analysis that is going to act as a conduit for communicating our needs to ITS. Those of us who teach computer studies courses are well aware that our needs are not the same as those in many other programs, and that solutions which work for other programs often do not work for us. From what I have seen and heard, ITS has some big changes coming down the pipe, and are waiting to implement them here until they have heard our needs. I believe our needs are diverse, unique and often esoteric.

I think that if we are to avoid disaster in the fall (or at least "identify and accommodate special situations"), we need to carefully collect ourselves and take a close look at what we each need. We must articulate these needs clearly, completely, and constructively (I adore an apt alliteration), in a formal manner, rather than in an ad hoc manner, as we have been doing until now.

Collaboration / Inclusion

In order to help get a sense of instructors that will be affected (positively or negatively) from classroom/lab "virtualization", several approaches may be useful:

• Meetings (although best for a single comprehensive meeting before the summer break - if possible)
• Surveys (online and convenient - possibly using "Survey Monkey", but process requires appropriate planning)
• Online WIKI (post information, possible forum for discussion)
• E-mails

Needless to say this discussion will only be useful as a result of active instructor engagement / discussion...

The timing is interesting, since surveys will be conducted as a result of CNS / CTY review, although information collected will apply to other programs as well...

Action Plan

Things that need to be done: (no "softer" way to say this!)

1. Check if Survey Monkey can be used to collect departmental data (Status: Unassigned)
2. Create Survey Monkey Account (Status: Unassigned)
3. Learn how to create a simple survey and test-out a a few people (Status: Unassigned)
4. Develop Lab Virtualization Survey Questions / peer review (Status: Unassigned)
5. Send final version of Survey to faculty (Status: Unassigned)

Resources

• How to contribute to a WIKI
• Survey Monkey Website: http://www.surveymonkey.com