Computer Requirement Committee Minutes
Thursday, January 19, 2006 4:00 pm
Bob Orr called the meeting to order and ask Scott Philyaw to brief on the Committee’s
report that was forwarded to the Faculty Senate in the fall. The Faculty Senate accepted
the Student Computer Committee report but requested additional response. Response
should be broken into three parts: student technology competencies, integration of
technology into the curriculum, and hardware requirements. Time-line for providing
follow-up reports is in April.
The Senate objected to the tone, the committee report on student competency needs more
than anecdotal data. Ben Coulter will lead a group including Beth Huber, Mary Teslow,
Gary Jones, and Chris Snyder to determine what local and nation data already exists to
support student competency statements in the report. Ben will report on progress at the
Feb. 13th meeting. Gary Jones shared an opportunity for assessing student computer
skills is available in April through the Information and Computer Technology Society.
The Faculty Senate accepted a recommendation that the Student Computer Requirement
Committee should be standing committee under the Academic Technology Advisory
Committee. The Academic Technology Advisory Committee meets Wednesday and will
discuss.
A discussion of the software requirement shared the potential of including students into
Western’s Microsoft Campus License. The advantage would be that students would have
access to the latest software and operating system versions as well as increased
availability of Microsoft packages including Front Page. The Committee invites Debbie
Justice and Chris Snyder to provide additional information at our Feb. 13th meeting on
including students in the campus license. Others suggested a look at Open Office, a free
open-source alternative to office. It was decide to invite faculty who use the Open Office
suite to share information at the Feb. 13 meeting. Committee decisions, if any, in this
area would be forwarded to the Academic Technology Advisory Committee for
consideration.
Beth Huber and Sue Grider shared the result of a laptop in the classroom pilot project
conducted in fall. Result indicated that while the wireless network connectivity failed,
the use of laptops in the classroom created additional learning opportunities for students
resulting in more creative ability and expanded fluency. Students generally were
favorable to bringing laptops to the classroom, but size and weight remain an issue.
Instructor control of the laptops is also recommended. Another pilot needs to be
conducted once the wireless networking upgrades are completed. Beth recommended
laptop carts be provided rather than additional electronic classrooms due to configuration
issues and also recommended that every classroom have a technology teaching station as
in the demonstration classrooms. Ben Coulter discussed use of laptops with teacher
education students in k-12 in College of Education.
The meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM. The next meeting will be February 13th at 3:00 PM
in the Hunter Library Conference Room.