Faculty Technology Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes
Monday, February 6, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.
All attendees joined remotely, via Zoom.
Attendees (14):
Members (8):
Michael Cabral, Amita Chin (Vice Chair), Mark Crosthwaite, Oscar Keyes, Matthew Vechinski (alternate for Kirk Richardson), Valerie Robnolt (Chair), Carmen Rodriguez, Shanaka Wijesinghe
Ex-officio members (4): Colleen Bishop, Alex Henson, Elaine Reeder, Jennifer Joy-Gaba
Guests (1): William Nelson, Jr.
Scribe (1): Jana Avery
Valerie opened the meeting at 2:00pm, and introduced Matthew Vechinski, who was attending for Kirk Richardson. Valerie noted that FTAC has never discussed having a substitute attend when needed, and said that it would be very helpful if all members did that.
The November 7, 2022 meeting minutes were shared, reviewed and approved with no revisions needed.
Action item from November 7, 2022 meeting: The need to fill the FTAC position vacated by Kathryn-Murphy Judy in August 2022. Action item from the November 7, 2022 meeting: Valerie was to follow-up with Catherine Ingrassia, the interim dean for Humanities, to ensure they have a representative at our next meeting.
Action Items (Valerie):
- Invite Tara Stamm to join as a member of FTAC.
- Follow-up on a replacement for Kathryn Murphy-Judy’s vacated position.
Valerie and Colleen informed the group that Katie Shedden, Senior Manager of Learning Systems in Academic Technologies has requested feedback from FTAC on the Canvas app installation process, and specifically how her team can best support faculty through this process. Katie would also like to incorporate the feedback in a presentation that will be shared with the VCU community and the higher education community more broadly. Valerie shared Katie’s recent presentation to the IT Career Community (ITCC), "Governing Better Outcomes: Canvas Apps at VCU", which Katie plans to present again at two upcoming local conferences. In her presentation, Katie speaks to the challenges of managing apps that integrate with Canvas at VCU, and the impact of this process on our community, and she would greatly appreciate any context faculty can provide. The recording of Katie’s presentation to the ITCC will be posted and shared soon.
- The Google Slide deck for Katie’s presentation has been opened up to allow comment access. She is especially interested in FTAC’s feedback on slide #11, “Faculty & Staff Impacts”.
- Valerie suggested that FTAC members take this opportunity to share feedback, and try to do so within 2 weeks. Feedback can be emailed directly to Katie (kshedden@vcu.edu), or via comments on her shared slide deck.
Action Item (All FTAC members): By the week of February 20th, share feedback with Katie Shedden on her presentation "Governing Better Outcomes: Canvas Apps at VCU" (especially slide #11).
Hannah was unable to attend, but shared the following:
The past few months VCU Technology Services has been working diligently to re-envision how we do IT Governance at VCU. IT Governance is a process used to review and make recommendations on IT investments/purchases at VCU. This review process is used when someone wants to pursue, purchase, renew or find a technology solution to meet an identified business, teaching, research or operational need.
We have recently undergone a redesign of our IT Governance process with a goal to implement an expanded IT governance structure at VCU, with review committees focused on specific areas of the University. The overall goal of this redesign is to ensure this new process is accessible to all, operationally efficient, engages stakeholders across VCU, transparent in its operations, incorporates strategic and cost-conscious decision-making, and aligns IT procurements, initiatives and planning with the goals of VCU.
As a member of the FTAC, we value your feedback on the new process draft. The following documentation outlines the proposed Governance structure, process and workflow:
Our next steps for this project are as follows:
- Identification, selection and training of:
- Committee Members for the Academic & Research Technology Committee and Administrative & Operational Technology Committee
- IT Consultant Representatives for MBUs
- Creation of new submission/review process in Smartsheet and update of IT Governance website.
- Anticipated go live of new process: April 2023
We appreciate any feedback you can provide us! Please feel free to share any feedback by either replying to this email or using the Feedback Form.
If you wish to schedule a meeting to discuss further please reach out to itgov@vcu.edu. If you are interested in serving on either one of the new IT Governance Review Committees, please review the IT Governance - Committee Expectations and Requirements document and let us know by responding to this email.
✔ Action Item (Colleen): Hannah provided more details, which Colleen will share with FTAC members. Completed. Colleen forwarded email from Hannah on Mon, Feb 6, 3:36pm to all members. Jana posted all details and links from Hannah’s email above.
Valerie opened a discussion regarding the Provost’s 1/26/23 email about the online strategy implementation launch and appointment of a new Online Advisory Group (OAG). William shared that the OAG will take on broader topics beyond technology, as it relates to online education. Technology is going to be infused in a lot of conversations and the committee will have the opportunity to participate in many conversations as it relates to technology and the impact of how we learn.
The OAG, chaired by Judith Kornberg, will:
- inform the implementation of key recommendations with the goal of increasing VCU’s capacity and competitiveness in offering high-quality, accessible programs and courses to an increasing number of students
- serve as a short-term group to review recommendations to keep things progressing
- explore beyond technology, with topics such as online advising
- hold its initial meeting in February
- for 2023:
- Draft a hybrid definition.
- Create an online quality rubric.
- Propose a redesign of faculty incentives.
- Determine the infrastructure support mechanisms to implement.
- Review and draft intellectual property & remote proctoring procedures.
The need for coordinated collaboration and communication with Faculty is a critical part of determining the technology needs for classrooms, as well as the resources and funds to provide them.
- Hybrid University - Valerie asked William to elaborate on the statements and the request for faculty feedback in a recent email from the provost. William shared the following:
- We are trying to move forward based on the outcomes from the OAG.
- There are many discussions about the language used (i.e. hyflex, hybrid, simulcast); some of the same discussions that have taken place here with FTAC
- The statement is referring to all these discussions, which started about a year ago, and now we are taking steps to define some of the terminology, providing clarity so we can all understand where we are. The message to faculty was to provide them a chance to share feedback.
- In addition to sending out that email, the provost is meeting with faculty across the campus over the next six weeks or so to share that message and to encourage faculty to provide feedback.
- Valerie shared that William visited the School of Education recently to discuss how the classrooms are used and one idea shared was about turning a classroom into a hybrid one, which would be outfitted with some of the technologies that an FTAC subcommittee reviewed last fall.
- Michael suggested that we also have conversations with faculty about how many classes are actually held in the classroom. Many faculty want in-person classes, and some do not want to use technology in the classroom. The provost’s statement about a hybrid university differs from what we are actually seeing right now (most classes back in the classrooms).
- William said there is an estimated 87% of our students that have a minimum of at least one online course this semester. We see the online sections filling up during registration. We have to accommodate in-person courses--it doesn’t go away with becoming a hybrid university. As we settle into returning to campus post-COVID, we will get a better picture of the classroom usage and then need to prepare for a provost-mandated percentage of courses offered online.
- There was a brief mention of having student forums at some point, which is important too. We know students prefer online versus in-person, but do they perform better, worse or the same?
- AI programs - This is a hot topic around campus right now, and is a good example of the need for coordinated collaboration and communication that fosters strategic decisions. There were reports from several FTAC members that they were not aware of a discussion event happening on January 31, 2023, sponsored by CTLE. It was noted that “expert departments” were not consulted or invited to participate on the panel or otherwise. It was also noted that there was no representative for Focused Inquiry, who should have been included due to the role of college essays in that department and its size/scale. There is an overall concern that communications (in general) are not reaching faculty. There are many media outlets, but not all faculty use them or use them regularly.
- 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.
- Summary: Faculty Feedback
- Faculty need to share their thoughts on teaching and learning, and the technology needed to support our students and our faculty. These vigorous conversations will take place in several formats, like those in the OAG.
- William explained that they want the OAG to have a consensus. Alex has talked about it also, and they want to hear more from the faculty about the type of teaching they will be doing. With this information, they can align funding allocation and technology decisions. He emphasized again, the importance of hearing from faculty exactly the types of things they want to see, so that the technology needed to support that can be acquired.
- Alex mentioned the evaluation process used for licensing Adobe Creative Cloud, and migrating from Blackboard to Canvas as good examples of us “doing it right”. Gathering feedback, and directing the funding towards the technology to support our faculty and students. We are using student technology fees in ways that the students can actually see what they are getting from it. And we want to avoid students being hit with software licenses and other fees that only a few classes use. William stated that we need to begin addressing a single point of input, decisions and funding rather than everyone going in different directions, spending money to try something new.
- Elaine shared that VCU Online for Faculty are piloting tools that are not just for online, but for all (i.e. peer review tool). Her department is piloting because faculty are using tools that students have to pay for. They need a way to share this information, especially when talking about participating in tool selection. Ideally they would like for these initiatives to come through VCU Online for Faculty so they share, help faculty understand and give them the opportunity to participate.
- Next steps
- We need to determine the best way for sharing important information with all faculty to engage them in discussions, evaluations and decisions about technology needs for teaching.
- Valerie mentioned the classroom surveys that Jared distributes to the faculty that teach in centrally supported classrooms each semester, and suggested sending a survey to a broader group of faculty, maybe in March before the end-of-semester busy time.
- William expressed concern that surveys might not get the kind of in-depth feedback from faculty, and proposed having forums--bring faculty in and have some robust conversations, stir up interest, maybe get 100 or 200 faculty members to attend.
- Valerie suggested we have an ad-hoc committee that could hold the forums and target late March/early April.
- Oscar mentioned the VCU Libraries and their facilities for hosting these types of events.
- Recommendations from William:
- Location is really going to be determined by how you want the meetings/forums to go (i.e. online and face-to-face together). Virtual sessions might provide more opportunities for faculty to attend, and there could be breakout rooms, a variety of meeting options, and topics designated for the different forums or rooms.
- He encouraged us to plan these forums with potential ways to engage and demonstrate what is possible with a hybrid course. And to also keep that in mind when selecting a physical location to host them--the room should have the technology and it should be used during the forums. When we kick this off, it should clearly be the opening of a discussion with more to come. Part of succeeding with these discussions is the level of confidence that faculty have in what we are doing. That's the key.
- Having a feedback form for hybrid university would help promote what the provost included in his recent email. We need to make sure that feedback form gets distributed and that faculty see it, recognize its importance and respond.
- He recommended having CTLE host and facilitate these faculty discussions.
- Action items (Valerie):
- Valerie will contact Tara Stamm to get this collaboration started with CTLE. Planning needs to begin now, in order to target late March/early April.
- Valerie will continue her discussions with Mangala (Sr. vice provost for faculty affairs) and will also reach out to Tara Stamm about joining FTAC in the position vacated by Kim Case, or if they have someone else from faculty affairs that could join.