Academic Technology Committee
Minutes
Minutes for February 17, 2015 submitted by Laura Sherrod
Present: M. Sims, L. Sherrod, M. Weber, G. Chao, C. Weiler, A. Mull, K. Stanfa, A. Fu, E.
Landquist, M. Freed, D. Scott
Guests: H. Fox, D. Hosie, R. Miller
Absent: (italics = with notice) J. Tan, C. Moctezuma, M. Dalgin, C. Neill, T. Didyoung, M.
McKeague
I.
Meeting called to order by M. Sims
• Motion to approve the agenda by G. Chao – unanimous approval
• Motion to approve the minutes by L. Sherrod – unanimous approval
II.
Technology Priorities
o MediaSite – streaming video
 We will have a meeting on Thursday with a demo from MediaSite
o Speech-to-Text Open Source and Dragon Naturally Speaking/Open Source
Options
•
E. Landquist did some investigation into open source software
•
The sheet he provided contains links, but he has not tested any of the
software
•
Speech recognition is already built into Windows 7
•
The idea is to start an open source user group among interested faculty,
unsupported by IT
•
The user must be responsible for his/her own trouble shooting
•
Action item: Take this information back to the departments to see
who might be interested in Linux or other open source software – and bring
back their thoughts at the March meeting.
III.
MyKU (PeopleSoft)
o FERPA
 To release information about our students, we must know if parents have
been given permission. It might be useful to link this information into
MyKU.
 H. Fox proposed the use of a service indicator for FERPA
• Using this indicator, one could click on the star and it would give
you a window with more information about what you can and can’t
tell the parent
• This would be term based (i.e. each semester the student would
have to resubmit the permission paperwork)
Academic Technology Committee
Minutes

This idea has to go through registrar but is simple once permission is
granted from the right channels at the university
o Special Topics – Prerequisites
 E. Landquist tried to propose a special topics course for Spring 2016 that
had a prerequisite, but it did not pass through the UCC because a special
topics course cannot have prerequisites.
 He asked if it is possible to allow prerequisites for MAT370 (Special
Topics)
 H. Fox indicated that this is not possible as it would change every time
that special course is offered.
 A. Fu mentioned that other prerequisite issues have been encountered in
Anthropology/Sociology where there is a prerequisite in the description of
the course but it is not enforced in MyKU.
• A. Fu will let H. Fox know which course it is and she will double
check the MyKU linkage to prerequisites
o Discrepancies in Classlists
 My KU class list can sometimes differ from D2L class list.
 Keying in of the wrong effective date can cause people to “fall out” of the
roster and be left out of the email list
 This happened in November – 2 active plans caused a student to fall out
 This does not seem to be a wide-spread problem
 H. Fox proposed that we remove the column with the effective date or that
we remove the report as it is causing discrepancies
 Action item: Take this back to individual departments and ask How
critical is it to keep that column (academic plan) for when we do
queries for the class list?
 H. Fox will send out an email about the distribution lists to remind faculty
of this option
 The business office has its own report, so these queries do not impact the
determination of whether classes run or not.
IV.
Distance Education / D2L
o D. Scott reported that he had worked with the library on an EBSCO curriculum
builder for D2L
 You can build reading lists directly into D2L through EBSCO
• This is a direct integration with D2L
• We are the first school in PASSHE to get this
• We are the first school in the country to build a series of how-to
videos for this feature
Academic Technology Committee
Minutes
o D. Scott worked with Disabilities Services on ReadSpeaker
 This is an integrated screen reader that doesn’t need Jaws
 It doesn’t read documents that are embedded yet
 This is already incorporated in D2L – talk to Jim about where to find it
V.
OIT Projects
o Status Updates
 KU Portal
 PC timeouts on classroom computers
• This was rolled out with Senate approval
• There are some minor glitches which IT is working to fix
o The timeouts are being applied inconsistently (i.e. the
timeouts that are selected are not the ones being applied –
choose 1 hour, maybe get 45 minutes)
o The fix for this is probably going to be rolled out in the
next few days.
o You will only be prompted once at the beginning of the
log-in
• A. Fu had a question about the screen timing out, but the user not
getting logged out.
o This item may be a computer issue rather than a timeout
issue.
 SpecOps Password Self Service System
• Coming soon . . .
VI.
IT Report (Mitch’s option)
o Report distributed
o H. Fox talked about a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system
 This system will allow us to communicate more efficiently with both
current and prospective students.
 We can create events and students can register for events in the CRM.
 Forms can be created in CRM and registration can happen through those
 This will be a good way to track who comes to events
 Admissions will be using this to implement communications plans with
the students
 It will be rolled out to the departments slowly sometime in the future, but
Phase 2 has not yet been laid out.
 M. Freed indicated that the CRM has many classifications for students that
will guide the communication sequence.
Academic Technology Committee
Minutes
Students can be classified as Inquiry students, Prospect students,
Applicant students, Accepted students, Enrolled students, etc . . .
• There will be timely communications with these groups of
students.
• This will create a polished, finished, persistent way of
communicating with each group.
 We will be able to track the extracurricular communications with the
students.
 Deans will get contacted by H. Fox’s team in the near future.
 G. Chao is interested in tracking students through and beyond KU.
• There are more than just admissions and recruitment data and
applications.
 A. Fu mentioned that LAS Assessment might also be interested in this
data.
Breaking news – Microsoft is going to offer Microsoft Office (student) as part of
the Microsoft 365 package
 This could save the university a lot of money
 R. Miller indicated that there is a compatibility issue which may cause
issues, but IT is working with Microsoft on this
• Students can still access the software online, but IT is working on
being able to download it to desktops
MediaSite will be giving a demonstration on Thursday
 A rep from MediaSite will do a live demo and take us through the cycle of
how to make a video, load it, play it, etc . . .
 Use case scenarios will be given
 There will be a workshop for IT given by MediaSite rep in the afternoon
H. Fox mentioned that the upgrade to PeopleSoft was successful
The Early Alert system is something that spots students before they get
themselves into irreversible trouble
 Grades, attendance, etc . . .
 Laura Scapaticci is involved in this with CASA – leading the RFP effort
Faculty/Staff Password Self Service
 Coming soon . . .
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Next meeting: February 19, 2015 at 11am in DeFran 207 – MediaSite Demo
March meeting : March 17, 2015 at 11am in DeFran 207
M. Sims concluded the meeting at 11:55am with a motion to adjourn by G. Chao.