Academic Computing Committee

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Minutes of Meetings:
March 4, 2003, 1:30 pm. ITS conference room

Present:  Bauman, Cossey, Keller, Klein

Review of last meeting's minutes

1. Fiji web project.  The 2003 Fiji collaborative web site is up at http://fiji.union.edu.  John Thompson, a CS major accompanied Profs. Leavitt and Brison to Fiji to work on a digital ethnography project, to maintain the web site, and to create a web-based link between the local high school in Rakiraki and the Niskayuna High School.  In addition to the web work, on March 5, D. Klein and J. Thompson were able to establish a video-conference via web-cams and NetMeeting software.  The audio quality was very good; the video was, as to be expected, fairly low quality.  That we achieved any connection was remarkable given that they were connecting over a 56K modem from the Fiji end.  

Note that because of Union's firewall, NetMeeting calls must be initiated from the Union end, and to do so requires knowledge of the remote IP address.  To find this on an XP machine, click Start... Programs ... Accessories... Command Prompt...  and type ipconfig.

2. Blackboard and course management.  Union has recently had software problems with Blackboard, which they acknowledge is a fault of the software.  They are working on a fix, although since they are about to upgrade their software, it is not clear how much support they want to give.

D. Keller noted that there are several open-source course management systems under development, including OKI, and Segue, being developed at Middlebury.   Diane forwards this information about Segue:

At the recent meeting at Dartmouth, I [S. Sax] briefly showed the course management system, Segue, that we developed and are using at Middlebury. 

So, if you'd like to create a site for yourself, go to this URL: http://seguecommunity.middlebury.edu/  [for further instructions, contact D. Keller]  and log in, click on the 'create site' button and create away.

We are always interested in feedback and suggestions.

3. ePortfolio options.  We continue to inch towards our pilot group of ePortfolio users.  We will have training scheduled for late March or early April.

In the meantime, two other possibilities have arisen.  Blackboard has purchased Nuventive.  Here is a recent news release.

Blackboard to Integrate Nuventive Electronic Portfolios   Course management company Blackboard Inc. and Nuventive, which provides assessment and portfolio solutions for higher education, agreed to integrate Nuventive’s iWebfolio electronic portfolio software with the Blackboard Learning System. Nuventive's iWebfolio is an electronic portfolio that gives students and faculty and staff the ability to store, organize, and display personal "learning" evidence to faculty, admissions offices, and employers through the creation of any number of portfolio views. Portfolios can contain work samples, learning goals, personal reflections, educational and professional accomplishments, in a variety of formats including text and multimedia. Users will be able to share course-related documents with instructors, study group members, and organization members.

Also, the University of Minnesota, Duluth has released an open-source portfolio system.  Here is the news release:

U. Minnesota-Duluth Builds Open Source Portfolio  University of Minnesota-Duluth chancellor Kathryn Martin said the university was moving to an open source electronic portfolio system that will enable individuals or the institution to adapt at will. The ePortfolio, which the university says is the first portfolio system created with open source software, will store educational records, work samples, resumes, and writing samples, as well as legal documents and other personal records in a secure, network-accessible system. Individuals will be encouraged to share program code changes with the university's Open Source Portfolio Initiative (OSPI) group. The ePortfolio system is currently used by 23,000 students, faculty, and staff. Under the university's "Technology for Life" plan, students may continue to use and enhance their personal ePortfolios throughout their lifetime.  For more information visit: http://eportfolio.d.umn.edu  or http://www.theospi.org .

4. Electronic Classrooms.  Diane K. reported that the clip-board system was being used in electronic classrooms to improve the reporting of problems, and speed repairs.  Doug recommended optical mice.  She also said that work will be undertaken this summer to create a multimedia studio in the Graphics lab, noting that the Becker Center, Media Services, and the Language Lab will have similarly equipped studios.  

Mary P. is working with Arts faculty to improve the presentation facilities in Arts 215.  A projector shoot-out will be held soon; for more information, contact Mary.

Next meeting: March 11, 2003, 1:30 PM, ITS conference room (tentative)

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Page maintained by J. Douglass Klein, Associate Dean for Information Technology.
Last updated 03/11/2003