Bush IT Consulting Group Meeting

June 15, 2005
10:00 - 11:30 AM
Location: Faculty Center

MINUTES

Project Updates (Scott Esler)

English Seminars

• The work is done for the English Faculty, it is up and running. Scott reported they had little contact with the English faculty (worked for them, not with them).

Technology Integration to Support Constructivist and Collaborative Learning
(Pam Solvie's project)

• A lot of work has been done. A collection of video learning tools will be burned to CD's. 2.8 GB videos (2 CD's with Menu).

Dynamic Web Page Teaching Tools

• Aaron Vasecka has been working with Captivate/learning tools.

Foreign Language

• Esler reported that they have been in contact with Tammy Berberi, and she will get back to them.

Other

• Matt Harren is rebuilding the Faculty Center WebPages with the new templates
• Unofficially, Scott said they have been doing Economic research.

Scott noted that they have not been contacted from the following on their projects - Physics, Economics, and Mathematics.

Project Plans

• Pam Gades noted that the project plans are due today. One project plan has been submitted, she assumes the rest will be received by the end of the day.

Breeze Live

• Gades reported that Breeze Live has been set up and tested in the Consulting office. The group was invited to a demo at 4 pm June 16 th in the Consulting office.

Roundtable/panel discussion
Karen discussed the roundtable/panel discussion with the group. Karen said that Engin suggested doing it with Breeze Live and it could be archived. Discussion included:

• How to structure the event. (The goal for the year is communication and interaction).
• Who would be involved? ( Pam S. Tom, Molly, others who are interested)
• Helen Mongan-Rallis (teaching Educational Technology Graduate Certificate courses) - would be available to present to the group ).
• Tentative Date set is July 7
• Pam G. /Karen will compose an e-mail to query faculty about structuring the panel discussion and date.
• Meet Thursday, June 16 at 4 PM in Science 3625 to see a Breeze Live demo.
• Meet Wednesday, June 22 in the Faculty Center to plan the July 7 event (Discussion to include: event structure, participants, and format (face-to-face/distance conferencing)

Other concerns

• Discussion of Consulting members duties; one member commented that no one from projects have come to him for consulting. Greg Thorson noted that we are probably more than just consultants.
• Meeting schedule – not biweekly but rather meetings will be scheduled as needed and decided on as we meet. Agenda in advance of meeting.
• Minutes – sent via email to ITConsult list. (Note: Pam G. determined that they be sent to the ITConsult list instead of posting on the TEL web site due to the nature of the discussion at times).
• Reflection Log reminder should be sent to project participants. Discussed who should send out reminders. It was agreed that some communications could be sent out by Engin or one of the faculty consultant group members, as deemed appropriate.

Breeze Live
Pam G. briefly described the Breeze Live program.

• Presenter is in a room to present.
• Everyone is sent a link, participants click on the link that opens a browser window to participate in the session.
• Participants are able to see the speaker, & other presentation materials, (PowerPoint, graphics, etc.)
• Participants will type in questions; presenter (or an appointed moderator) monitors the chat as the session progresses.
• Any faculty or staff can set up Breeze Live. No software to install, just set up via the breeze.umn.edu Web site. X.500 is required
• Flash plugin is needed to run Breeze Live.

Discussion included:

• Demonstration of Breeze Live would be good.
• Combine Breeze Live Demonstration and Roundtable Discussion in same room. Faculty would be able to see how it works. (Gades commented that this was done in a computer lab, participants were able to type in their question and see how Breeze Live works). She noted that this is more challenging for the presenter to have both on-line and live audience participation.
• Implementation of technology tools into the course has been the main obstacle.
• Suggested the event should be 1/3 presentation, 2/3 hands-on and discussion.

Gades read the memo drafted inviting faculty to the panel discussion; she asked for input on topics that should be included in the memo. The tentative event date is July 7, some concern with this date due to the holiday week. Esler said the SMF(Simple Machines Forums) Discussion board has been set up (it is less prone to hacking than phpBB) and suggested sending an e-mail to faculty asking them to go to the discussion board to discuss the event and ask for their input. Thorson said Discussion boards are more functional than e-mail correspondence. No decision was reached regarding this suggestion.

Elser said that each project is listed on a separate page on the TEL website and is updated with new information daily. Gades suggested sending out an e-mail listing the updated information. Gades commented the students are doing a great job with the projects.

Panel Discussion – July 7

Discussion of event structure; plan event to serve IT project participants. Suggestions included:

• Series of demonstrations
• Series of project tools
• Workshop component
• ½ hour presentation, ½ hour IT tools, ½ hour workshop
• Social Event immediately following

IT consulting group will meet on Wednesday, June 22 at 10:00 am to pre-plan the July 7 event.

• Format of presentation
• IT tools
• Structure workshop activities

Other Issues Discussed

• Elect a chair/Co-Chair for the IT Consulting Group (Pam G. Chair, Faculty Member co-chair?) No volunteers for new Chair or Vice-Chair, so Gades will continue as Chair.
• Momentum of projects
• Send out periodic project updates
• Pam G. /Pam S. sent out an email to ITProjects Friday, June 17, 2005

Submitted by: Linda Pederson
June 17, 2005