IRC News Minutes provided by Sue Ellen Richey, Recording Secretary

IRC Regular Voting Members: Ginny Anderson, Fiscal Affairs; Donna Asher, Administrative Affairs; Walter Bowen, Academic Administration; Bill Buntain, Communications Program Group; Sue Byron, Faculty Senate; Carolyn Cunningham, Student Affairs; Paul Dworak, College of Music and Standards & Cooperation Program Group; Don Grose, Libraries; Jenny Jopling, Instruction Program Group; Joneel Harris, Administrative Program Group; Allen Livingston,Graduate Student Council; Dennis Mueller, Research Program Group (on Sabbatical); Ramu Muthiah, School of Community Services; Robert Nimocks, Director, Information Technology,UNTHSC; Steve Oeffner, UNT Health Science Center Russ Pensyl , School of Visual Arts; Patrick Pluscht, Distributed Learning Team; Jim Poirot College of Education; Mark Rorvig, Research Program Group (acting for Dennis Mueller who is on Sabbatical); Kathleen Swigger, College of Arts and Sciences; Neal Tate, University Planning Council; Philip Turner, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs for Distance Education and Dean of the School of Library and Information Resources (Chair, IRC);; Virginia Wheeless, Chancellor; John Windsor, College of Business. IRC Ex-officio Nonvoting Members: Leslie Bowden, Telecommunications; Wil Clark, GALMAC; Jim Curry, Microcomputer Maintenance Shop; Michael Forster, UNT Health Science Center; Richard Harris, Computing Center; Coy Hoggard, Computing Center; Maurice Leatherbury, Computing Center; Sue Ellen Richey, Computing Center (Recording Secretary). [As of 11/98]

November 17, 1998

Internet 2

Richard Harris reported that the IR Steering Committee met and worked on University Action Plans. They discussed the proposed action plan for UNT to join the Internet 2. Richard asked Maurice to report on that. Maurice reported that UNT is considering moving to Internet 2 and has been working on a number of issues associated with that move. One requirement is the upgrade of UNT’s internet infrastructure, as well as applying for membership in Internet 2 costing $25,000 per year. Other universities evidently have joined through an NSF Grant program. Maurice has talked with Dr. Shaffer of the Graduate School, who is supportive, but cannot provide the funding. Maurice is waiting to hear from the Research Program Group for their endorsement. In response to a question regarding the benefits to faculty, Maurice responded that the main benefit is that membership in Internet 2 requires a commitment from the campus to upgrade internet service infrastructure which provides connectivity to the Novell network. The end result will be higher speed connection for end-users who are in a university that is an Internet 2 member.

Dr. Rorvig commented that there are two qualifications for the NSF Grant Maurice referred to; one is meritorious and collaborative applications. He stated that that sort of research is conducted here at UNT, but finding all of the projects that are in existence at UNT is a difficult task. He asked that if any Council members know of meritorious and collaborative research projects that are going on at UNT they should let Maurice or him know of them. He suggested that UNT’s distributed learning program may be one of the major distinguishing aspects that this university has to offer NSF as a reason for funding UNT with a grant for Internet 2.

Distributed Computing Support Management Team

Maurice Leatherbury reported for the Distributed Computing Support Management Team that they have been trying to put an Adobe License program in place. In addition, they are looking at a new Microsoft Campus Agreement which Microsoft has developed since October. Microsoft’s new program is less expensive than the program UNT is currently enrolled in, and it allows distribution of the software to students for $17.00 per student.

Year 2000 Compliance

He reported that Sandy Burke is looking at software packages for checking Year 2000 compliance on standard desktop software packages. When a software package is selected, it will be made available to everyone on campus.

Maurice reported that various packages of software metering software have also been looked at, but no decision has been made at this point about a particular site license.

Coy Hoggard was unavailable to comment on the progress of the Year 2000 conversion project because he was working on a Y2K report to D.I.R. Richard Harris reported that Coy had made a report to the Board of Regents, along with Robert Nimocks of the Health Science Center, which was favorably received by the Board. They were both asked to come back and give a progress report at their February meeting.

Southern Dallas Center

Phil Turner brought up the subject of the proposed Southern Dallas Center. UNT has received permission from the Coordinating Board to present a proposal to get official approval for a center in southern Dallas, a center being one step below a university. There are five colleges and schools that are proposing programs to be conducted at the center: College of Business, College of Education, School of Community Services, Library & Information Science, Computer Science and Arts & Sciences. The projection is for 250 students in Spring of 2000.

Maurice stated that in the information technology plan that he is putting together, the center will include two or three video conferencing rooms, two general purpose computer classrooms, large general access lab, a virtual library, classrooms equipped with data projectors, vcr’s, and laser disks, desktop computers for faculty and staff who will be housed there, telephone systems, etc.

Don Grose added that the library section will be a virtual library with 40-50 stations, and will include a very small print collection at that site. He stated that, as far as the licensing will allow, everything possible will be available there by the time it is set up.

Maurice added that there will be a LAN there with a file server; separate T1 line for video, and a separate T1 for data.

Joneel Harris commented that the planners need to consider the staffing implications, both for academic and administrative services.

Instruction Program Group

Maurice Leatherbury reported for the Instruction Program Group in Jenny Jopling’s absence. At the IPG’s last meeting a computer testing facility was discussed to serve the needs of faculty in developing distance education courseware. The committee is developing a questionnaire that will be sent out to department chairs in the next week or so. In addition, a group of faculty and computer support people met to discuss the need for a general purpose computer classroom on campus which would be available to departments who needed a computer for each student in a class, for general purpose instruction. The questionnaire the IPG will send out will also query departments about the need for such a classroom.

Communications Program Group

The Recording Secretary distributed a document outlining what took place at the most recent meeting, since the committee chair, Bill Buntain, could not attend today’s meeting. Mike Maner reported that Internet 2 and the Southern Dallas Center were topics of discussion at that meeting. He wanted to add to the report by telling the group that purchase orders for increasing bandwidth to the connection to the GSC in Dallas have been processed which will increase UNT to a 9mb connection to the GSC’s network. Realistically, the upgrade will probably not take place until after school is out for the fall semester, hopefully getting everything in place before the start of the spring semester. Mike noted that the GSC is also planning some upgrades to their network to improve its performance, most of the upgrades being planned for the first quarter of 1999.

Administrative Program Group

Joneel Harris reported that the focus of the Administrative Program Group’s recent meetings has been Year 2000 conversion. They are developing and refining a plan for testing which has involved loading data into a Lotus Notes database for testing the different elements of the plan. The Program Group has also looked at the impact of the new Southern Dallas Center on administrative systems and support staff.

Distributed Learning Team

Patrick Pluscht reported that the Distributed Learning Team is meeting to discuss various issues with administrative representatives. A steering committee has been formed which will meet regularly to deal with these issues. A sub-committee will be working on a strategic plan for the Distributed Learning Center; other sub-committees will meet to deal with other issues. He announced that the offering of electronic courses in Texas has been de-regulated, with the control of these courses being passed to the governing body of each university.

Western Governor’s University

Philip Turner stated that it has been announced that the Western Governor’s University has become affiliated with the Open University and formed the Governor’s Online University System. Their agreement allows the Open University to deliver courses in the United States, but does not allow the affiliates of the Western Governor’s University to deliver courses to any Open University sites.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m.

December 15, 1998

Distributed Computing Support Management Team

Maurice Leatherbury reported that the DCSMT has continued to look at software metering packages, for example Elron’s SoftTrack. There had been some difficulty negotiating with that company, so Maurice compiled a list of departments who would want the software, found out how many copies would be needed and how much departments were willing to pay and offered that to Elron. Elron accepted, so an order for the SoftTrack software will now be issued to them.

In addition, the committee continued to work on the campus agreement with Microsoft. Maurice met with the student development staff to discuss the inclusion of students in this agreement and the problems associated with doing that. There is a question as to the source of funding for inclusion of students and it has been suggested that the technology fee be increased $.60 to $.80 per semester credit hour. The campus agreement would provide all students on campus with the right to install upgraded Windows Operating System on their home machine as well as Microsoft Office Suite, Front Page, and Visual Studio Suite. A question was raised at the meeting about the legality of charging student fees to pay for an exclusive site license, but that and the license agreement will be reviewed by the University Legal department. The committee believes that this new campus agreement would be a wise thing to do, for the benefit of the whole campus.

SIMS software Upgrade

Coy Hoggard reported that they have corrected SIMS software, and it is now undergoing extensive testing by various administrative offices with the plan being to put it into production over the holiday break and have it available for use for spring registration. That means that all of the online systems will be down beginning December 26 and throughout the following week. The software will have to be re-tested some time after the first of the year when an LPAR is available for testing the software in future date mode.

Instruction Program Group

Jenny Jopling reported that the Instruction Program Group met and discussed the feasibility of a computer-based testing facility on campus. Maurice included questions in his campus-wide survey which are designed to assess the need for a computer-based testing facility. The group also began discussing Internet 2.

ISDN Issues

Dr. Turner commented that at the present time UNT uses GTE, who contracts with a reseller for the long distance service, which results in a much more expensive service fee for ISDN. The Telecommunications department is investigating a cost-saving alternative.

Communications Program Group, Internet 2

Bill Buntain distributed the minutes of the last two Communications Program Group meetings. He announced that he would like to bring forward a motion from the group that UNT join the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development (UCAID) Internet 2 consortium, at a membership fee of $25,000.00 per year. Since the Research Program Group also wished to bring a similar motion, the Chair requested that the Research Program Group’s motion be considered a second to this one. A letter detailing the Research Program Group’s motion was distributed. Maurice Leatherbury then distributed a chart with preliminary cost figures of what it would cost to join Internet 2 (see Attachment 4). Maurice explained that paying the $25,000 membership fee only gets UNT on the list of member universities. In addition, if UNT wants to connect to the Internet 2 high speed ethernet backbone, there is a connection fee of $143,000.00 per year. Roughly $200,000 is estimated for line charges between Denton and the GigaPOP, either in Dallas or Houston. Ultimately, the annual cost just to connect with the Internet 2 and be a member is about $367,000.00 per year. In addition, for UNT to really take advantage of this high speed backbone to the internet that Internet 2 would offer, the UNT campus internet and ethernet infrastructure would have to be upgraded, at an estimated $1.5 million spread out over a 4-5 year period. This will also require some additional personnel and it is estimated that one datacom technician and one telecommunications technician would be needed.

It was pointed out that there are benefits to the University, in terms of recognition of the institution and attracting students and faculty, even if membership in Internet 2 is all that is done right now. Dr. Rorvig commented that it is believed that in order to secure consideration of Federal research proposals, membership is very important. Grants are available for funding the expenses of connecting to Internet 2, but approval of such grant proposals would be dependent upon UCAID membership. Dr. Rorvig suggested that one or more program groups deal with the question of how UNT would use the level of connectivity that would be available through connection to Internet 2.

Dan Mauldin stated that he has heard Internet 2 interest expressed by quite a number of faculty. Sue Byron reported that members of the faculty senate are quite interested in UNT becoming a member of UCAID, but she believes they are not aware of the cost over and above the membership fee. Leatherbury commented that an upgrade of the campus infrastructure would be done anyway, but probably not in the next 4-5 years, and by joining the UCAID, and possibly obtaining grants to help pay the expenses, that upgrade could be accomplished a lot sooner. Bill Buntain clarified that Internet 2 would not replace our current internet.

Richard Harris commented that at the EDUCAUSE conference in Seattle, that he recently attended, he heard various opinions expressed. The opinions varied from suggesting that a university sit back and be a consumer of the benefits that will come out of the Internet effort to encouraging membership in Internet 2 and upgrading your internet infrastructure as you can. Robert Nimocks added that the Health Science Center is already planning an upgrade of its infrastructure, and hopes to be included in UNT’s membership in UCAID.

IRC rules state that an issue is presented at one meeting and voted on at the next; therefore, John Windsor moved that the rules be suspended; Dan Mauldin seconded and the motion was approved.

The Chair asked for a vote on the motion to recommend that UNT join UCAID Internet 2 at a membership fee of $25,000.00 per year. Richard Harris noted that the Strategic Planning Committee is including membership in Internet 2 as an action plan that will be presented to the Vice Presidents as part of the planning process. In addition, membership in Internet 2 is included in the Deans’ action plans. The result of the vote was 13 for and 2 opposed.

Distributed Learning Center

Patrick Pluscht reported that the Distributed Learning Center is planning to have two new teleconference rooms in Spring of 1999; one funded by TU Electric in a grant to Educational Technology; and the other is being considered for the new EESAT building. Patrick explained that at the last meeting he had reported that the Coordinating Board had de-regulated electronic delivery of higher education. That was not entirely correct, as the Coordinating Board has simply passed that regulatory responsibility to the governing board of each institution, which in UNT’s case is the Board of Regents. Dr. Turner and the administrative sub-committee of the Distributed Learning Center Steering Committee is working on the criteria for selection and approval of distributed learning courses and programs, to be submitted to the Chancellor.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m.