Mobile Computing Task Force - May 20, 2009 Minutes

Present: Paul Kreider, Jim West, Sean Cordes, Bill Knox, Matthew Clark, Theresa Roegge, Betsy Hommel, Jill Myers, Laura Finch, Sharon Evans, Matt Bierman, Bill Bushaw, Teresa Koltzenburg, Rori Carson, Bill Howard, Dawn Sweet

Minutes from Last Meeting

• April minutes were approved.
• Dawn Sweet will change instances of Bill Knox to Bill Bushaw in the April minutes and resubmit as there was a mistake in recording these individual’s names during the last meeting.Bill Knox was not present at that meeting.

Grant Opportunities

• Dean Kreider passed out granting information from the Intel Foundation, Hewlett Packard Foundation, Kellogg Foundation, National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education.
• Dean Kreider, Richard Chambelain, and Mike Dickson may discuss some of these as possible opportunities for building mobile applications when they speak to Cathy Newmann from the Computer Science Department next week about having Computer Science develop some administrative applications for WIU.

Quad City Representatives for this Committee

• Christopher David, Assistant Director of Quad City Technology, and Lloyd Kilmer, Professor in Educational Leadership will serve on the committee representing the Quad Cities.
• Dawn Sweet will work with Christopher David and the scheduling in the COEHS Dean’s Office to ensure we have a CODEC connection for the remainder of the Summer meetings.

iTunes U Interface Design Update

• Determined the final piece of work to do on template mock up before beginning actual design work is to decide a name for the Featured Events section on the main page. Darcie Shinberger and Teresa Koltzenberg from University Relations recommended something like Behind the Scenes or Caught on Tape. Discussion continued.
• Question arose about who would be responsible for podcasting information for top section of iTunes U.Dawn Sweet recommended getting Apple involved and doing a student competition to make these with content provided by appropriate offices at Western.
• Naming suggestions for section B Featured Events will be sent out to the listserv for input and a vote.We would like to have the final name no later than May 29.
• A student worker from University Relations is designing 3 mock-ups for the iTunes U banner.They will be ready for the committee to review in June.
• Darcie Shinberger and Teresa Koltzenberg told the committee that University Relations could maintain the About Western and New and Noteworthy sections of the front page of iTunes U.
• Discussion occurred about whether the support structure and human processes are in place and prepared to move forward with a larger roll out of iTunes U. Recommendations were to continue with the design process and get the design down and in place for moving on while continuing to work on process and technical issues.
• Dawn Sweet and Chad Dennis are working to arrange meeting with Dan Romano to discuss next steps in getting the re-design completed.Richard Chamberlain would like to be included on that meeting.As we are waiting on naming convention, the meeting will need to take place after May 29.
• An older action item was discussed. Before winter break 2008, Chad, Dawn, and Betsy worked on a new outline for the current iTunes U support site at Western.They will share the current state of the outline via the listserv to gain feedback and determine next steps.Sean Cordes recommended a wiki or interactive component to the site.

Teresa Koltzenberg - Podcast Blog Idea

• In order to make use of good clips that were not used in the initial MCTF podcast, Teresa recommended that she could take those clips and embed them into a written Q&A on the mobile computing blog.
• Initially she will work with Dean Kreider, Sharon Evans, and Jill Myers student.Teresa would like other people that were interviewed in the initial podcast who would be willing to do this to contact her.
• Sean Cordes would like to know if some of the interview content can be used in Research and Development.

Mobile Computing Survey

• Tere North separated out student, faculty, and staff comments to see the difference about how students felt about devices and how they are using them.
• Sean Cordes wants to know if we want to present the results of the research publicly?
• Most significant increase for useful apps included 200% increase in desire to use Kindle or other book reader, 300% increase in ability to pay bills at WIU, 329% would like to be able to order books, 257% would like to be able to create presentations, and 343% would like to be able to check the bus schedule.
• Discussion of validity of increase compared to sample size occurred.
• Sean said he could disseminate the results to members of the committee.
• Prior to disseminating the instrument again, Sean would like to pass it around to committee members for feedback and revision.
• Based on these findings Dean Kreider re-iterated that when Mike Dickson, Richard Chamberlain, and himself visit with Computer Science about application development they are mainly going to focus on the need for apps such as registration, paying bills, viewing schedules, and accessing and using accounts.
• Matt Bierman asked if we are looking at building universal apps for all mobile devices or apps specifically for iPod Touch/iPhone.Richard Chamberlain clarified we are looking at universal design aspects that would work for both iPhone and Windows mobile phones, etc.
• Concern was expressed as to whether we are providing students and faculty with enough specifics on what is currently possible with various mobile technologies on campus already.Also, Matt Clark mentioned concern of the specificity of our questions when asking faculty and students what they can do and would like to be able to do, (e.g. would they like to be able to access Zimbra through a browser on their mobile device, or would they like to be able to synchronize email, calendar, and contact data to their device’s built-in software applications).
  
• Suggestions for achieving progress on above issue were to provide a website with this information, provide information in new student, new faculty, and library orientation, etc.No final determination was made on what we might do, or who would take the charge for doing this.

Consultant for Next Year

• Bill Knox suggested that a further step for this committee would be to evaluate what our students will be using beyond the academy.(e.g. a few years back the big push was the laptop, as devices continue to become smaller and more advanced are we forward thinking about the capabilities that our students will want/need?)
• One recommendation was to have an external consultant to review our institution, and make suggestions. Would going with an external consultant give the committee more credibility in presenting a plan for moving forward?
• Richard Chamberlain suggested developing another sub-committee to discuss these elements prior to bringing an external consultant to campus.Paul Kreider asked for a committee name and who would be interested in order to establish the sub-committee and get it publicized to members.The name will be Emerging Technologies. It will be co-chaired by Richard Chamberlain and Mike Dickson. This committee will be charged with outlining where we are at and where we are going. Sean Cordes, Matt Clark, Jim West, Teresa Koltzenberg, Bill Knox are offered to be members of this sub-committee.

Faculty Preparedness Subcommittee Update

• Dawn Sweet delivered a report on the last meeting of the Faculty Preparedness committee which included action items for the Summer 09 - Fall 09 time period.
• The committee agreed that developing an instrument to determine Faculty Skill and Curriculum Development needs for integrating mobile technologies into the classroom should be a priority.The Faculty sub-committee members that are available will work on developing a survey instrument to share at the next MCTF committee meeting.Sweet announced that an area to work on the survey instrument has been designed in Google Docs and anyone wanting to help in the design process or reviewing the instrument can send their GMail contact information to Chad (ce-dennis@wiu.edu) to gain access.
• The subcommittee has already discussed getting assistance from Sean Cordes and Tere North in the Fall to disseminate the survey to Faculty.
• Additionally the sub-committee may consider focus groups with early adopters who are already using mobile technology or podcasting.They would like to host meeting(s) for these individuals to talk to the faculty prep subcommittee based on their previous experiences to see what their needs are for preparedness.
• In the Fall the sub-committee proposed to have a Mobile Technology Awareness Day/Week/ or mini-symposium. Those in attendance at the MCTF committee meeting felt this was a good idea.
• Sweet and Dennis are to begin planning phase and work on a budget to submit to Dean Kreider at the next meeting to determine what funding might be available.
• We mentioned that we would like to find podcasters for the event. Teresa Koltzenberg may be able to assist with this.
• Additionally in the fall we would like to target some specific training on course capture and Podcast Producer towards faculty teaching large-scale lecture courses. Would need to work in conjunction with Dean Roberts to determine how many faculty/courses that he and the system can take.We would be looking for “early adopters” interested in helping to pave the way for others.
• CITR will also host Brown Bags and Seminars on Mobile Technology and Engaged Learning.
• CITR will disseminate survey designed by Faculty Preparedness group to new faculty during the New Faculty Orientation to determine their experience level with mobile technologies. A schedule of events for CITR will be finalized this summer.
• Additionally, the Best Practices in Podcasting online course will be offered again during the Fall 2009 semester.
• Beyond Fall 09 the sub-committee will review and report on results from the Fall survey and use those to determine new training and preparedness options.
• Ongoing - the committee will look at possible incentive based on-campus professsional development programs for faculty that infuse the use of mobile learning technologies with pedagogy.

Credit Union - Bill Bushaw

• Bill Bushaw reported that the credit union is ready to go.
• An earlier issue about making payment has been worked out.

Broadcasting Laptop Program

• Dean Kreider and Sharon Evans said that enrollment in their Broadcasting program has increased 50% since the laptop program was initiated.

Apple Store Update

• Richard Chamberlain reported that the Apple Store is moving into the old Starbucks facility in the University Union.

Next Meetings

June 17, 2009 3:00pm Horrabin Hall Room 1 (Macomb) QC114 (Quad Cities)

July 15, 2009 3:00pm Horrabin Hall Room 1 (Macomb) QC114 (Quad Cities)

August 19, 20093:00pm Horrabin Hall Room 1 (Macomb) QC114 (Quad Cities)

Adjourned.