FTC meeting Sept. 16, 2014

Guests: J. Rakestraw, S. Cann and S. Olivieri

1. John Rakestraw – new head Center for Teaching Excellence

Background: Faculty development (from Georgetown)

Message for departments – CTE meant to encourage people to think more deeply about teaching. Old and new faculty equally.

2. ITS report. S. Cann.

Google change – transition went smoothly; FTCs useful for advocating and helping smooth the way with others.

ITS admits overselling Chrome Browser as “best option”email platform.

Two-step verification – Google accounts here have this built in already.

Google groups services in Core and non-Core, not a menu of choices; “one-offs” sometimes possible – Google classroom.

Question of group emails to courses – now do not include an email to the instructor - Scott calls for individual requests from faculty who prefer the addition of instructor.

VPN infrastructure – tunnel has been transitioned to a split tunnel – things earmarked for BC will go in and out. This caused problems so we are going back to a full tunnel. “eaglevpn” to split. Great Firewall of China Case.

ITS future initiatives

Classroom technology governance initiative – what to locate in classrooms.

3. Scott Olivieri – bc.edu redesign

Site reviews – Uchi – McGill – Harvard – BU

BU – excellence in brand management

Discovery phase – fact-finding

· Why outliers (Social Work, econ, chem) – why they left the BC “brand” ?

· All BC content editors – 600 for 200-odd sites….

· Parents – important new concern

· Data Analysis – Site use analytics; best practices using a consultant

Site Goals Document (Oct 30) – presentation to design group first and then on to Pres. Leahy

Content editors skills; “content strategy key to long term success” –

Need for a brand and style guide for university

Open questions:

· Design flexibility

· Content strategy

· Research centers place in bc.edu.

· Resource requirements

Phased rollout….

R. Han question – is this new form, same content, as before? S. Cann: new format and look; but “new” content critical. Need for new content strategy.

R. Han obersation - lack of master data base; flow of changes throughout online BC documents; Scott: Core Systems Project is a separate but related issue.

Q. Agora redesign is/will be separate. Yes.

Q. Consistent predictable locations website to website (departments); use of templates common to all departments.

Q. R. Gross. Google searches not reliable; old pages preferred over more recent because of more frequent consultations in the past.

R. Han – externet side of website; not intranet. Scott: Yes. Rudi: but the two need to be related if not integrated. Scott – each project is limited by scope despite implications for other web services (Agora, for example). Yes, but…

S. Olivieri – faculty survey presentation for vetting

Five questions: see appendix and link below.

Questions raised about whether or not faculty use bc.edu OR Agora. Agora is not part of this initiative. URL on an email from Michael Connolly to see more on S. Olivieri presentation. October 1 deadline for comment before public posting of survey.

Appendix A:

Announcement from M. Connolly

John Rakestraw will welcome us to the new Center for Teaching Excellence, which also houses the FMRC and IDeS (Cristina Joy) and the Apprenticeship in College Teaching (Sue Barrett);

Scott Cann will fill us in on 

· the Google Apps migration and next steps.

· VPN and handling the problems for those who still need bcvpn.

· ITS futures; 

and Scott Olivieri wants to have us check out, in connection with the bc.edu redesign project, a questionnare (draft attached) that they will be sending out to faculty.

Here is also the URL for the survey: 

https://www.bc.edu/content/bc/bcres/offices/web-tech-res/faculty-survey.html

Appendix B – August business: Faculty Gide to Google

The Communications and Training group in ITS have prepared a guide for faculty members about using Google. 

They welcome comments from FTCs, from a faculty point of view, about the presentation and any helpful details they may have missed. 

Note: The attached file represents an earlier draft with pagination set for binding rather than in strict reading order. 

Also, since that draft they have 

softened the language pushing Chrome, 

have added GMail tips, 

added contact information for the FMRC and IDeS, 

and have changed the Drive page to reflect the two interfaces available. 

If you have further comments that will assist in this final production phase—going to press at the end of the week—please direct them, with a cc to me, to 

sarah.sletzinger@bc.edu

We still have some details to work out with regard to FTC meetings, but for right now the general outline foresees meeting on alternating third Tuesdays and Wednesdays of each month, beginning with 16 September at our usual time (5pm) and, if all has gone well, in the new Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) on the second level of O’Neill Library (on the site of the old CTRC).

Speaking of the CTE, note also the following: 

The CTRC Computing Lab has closed and its specialized software and services have been distributed throughout O'Neill Library.
Computers with general productivity and research software are on the third floor behind the Reference Desk.
Multimedia software and hardware are available in O'Neill 205
Additional printers have been added on the first and third floors
Technology Help Desk Support remains in O'Neill 248

Please note that the Google guide will be going to press at the weekend, so Ms Setzinger will be welcoming your comments today and tomorrow. 

Attachments area

Preview attachment facultyguide-MC.pdf

facultyguide-MC.pdf