IRC News Minutes provided by Sue Ellen Richey, Recording Secretary

IRC Regular and Ex-officio Voting Members: Judith Adkison, College of Education; Ginny Anderson, Fiscal Affairs; Donna Asher, Administrative Affairs; Craig Berry, School of Visual Arts; Sue Byron, Faculty Senate; Bobby Carter, UNT Health Science Center; Jim Curry, Academic Administration; VACANT, Student Association, Don Grose, Libraries; Jenny Jopling, Instruction Program Group; Joneel Harris, Administrative Program Group; Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner, Standards and Cooperation Program Group; Abraham John, Student Affairs; VACANT,Graduate Student Council; VACANT, University Planning Council; Ramu Muthiah, School of Community Services, GALMAC; Jon Nelson, College of Music; Robert Nimocks, Director, Information Technology,UNTHSC; Patrick Pluscht, Distributed Learning Team; Mark Rorvig, Research Program Group (Acting Chair); Paul Schlieve, Communications Program Group; Kathleen Swigger, College of Arts and Sciences; Philip Turner, School of Library and Information Science and University Planning Council (Chair, IRC);; Virginia Wheeless, Chancellor; John Windsor, College of Business. IRC Ex-officio Nonvoting Members: VACANT, Telecommunications; Bill Buntain, Computing Center Networking; Jim Curry, Microcomputer Maintenance Shop; Richard Harris, Computing Center; Coy Hoggard, Computing Center; Joel Lanpher, UNT Health Science Center; Maurice Leatherbury, Computing Center; Sue Ellen Richey, Computing Center (Recording Secretary). [As of 10/2000]

September 19, 2000

VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT:CHAIR: PHILIP TURNER, SUE BYRON, DON GROSE, ROBERT NIMOCKS, JON NELSON, PAUL SCHLIEVE, ELIZABETH HINKLE-TURNER, JONEEL HARRIS, JIM CURRY, DICK VEDDER (for JOHN WINDSOR), JUDITH ADKISON, DONNA ASHER, RAMU MUTHIAH, KATHLEEN SWIGGER, CRAIG BERRY, PATRICK PLUSCHT, BOBBY CARTER, MARK RORVIG, JENNY JOPLING

NON-VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT: RICHARD HARRIS, COY HOGGARD, SUE ELLEN RICHEY (Recording Secretary)

MEMBERS ABSENT: GINNY ANDERSON, ALLEN LIVINGSTON, VIRGINIA WHEELESS, JOEL LANPHEAR, BILL BUNTAIN, MAURICE LEATHERBURY,

GUESTS: JENNIFER JOHNSON, LOU ANN BRADLEY, JAMES STRAWN, TIM CHRISTIAN

Meeting Minutes

Since there had not been a quorum present at the July 18^th meeting, the June 20^th IRC meeting minutes were presented for approval.

Web Publishing Policy

The Chair reported that the IR Steering Committee had met that morning and discussed the Web Publishing Policy and Guidelines. Several changes were suggested and Maurice Leatherbury will make those changes and forward the policy to Dr. Pohl and Mr. Rafes. In response to a question from Mark Rorvig, Dr. Turner replied that the University’s Web Publishing Policy is very much related to the State’s policy; in fact UNT’s policy references the state policy.

Distributed Computing Support Management Team

In Maurice Leatherbury’s absence, Tim Christian reported for the Distributed Computing Support Management Team. The group has been reviewing Department of Information Resources requirements regarding security on campus as well as campus-wide software licenses. During the past month, the committee has completed their evaluation of mobile PDAs. He distributed a final report of that evaluation which indicated the items they evaluated and gave a detailed chart of a comparison of their features. The Palm Vx with Palm operating system scored the highest overall, in the comparison. The group recommends that when departments purchase any of these devices that they seriously consider the intended use of the device. They are considered capital equipment and since they are easily stolen, lost or broken, it is recommended that employees purchase their own device unless it is critical to an employee’s specific application or task. "How-to-use" documentation has been written for these four devices and will be provided by UNT computing support staff.

Instruction Program Group

Jenny Jopling reported for the Instruction Program Group that the group met to discuss the computer-based testing facility on campus. They are also working with a grant for computer-based testing network state-wide. Jenny will be working with the director of Counseling & Testing to coordinate this grant. The purpose of the state-wide network is to provide approximately 30 proctored testing facilities throughout the state for distance-learning students.

Communications Program Group

Paul Schlieve reported for the Communications Program Group that at their next meeting they will discuss UNT’s internet connectivity and the status of building wiring projects.

Administrative Program Group

Joneel Harris reported that the Administrative Program Group has been very involved in meeting with vendors and participating in demonstrations and presentations on administrative computing software for higher education and various enterprise-wide solutions. Presentations and demos have been seen from Datatel and SCT, then Oracle and Peoplesoft. The Hunter Group has also made a presentation, as a consulting group that actually does implementations of these other products. The various strengths and weaknesses of each product were briefly stated and Joneel explained that more review is necessary before a decision can be made on any one of these vendors. She said they hope to be able to make a recommendation by the end of this Fall semester. Joneel stressed that a mutually satisfactory agreement between administration and users must be reached before any final choice is made for any one of these vendors or systems. Joneel stated that when a recommendation is made it will be for a system that UNT can build on and one that will last another 20-30 years.

Standards & Cooperation Program Group

Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner reported that the Standards & Cooperation Program Group met yesterday and has finished a major portion of the policy revisions to the policy on "Access to University Resources." They will continue to review policies currently in force. They hope to have the Computer User Policy in draft form for the IRC meeting in January, 2001.

Distributed Learning Team

Patrick Pluscht reported for the Distributed Learning Team that for the past month the focus has been on rectifying the failure of the operating system that WebCT is running on. At their next meeting they will discuss how to prevent this type of failure in the future.

Paul Schlieve commented on the failure of one of his courses last year, and it appeared to be a separate incident from the operating system failure; Jenny Jopling said she would work with Paul after the meeting to work out his problems. Patrick also reported that Jenny is working on a mini-WebCT conference, and Patrick and Dr. Turner will also be doing a strategic planning workshop for departments on campus, which they are also making available to other institutions. In addition, Patrick reported that another TIF grant in the amount of $850,000 has been released on which Drs. Leatherbury and Turner will be working with Patrick work with some of the partners in the Houston area to developing an internet2-based video conferencing system between here and Houston.

Jenny Jopling stated that the instructional designer for the DLC has developed on-line student orientation for WebCT learning. The orientation includes what it is like to be a distance learner, computer literacy and internet navigation skills. The orientation is free.

Future Meeting Schedules

The proposed schedule of IRC meetings was distributed and it was suggested that the December meeting be changed to the 2^nd Tuesday, December 12^th. Members were asked to send the Recording Secretary any other suggested changes to the schedule. [If no other schedule changes are announced, the IRC will continue to meet from 2:00-4:00 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month, in the Administration Building Board Room.]