IRC News Minutes provided by Sue Ellen Richey, Recording Secretary

March 9, 2004

VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT :  PHILIP TURNER, Chair, ELIZABETH HINKLE-TURNER, PAM HIGHT (for DON GROSE), CHRISTY CRUTSINGER, BRUCE HUNTER, RAMU MUTHIAH, LOU ANN BRADLEY, JON NELSON, JENNY JOPLING, RUBY HUANG (for MAX KAZEMZADEH), JIM CURRY, ROBERT NIMOCKS NON-VOTING MEMBERS PRESENT: JOE ADAMO, MAURICE LEATHERBURY, PATRICK PLUSCHT, SUE ELLEN RICHEY (Recording Secretary) MEMBERS ABSENT: JUDITH ADKISON, COY HOGGARD, JONEEL HARRIS, RICHARD HARRIS, ABRAHAM JOHN, KATHY SWIGGER, CENGIZ CAPAN, KENN MOFFITT, DONNA ASHER, DOUG MAINS, ARMIN MIKLER, BOBBY CARTER CHUCK FULLER, JOHN PRICE, ERUM SHAIKH
 

The Chair reported that there has been no IR Steering Committee meeting since the last IRC meeting.  However, Maurice Leatherbury noted that Richard Rafes has reviewed the GroupWise Everyone E-Mail Guidelines, and although he doesn’t have any problem with the document, he has asked that they be given greater visibility, suggesting that they be attached to the Computer Use Policy.  Maurice said he was considering attaching them to a new policy now being developed which deals with email retention compliance.  Maurice said he would take this issue up with the new Standards & Policy Planning Group.

Distributed Computing Support Management Team 

Maurice reported that although the Distributed Computing Support Management Team has met, there are no major issues on which to report.

Instruction Planning Group

Jenny Jopling reported that the Instruction Planning Group has not met, and added that she will need to turn the responsibility of Chair of that group to someone else, as she has taken a position as Director of Distance Learning at the University of Texas at Arlington and will be leaving UNT at the beginning of April.

Communications Planning Group  

Lou Ann Bradley reported that the Communications Planning Group has met but they had no major issues on which to report.

EIS Planning Group 

There was no one present to report for the EIS Planning Group.  There was some discussion about the new Time Reporting System, and the Financial Reporting System.

Research Planning Group 

Maurice Leatherbury reported that the Research Planning Group has not met.  He is collecting testimonials of researchers regarding their need for technical support for research  and waiting for more information from one faculty member before writing a white paper.  He  plans to request an additional staff position to support research, and hopes to have the request ready to submit to the administration right after Spring Break.

Standards & Policy Planning Group 

Maurice Leatherbury reported that the Standards & Policy Planning Group has not met because Kenn Moffitt is working on EIS portal design.

Student Survey 

Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner reported that the Student Survey results are now in a form she can understand but she does not have a report ready for the IRC at this time.

Distance Learning Team 

Patrick Pluscht reported that the Distance Learning Team has not met.  He reported that the video satellite program on the real cost of on-line courses was very successful.  They bought the license to be able to stream that video, and he will be sending out an email message later today regarding this.  He explained that those wanting to view the video will have to have an EUID and password in order to view it and to download the packet materials.  He noted that members should watch their email for another PBS presentation on “CiberInsecurity? Prevention and Protection Solutions” to be held on April 6^th  (link to the program:  http://pbs.org/als/programs/crhe0103.htm ).  The Distance Learning Team will meet this Thursday as a group.  Patrick also reported that they have recently severed their ISDN connection with the Health Science Center for the video-conference network and now connect through IP at a cost savings for the University. 

Jenny Jopling added that the rollout of WebCT Vista will begin in the summer; 5 courses are already using Vista in a pilot project. 

Patrick commented that there have been 50,000 hits to the new UNT e-campus web site.  They are very pleased with the response to this service to students. 

In addition, Patrick mentioned a web service called “turn it in.com” to which students’ papers can be uploaded for the purpose of checking for plagiarism.  This is a software license that SLIS is using, and which could be very beneficial to faculty throughout the campus.  A campus-wide site license for this product is being investigated.

Classroom Monitoring System 

Maurice Leatherbury  reported that he gave a presentation at a recent EDUCAUSE meeting in which he told about Jim Curry’s Classroom Monitoring System which Jim designed to check on equipment in classrooms across campus.  As a result of Maurice’s presentation, at least four groups have planned to come to UNT to find out more about the system.