All attendees joined remotely, via Zoom.

Attendees (9):

Members (6): Amita Chin (Chair), Jennifer Joy-Gaba, Oscar Keyes, Kirk Richardson, Valerie Robnolt (Chair), Shanaka Wijesinghe
Ex officio members (2): Colleen Bishop, Elaine Reeder
Scribe (1): Jana Avery

Valerie welcomed everyone and the meeting began at 2:00 p.m.

• The February 6, 2023 meeting minutes were shared, reviewed and approved with one revision needed:
• Correct all references for Matthew James Vechinski to "Matthew" Vechinski.  (corrections complete, 4/4/23)
• The March 13, 2023 meeting minutes were shared, reviewed, and approved.

• Valerie asked Colleen to share information related to the hybrid university and classroom technology planning that took place in the provost’s office. She shared the following:
  • After FTAC recommended holding faculty forums to discuss hybrid instruction, the idea was discussed in a meeting of people from the provost’s office.
  • Colleen, Valerie and Alex were not part of these discussions. However, the planning notes from the meeting were shared with Colleen, Alex and other Academic Technologies (AT) staff for review and to address any outstanding questions the planning provost team had.
  • The planning team also came up with a draft timeline, but soon after Colleen, Alex and others in AT reviewed it, the planning notes were closed, most likely so that planning could continue based on the feedback provided.
• Valerie explained the decision was made to not hold faculty forums tomorrow, but to push it out a bit so they can gather more information.
• As faculty senate president, Valerie sent an email to all faculty last Monday and shared the hybrid university statement and the feedback form, which resulted in additional feedback being submitted.
• Valerie, Amita and Colleen met with William Nelson today and Valerie requested that there be a faculty member from FTAC included, to assist with reviewing and synthesizing the responses.  William agreed.
• Because this is interconnected with the online advisory board, Valerie feels that together these will be used at the May 2nd, year-end Faculty Senate meeting to provide additional feedback.
• Valerie shared her concerns with William, about this getting pushed to the fall, like many other things, which usually means nothing is addressed until October or later.
• Valerie asked if anyone would like to work on this, and Kirk Richardson volunteered.
     Action item: Valerie will send Kirk’s contact information to Jamie Stillman and William Nelson.
• Valerie reported that the feedback closed on the hybrid university statement on March 31st. She and Amita shared how confusing it is because there are so many different modalities. Judith Kornberg is part of a group that is looking at the modalities and information about them will be shared with faculty at some point. She stated that the Faculty Senate is probably the best way to get the most faculty involved at one time.
• Discussion continued…
• framework and need to define our online presence
• graduate and undergraduate classes
• what programs will be targeted for fully online
• challenges to hyflex teaching--managing both students online and in person simultaneously
• some faculty being asked to do hyflex now
• online spaces versus in person spaces
• analytics for student attendance and success
• online asynchronous, hybrid asynchronous
• what the students want
• some instructors mandated to be physically in the classroom, then discover all students joined remotely
• sharing of experiences with hyflex, hybrid
• still categories that many universities need to define and data to be captured
• some content is more effective in person
• different curriculums impacts what teaching modalities will work
• antiquated scheduling system needs to be evaluated; keeping us from really being able to use the rooms more effectively
• with scheduling, there is still a need for flexibility (long term scheduling, approved grants, etc.)
• as instructors and academic professionals, we aren’t going to be paid more to be public intellectuals than they are right now; so grants and time away from a classroom are beneficial
• policies like attendance are driving decisions, rather than engagement, exams, etc.
• discussions of classroom technology turned into conversations about scheduling
• hybrid classes will require more time for faculty

Shanaka opened the topic of HEETF funding and recent changes outlined in an email from William Nelson, which he forwarded FTAC members.  Comments and discussion:

• seems that 2023 and 2024 HEETF distribution will not seek individual schools, colleges, or department proposals
• if understood correctly, this year and maybe the next 3 years, schools cannot request HEETF funds
• the University is taking away our ability to fund development of strategic enhancements
• some classrooms are managed by the schools, not TS; the technology needs are different and HEETF helps us maintain some of the technology
• Valerie pointed out the links Jana posted in the chat--links to October and November 2022 FTAC  meeting minutes when this was discussed and William said that HEETF was one part, but not the only solution or sole source
• recent email about all HEETF funds being directed towards strategic decisions at the university level, made no mention of how or where schools are supposed to acquire funds from
• very confusing, shocking and someone needs to explain
• alternating HEETF funding schema has been known within VCU Libraries for a while, but not sure what communications were like for other schools
• uncertain about the lack of transparency in this process
• thought the process would be driven by the April faculty forums, that are on hold now
• Shouldn’t FTAC be asked for feedback?  Who approves the HEETF funding?
• surprised to see this when we haven't had the faculty forums yet
• thought this was going to be separate from HEETF funding because it wouldn't be tied to restrictive disbursement processes
• he did say HEETF process would be faster
• maybe we didn’t understand that this meant schools wouldn’t get funding for technology improvement; there would have been resistance to this expressed

• Shared in the meeting chat, from February 2022 meeting minutes:
  "Classroom Updates and Funding - Valerie asked about the status of updating classrooms and the funding required. William shared the following: The biggest funding will come from changes made in HEETF funding,which means that next year we will have a strategic investment at the university level for half the HEETF funding (approx. one million dollars) for teaching and learning. Technology-assisted learning will be more than just the online space. There will still be projects that cannot be funded by HEETF that we will have to find money for. We do have a pathway to fund some of the technology, which will take effect in July and August. Some smaller projects may be cut, while we focus on making strategic university-level funding decisions for technology expansion. A recent change will allow us to begin spending in late August and September, instead of in November and December, which is a big help. A lot of this is timing and coordination--funding, renovation, equipment, and classroom schedules."
  
  
• Shared in chat from the past minutes:
  "Plans are underway to transition to a new HEETF model that would allow for investing in academic technology rather than individual technology projects, which is a strategic approach that will result in a larger impact to university."
  

• questions about who approves changes to HEETF and is responsible for communicating these changes; William and anyone on the HEETF approval process did help communicate the allocation info
• need clarity on this; what are schools supposed to do for funding?
• TAC was notified about HEETF plans; every school or department IT director/representative has known about HEETF, and that communication should have happened; TAC asked for a webpage or similar method to help communicate the HEETF process
• maybe the new process will be discussed at the May 2 Faculty Senate meeting

Action items:

• Valerie will contact William Nelson and ask for clarification about HEETF.
• Valerie will contact Judith Kornberg about the modality review process. Elaine will also share FTAC’s modality discussion with Judith.

• Valerie continued the previous discussion about the classroom needs and additional work required by faculty.
• It was suggested we get a definition for these hybrid teaching options.
• Elaine mentioned the ongoing meetings and the definitions that James Fowlkes provided for the modalities in a previous FTAC meeting.
• Discussion continued, with various attendees expressing thoughts and concerns, similar to those mentioned in past FTAC meetings.

Valerie asked Colleen if what Alex shared last month is still the plan. Alex and Hannah are out of the office, so work will resume once they return. Hannah previously said she would reach out to Valerie to request faculty representation.

Tara Stamm is not in attendance today, but Valerie stated that there was another AI panel held recently by CTLE. A discussion ensued, about AI, ChatGPT, Microsoft Co-pilot, new technologies, impact to education, etc.

• AI is a whole different dimension of teaching and learning; it takes time to shift our thinking and plan for AI; VCU needs to get onboard or we’ll be in a mess very quickly.
• need guidelines, standards, consistency (i.e. students can’t have ChatGPT write a paper for them--plagiarism)
• high school student was recently expelled for using ChatGPT
• concerns with the imagery that are also part of AI, and guidelines are needed
• what ifs… concerns expressed about all aspects of changing pedagogy
• there has been mention of including in pedagogical work, but no mention of the Provost’s office leading this and preparing information

Valerie concluded the discussion and asked if any other issues needed to be discussed today. With no further topics, the meeting was adjourned at 3:17pm.

Next Meeting: Monday, September 11, 2023 at 2:00-3:30 p.m. - Zoom