Office of the Provost

Academic Technology Steering Committee
Minutes of the March 17, 2004 Meeting

Members present: John Baky, Sabrina DeTurk, Joan Frizzell, Steve Longo, Dave Munchak, Ed Nickerson, Jo Anne Snarponis, Jack Sweeder

Guest: Judy Stull

The committee invited Judy Stull, of the Sociology and Organization Dynamics programs, to participate in a discussion of WebCT and future directions for distributed education at La Salle. The Organizational Dynamics program makes extensive use of online technologies, particularly in their "bridge" courses.

After an update from Jo Anne Snarponis on the current usage patterns for WebCT, the discussion turned to immediate and long-range directions for the use of WebCT and related distributed ed technologies on campus. Issues addressed included:

faculty development initiatives - Jo Anne will focus on this (esp. for WebCT 4.1) over the summer months
the imperative need for real-time integration of WebCT with Banner
questions of how to determine quality standards for WebCT courses and about what assessment strategies should be put in place - it is hoped the the Middle States self-study will assist in bringing some of these issues to the foreground
there was a significant discussion of the supports (especially in terms of documentation and training) needed to bring faculty (especially adjuncts) on board with WebCT - again, Jo Anne will pay particular attention to this area in developing materials for v 4.1
the need to address issues of pedagogy (how to teach effectively online) in faculty development sessions was discussed

Ed Nickerson provided an update on some technology issues:

good deals are available on Microsoft software and are being advertised to faculty and students
IT is considering an upgrade to Office 2003 and Windows XP over this summer
IT is evaluating several anti-spam products and considering a campus license

Guests to invite to the last two ATSC meetings will be Bill Weaver & Keith Reichardt for wireless/mobile computing and Dave Jones, Sue Borkowski, Nancy Jones & Joe Cicala for e-portfolios.