NOTES
Meeting
Educational Technology Advisory Group
Date
Monday 17 May 2010
Time
2.30 pm to 4.00 pm
Location
Building 56 Level 7 Room 80A
Attendees Amgad Louka, (Chair), DVC (Academic) Julianne Reid, Rod van den Akker, Mark
Smithers, Allan Morris, Joyce Kirk, Craig Anderson, Rod McCrohan, Bernie Broom, John
Benwell, Robert Hollenbeck, Warren Nageswaran, Garry Allan, Tom Molyneaux, Franklin
O’Carroll (for Rod Noble), Angela Carbone (notes).
Apologies Brian Corbitt, Rodney Noble, Ron Wakefield
Item
Discussion/Outcomes
Previous
Minutes
Notes from previous meeting were accepted as true and accurate.
Business
Arising
2.1 Proposed VET eLearning Reference Group (Rod van den Akker)
Membership was finalised and includes representatives from ADGs and
teaching staff from each College.
The first meeting was held on 6 May and the next has been scheduled for
early June.
It was agreed this reference group would capture eLearning issues
currently affecting VET staff before finalising an action plan to bring
forward to ETAG members at a later meeting.
2.2 An overview of the role of the learning hub and possible future
directions (Mark Smithers)
Mark is working with EduTAG to develop a project proposal to review the
Learning Hub from both a technical and user perspective.
The agreed deadline to put forward this proposal is in July. (Added to
Action Log)
2.3 Melbourne Lectopia content trial for Vietnam (Robert
Hollenbeck)
The issue of RIUV access to learning materials of the same courses in
Melbourne was raised again. The discussion was initially in context to
Lectopia recordings, but was broadened to cover all learning resources.
The DVC highlighted the University’s position regarding equitable student
experience and access to resources.
An email will be sent to PVCs of all three colleges (with cc’ to Associate
PVCs) advising that RIUV staff will have access to the learning materials
of corresponding Melbourne courses (including Lectopia recordings).
Action: Email to be circulated by DVC (A) to all PVCs and Associate
PVCs.
Action
Mark
Julianne
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New
Business
3.1 Blackboard visit and update (Allan Morris)
Allan reported on his visit to the U.S. where he visited the Blackboard
data centre which hosts Blackboard instances for US institutions. He also
visited two colleges that use the Blackboard hosting service and they
were very positive about the hosting service including system availability
and response times.
Discussion also centred on RMIT’s Blackboard upgrade project which has
not formally commenced as there is currently no budget specifically
allocated to undertake this project.
Discussions with Blackboard are underway regarding the hosting service
they provide from their Sydney data centre, particularly around their
disaster recovery plan. The decision to use the Blackboard hosting
service has not been finalised but is preferred over intenal .
Given that the change to the upgraded version is January 2010, concerns
were raised that the new version needs to be implemented in six months.
There is a substantial change management exercise required including
extensive communication and training of academic staff on new system
features. Budget for the project will therefore need to be sourced as soon
as possible and a decision about the project will need to be finalised
within the next ten days.
Allan committed to discuss the funding with Travis Walker (Finance) and
the DVC (A).
It may be necessary to submit a paper to the VCE outlining funding
required overall, including costs associated with training staff.
3.2 ETAG Quarterly Status Reports (Amgad Louka)
This item was carried over from the last meeting.
The ETAG Quarterly Status Report document circulated at the last
meeting provides a brief snapshot of where each project is at.
Action: All members were asked to bring any issues or questions
relating to this document to the next meeting.
All
members
3.3 Revised Educational Technology roadmap (Rod van den Akker/
Garry Allan)
This item was carried over from the last meeting.
A new draft of the RMIT Educational Technology Landscape and
Roadmap document was presented. Feedback received on an earlier
version was incorporated into this document.
A paper was also presented with the roadmap: Proposed Plans for
Educational Technology Roadmap – Brief Outline.
It is a “living” document that will be updated regularly and formally
reviewed twice yearly – July and December. The July review will focus
on the projects required in the following year.
A further roadmap perspective is in development which is based on the 7
principles of good teaching and aligned with the new “Teaching with
Technology” website nearing completion. This looks at it from a
pedagogical perspective.
Action: To be presented at the next ETAG meeting
Garry, Rod
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3.4 Storage (Craig Anderson)
There is an assumption among staff that LCMS will manage the archiving
of learning objects but it was not designed as an archival tool.
RMIT needs a policy around archiving of L&T and research materials.
This also ties in with the need to review the “data-model” for learning
objects. That is, guidelines for where learning objects should be stored.
This is potentially a large project and should be included in the 2011
ETAG workplan.
3.5 Elluminate (Rod van den Akker)
A paper will be submitted to the ICT Strategic Committee next month
recommending the “launch” of Elluminate in time for Semester 2 2010. It
is currently in production, integrated with Blackboard and continues to be
used by the pilot group. Processes are currently being implemented to
manage Privacy compliance.
Training courses are being offered by ITS from June.
Other
Business
Date, Time
& Location
of next
scheduled
meeting
Action: Follow up with Mark Shortis on the status of the Assessment
Software project and report back
Amgad
Monday 16 June 2010
2.30 pm – 4.00 pm
Building 56 Level 7 Room 80A (The Hermitage)
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