Mobile Computing Task Force - February 18, 2009 Minutes

Present: Bonnie Smith-Skripps, Paul Kreider, Phyllis Self, Sharon Evans, Mike Dickson, Richard Chamberlain, John Cooper, Jill Myers, Theresa Roegge, Betsy Hommel, TJ Urbanski, Chad Dennis, Dawn Sweet, Sam Edsall, Bill Knox, and Bill Howard.

Blog/Newsletter

• Paul Kreider reported that we have had one comment posted to the blog, and it was unhappy in nature.

• Currently, the blog is set so that an administrator (currently only Paul) must approve comments before they appear to the public.

• Paul asked the committee, do we want to allow users to post comments without approval? Advantages and disadvantages to opening it up and keeping it locked down were discussed.

• Discussion arose about how we would keep the blog flowing and keep responses going out to people who are posting. One suggesting was to have the committee pick one question at each monthly meeting to post on the blog to kind of frame the topic for the month and get conversation going across comments on the topics we are looking for feedback on. Many people were in agreement that this would be a good idea.

• Paul asked out of the people present at the meeting today who would like to be administrators on the blog along with him. (Administrators can post comments without approval.) Bonnie Smith-Skripps, Dawn Sweet, Chad Dennis, TJ Urbanski, Phyllis Self, and Richard Chamberlain agreed to also be blog administrators. Anyone else wishing to be a blog administrator should contact Paul in order to be added to this list.

• The group decided there needed to be a statement posted about professionalism, and rules of conduct when posting on the blog. This information also needs to clearly state that the blog is monitored and inappropriate posts may be refused or removed as necessary.

Progress on the Vision Statement:

• Mike Dickson provided a general overview of the Mobile Technologies Taskforce to Joe Rives and Al Goldfarb. He said they were very supportive and interested in the progress the group was making.

• Mike recommended proceeding with presenting the Mission and Vision Statement to the President and Provost.

• It was decided that a memo including the statements and a narrative of the committee’s progress be sent to the President and Provost. All committee members will be listed at the bottom of the memo.

TechFest April 15, 2009

• Bonnie Smith-Skripps invited everyone to present at TechFest as it would be a good way to highlight the efforts of the Taskforce.

• It was discussed that we would try to group podcasting and mobile computing presentations together in order to highlight what is going on throughout the campus.

• Several individuals present today were interested in providing a presentation of display of some type.

• Proposals are due March 23, 2009. The link to submit a Call for Presentation is: http://www.wiu.edu/coehs/TechFest/callforpresentations.html . If you wish to be grouped with the Mobile Computing Task Force please enter (MCTF) after your presentation title in the space provided. Dawn Sweet will also send out the link to the call for presentations via the mobile computing listserv. Please disseminate this information to colleagues that you know are utilizing mobile technologies in education and/or in the field.

Vodcast Progress

• T.J. Urbanski reported that the vodcast is nearing completion. He is sending it to Paul Kreider this week for addition to the blog.

WESL Considering iPod Touches

• Paul Kreider asked if anyone had knowledge of WESL considering iPod touches. No one had information pertaining to this. Kreider will contact Murali Venugopalan.

Wireless access from a classroom with multiple users – speed? – Issues Experienced at ACU

• Sharon Evans asked if we had enough bandwidth on the wireless network to support a classroom full of wireless laptops hitting the network at the same time.

• Mike Dickson discussed that UT is aware that this will be an issue and that they are already looking into solutions. He mentioned that around campus wireless networks are being upgraded to the 802.11n standard. Additionally, “mesh” technologies are being reviewed for the less saturated areas on campus such as green spaces. It needs to be known that these upgrades won’t happen overnight and areas to receive the upgrades will be addressed by need which will be determined by the highest concentration of users in a given areas.

• Mike noted that UT should have a better idea about a solution this spring.

• He did mention that even though wireless networks are being upgraded we need to consider having between 10 -15 wired connections in each room. Someone asked if implementing a hub or switch in a room would help, and the answer is no. Implementing a hub or switch basically takes the bandwidth provided through the initial local connection and divides it by however many ports you have linking off of it. So basically you are just splitting the power of the one connecting in many ways.

Podcast Producer:

• The university has purchased podcast producer.

• Individuals interested in working with podcast producer are encouraged to speak with Dean Roberts. Much of the use of podcast producer is still manual. Phyllis Self reported that Dean is able to manage up to 10 podcasts/individuals at a time.

• Jill Myers asked about the progress on getting a one-touch classroom solution done. There is still work to be done on this. UT will work on getting a button added to the AMX touch panels. However, it is an involved process because they must work through some issues with the face that current video/audio recorded in the rooms is protected by a subnet and the Podcast Producer Server is outside of the subnet. Richard and Mike explained that the same people needed to get this going are currently focused on upgrading current electronic classrooms and completing new classroom builds. He says there is a potential to have this item addressed by completion of the Spring 09 semester.

• There seems to be confusion among members of the group as to what podcast producer is, how it works, and the process you use to get it set up. It was suggested that some training on podcasting be provided to our taskforce.

Printing from Student Owned Laptops:

• TJ Urbanski clarified that the library is not set up to handle student printing from laptops, and that it would be a financial problem for them. The library does not get money from the student technology fee.

• It was agreed that there needs to be a university policy on printing.

• Mike Dickson mentioned that authentication in general is a concern. There will be some type of authentication process rolled out in the near future which will require users to log on to the network using an ecom username and password, and there will be a process that runs to ensure that wireless laptops (devices?) will be checked to determine if patches have been applies, virus definitions are up to date, and etc. Some of these changes are coming over the Summer 09 time period.

• It was agreed that a universal policy such as this needs to be requested at a Dean’s Council meeting. Phyllis Self will be taking this to the next Dean’s Council meeting.

Updates from Sub Committees:

• Mike Dickson reported that the mobile technology use survey is being administered. Sean will be working on tabulating results.

• Phyllis Self handed out a summary of the Podcasting/iTunes U subcommittee.

• Dawn Sweet reported on the progress made by Chad, Betsy, Richard, and Dawn on a mockup of a newly designed front page for iTunes U for the university. Chad Dennis has a mock-up to share with the group. This will be shared via the listserv or at the next committee meeting for discussion.

• Sharon Evans reported that Broadcasting is moving on with orientation and marketing. They handed out information at Discover Western and put their laptops requirements on their website : (http://www.wiu.edu/Broadcasting/LapTop/LapTop.php )