TLTR Meeting Minutes

January 31, 2006

Attendance:

Dean Lindey- IT, Rebecca Zahora-IT/PTA, Melba Tomeo-Library, TLTR co-convener, David Valentine- CpSc, Linda Passaner-IT, Brandon Himes-IT/PTA, Russ Dively-Collegis, Joanne Leight-PE, TLTR co-convener, Brian Danielson-Collegis, Glenn Utsch-Music, Jessamine Montero-Academic Services, Connie Laughner-Ramirez-Academic Services, Padma Anand-Counseling & Development, Eric Tuten- History, Jim Hathaway-G,G,&E, Frederick White-English, Ryan Hoffman-Library, Elise Grabner-Mathematics, Paul Mullins-CpSc, TLTR co-convener, Katie Lang-TLTR GA

 I.      Regular Business Reports

A.        Report from IT – Dean Lindey

           1.  FYI – Microsoft Office copyright issues should apply ONLY to future installations.

           2.  Citrix project – Linda and Henry in IT are currently working on server configuration, Citrix Administrator position has been posted/advertised (hope to have an individual in place by spring 2006), one question that remains to be answered:  When should Phase II occur?  This Year or next year?                    

B.        Report from Collegis – Russ Dively

           1.  Blackboard is slow currently, please be patient.

2.  Enrollment grafter – please note, this is to help maintain 1 BB site for multiple sections of a course, but unable to build content this is only an enrollment grafter.

3.  Course Genie – able to upload a tremendous amount of content into BB as a word document; before anyone purchases software please contact Russ Dively regarding availability.  See additional comments related to Course Genie under the Program minutes below.

C.        Taskforces – Paul Mullins

1.  Discussed the reorganization/updating of taskforces.  Please be on the lookout for an announcement regarding this matter from the TLTR listserve.

II.      New Business

1.  Web Policy Subcommittee of Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) – Melba Tomeo: web advisory group that reviews web content and recommends revisions; currently the main focus of the group is to review SRU Home page; future directions may include addressing copyright.

III.    Program – Blackboard Authoring Tools - Russ Dively, Collegis

Ready for the next step?  Would you like to use Blackboard as more than a passive platform for handouts?  Russ Dively presented on Course Genie today, which some faculty are already using to create instructional material.  Course Genie is a handy Microsoft Word add-on that allows faculty to create a tutorial as easily as creating a Word document.  You can incorporate pop-ups (think glossaries), insert images, external urls in a sort of window box, self-tests, and a wide variety of multimedia including video, flash, and sound files.  A few simple formatting commands creates a live tutorial in just a few minutes – honest!  The tutorials are html based and can be easily placed into Blackboard as a zip file.  Russ pointed out that the implementation of these features can create more engaging learning experiences with relative ease.  To download a 30-day trial, visit http://www.horizonwimba.com.  For more information, contact Russ Dively at 4856 or Brian Danielson at 2473.   (Comments courtesy of: Melba Tomeo)

See you next Month:  Tuesday February 28, 2006: Technology in Modern Languages with Ana Maria Caula