Faculty Technology Advisory Board
5/13/08 Meeting Notes
In attendance: Lori Temple, Patti Shock, Tom Ipri, Reza Torkzadeh, Mike Stitt, Elaine
Shoben
1. Communication
 Presence at http://oit.unlv.edu/committees/ for all committees.
 Working on establishing a web presence for FTAB information at that site.
 Hotel uses Adobe Connect and offered its use for FTAB if needed.
2. Personal response systems update
 Mike Stitt consulted with the bookstore and produced a summary of clicker use
during spring 08.
 Clicker committee had favored Interwrite PRS but it is the least used clicker on
campus. Fewer than 6% of students on campus are using more than one clicker.
 Some question whether or not data is reliable since some students’ names showed up
twice for the same class section. Despite that fact, the consensus is that the use of
multiple clickers is not a major issue.
 However, the Hotel faculty prefers standardization of a personal response system in
order to receive support with the technology.
 Approximately 50 classes utilize some form of personal response system.
 Consensus is that this is a temporary technology and not necessary to contribute
major OIT resources to provide support at this time.
 A summer project will be to create a web site with contact information for faculty to
receive support for various clickers; include links, if available, for student support.
 Lori will report group’s recommendation to CCTL with an offer to reconsider the
issue if warranted.
3. Anti-plagiarism update
 Committee members reviewed the August 07 summary of recommendations on
Turnitin and SafeAssign from the Committee on the Culture of Teaching and
Learning Sub-Committee on Academic Integrity.
 OIT’s position has been to activate Turnitin at the request of a department.
 One suggestion: save the licensing fee for Turnitin since SafeAssign is likely to
improve once it is integrated into WebCampus.
 Question: Does SafeAssign have limitations similar to Turnitin? Has not been tested.
Action items: (1) Put Turnitin and SafeAssign on the WebCampus test environment during
summer 08. (2) Create list of issues departments have with the software. (3) Secure a demo
license to test papers from the Law School. (4) Create evaluation questions to assess quality
of product, ease of use. (5) Since the product should run within the course management
system, once the product to be support has been determined, consult with TLC how to frame
the product to maximize its use.
4. Fall plans





iTuneU discussion: Apple has made sites available for universities to post podcasts.
OIT has created two sites – one for public use and the other for internal use for
enrolled students. Fall 08 discussion will center on vetting issues that impact policies
to govern use. Note: New Associate Vice President for Communications to be hired.
Wrap up of personal response systems and anti-plagiarism software issues.
Second Life (http://secondlife.com/whatis/) is used by Hotel. A half-day workshop
will be held on June 3rd at Stan Fulton. Patti will demonstrate the product for the
group in the fall: www.secondlifehospitality.blogspot.com
Group will be surveyed for fall meeting dates/times.
Updates on iNtegrate project