General Meeting Information

Date: February 1, 2023
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Zoom


  • Agenda

    Time Topic Purpose Discussion Leader
    1:30-1:35 p.m. Welcome and Introductions I/D All
    1:35-1:40 p.m. Approval of Minutes I/D/A

    All

    1:40-1:50 p.m. Website Improvements I/D
    • Diaz
    • Harrell
    1:50-2:10 Feedback on Edits/Updates to the Electronic Information Security Board Policy and Administrative Procedure (3260) I/D/A
    • Schultz
    2:10-2:40 p.m. Tech Plan Updates I/D All
    2:40-2:45 p.m. Potential Partnership with Apple I/D/A
    • Hearn
    2:45-3 p.m.

    Standing Updates

    • Accessibility
    • Banner Student
    • ETS
    • ETS Project Scheduling
    • Online Education Advisory Group

    I


    • All
    • Galoyan
    • Hadsell
    • Grey
    • Nocito

    A = Action
    D = Discussion
    I = Information

  • Minutes [DRAFT]

    Present

    Samuel Bliss, Raymond Brennan, James Capurso, Juan Diaz, Brandon Gainer, David Garrido, Jory Hadsell, Lydia Hearn (guest) , Alex Harrell, Justin Schultz, Sridevi Lakshmanan, Kevin Metcalf, Gabriela Nocito, Cheryl Owiesny, Mary Pape (Tri-chair), Dennis Shannakian (Tri-chair), Marisa Spatafore (Tri-chair), Chelsey Taniguchi (Notes)


    Welcome and Introductions

    Sam Bliss introduced himself to group as the new Associate Vice President of Instruction. Shannakian adds that Christopher Li is no longer on the DASG senate and a new student representative will be chosen. 


    Approval of Minutes

    The November minutes were approved with minor edits. 


    Website Improvements

    • A new online form was designed for College Operations. The form can be used to order supplies for the Managed Print System. It is a simplified version of old order form, and it has been up since early January. (Harrell)
    • There have been backend improvements of the website which allows the website to respond when students search for keywords that might not be on the website by redirecting them to related searched.  These backend improvements also prevent hacking. (Harrell)
    • The Web Team is now able to pull program data from eLumen and integrate it into class schedules. (Harrell)
    • The Web Team was also able to extract textbook data from Follett and integrate it into the schedule – including prices. (Harrell)
    • Chat Cat is still training and has not gone into production yet,. It scraped and gathered information from the website and connected with open AI, which allows it to formulate responses with information from the website. In the past, the Web Team had to manually program answers and pick out specific keywords for Chat Cat, but now with AI the program can translate basic English and pick out keywords in order to search the website and return a response. Chat Cat can also pull information about available classes. (Diaz)
      • Nocito asked if a student needs to speak to a real person can Chat Cat redirect them?
      • Diaz responded that it sends students to the contact form for different programs so that they can reach an actual person to talk to. Diaz also adds that Chat Cat has the ability to speak different languages but it hasn’t been tested yet. 

    Electronic Information Security Board Policy and Administrative Procedure (3260)

    • ETS is requesting feedback on Electronic Information Security Board Policy and Administrative Procedure 3260 and will send out a link soon. The documents can be found on the Board website and they have been converted into Word documents. The black text is what is currently approved and the red text is edits made in the initial ETS review or current feedback from ETAC and the Foothill Technology Committee. (Schultz)
    • The focus is on updating both documents for 2024, since the policy was last adjusted in 2009 and the administrative procedure was updated in 2013. Other community college policies and updates can be looked at for inspiration. (Schultz)
    • Please request edits or send feedback to Schultz directly by Feb. 8 
    • The key areas of focus for the Board Policy are electronic information security, accessibility and business continuity. (Schultz)
    • The Administrative Procedure is mostly definitions, so focus on the key responsibilities and their relation to you. (Schultz)
    • It can get complicated, so a good exercise is to map out roles and responsibilities since we want to be able to react quickly in an emergency. Additionally, due to IT audits we should regularly review these policies. (Hadsell)

    Technology Plan Updates

    Goal
    Description
    Accomplishments

    Goal 1: Increase Overall Student Access to Technology for Learning and Services

    Includes but not limited to the provision of laptops for students, and other devices as necessary; software and software as a service (SAAS) as appropriate, both required and that would enhance the student experience; continuous technical improvement of communications resources including the website, app and portal; and classroom equipment to support student learning and engagement in evolving modalities, with classroom needs documented through updated classroom standards, program review and the Facilities Condition Assessment

    • Computer Information Systems will host a programming contest, which could not be done without ETS's help in moving to VDI. (Pape)
    • Equipment was moved back into the renovated E3 DMT area. (Hadsell)

    Goal 2: Increase and Enhance Faculty and Staff Professional Development and Training

    Includes but not limited to robust training and related communication about the trainings based on faculty and classified professional feedback, including to holistically improve online pedagogy and pedagogy in the use of technology tools, including in evolving modalities and accessibility training

    • The Office of Communications met with Sal Breiter and Claudia Guzman from the Office of Professional Development about creating a more cohesive website and automatic sign-ups and reminder emails about PGA events. (Harrell)
    • Online Education will try to integrate with the Office of Professional Development. (Nocito)
    • Online Education is also providing their own training: Regular Substantive Interaction (RSI). (Nocito)
    • eLumen curriculum training is also being offered (Harrell)
    • The Office of Professional Development is putting out "AI in Instruction" workshops (Nocito)

    Goal 3: Continue Work to Ensure Accessibility

    Includes but not limited to implementation of SAAS to support an equitable teaching and learning environment; researching strategies and emerging technologies and implementing as appropriate; ongoing ensuring of accessibility in instructional and communications tools

    • ETS received MyPortal feedback on accessibility and keyboard navigation from Harrell and Debby Armstrong. The edits are in production (Hadsell)
    • Harrell provided feedback on keyboard navigation for the upcoming Lucien Experience, which will replace MyPortal (Hadsell)
    • The Web Team is continuing to make accessibility improvements to the college website. During the move to the new version of Modern Campus accessibility settings were altered. As a result, the Web Team has made updates to the accessibility checker system in Modern Campus (Harrell)
    • Harrell received certification from International Association of Accessibility Professionals (Harrell)

    Goal 4: Enhance Communication and Collaboration with ETS to Achieve Evolving Priority College Objectives

    Strategy to include monthly small-group meetings of Tech Committee and ETS leadership, with updates as requested, on college-identified priorities including but not limited to

    • Ubiquitous, functioning Wi-Fi, including on Athletics fields and in parking lots
    • Upgraded technology for employees, including shorter personal technology refresh cycle of three years, as appropriate
    • Improving communication, including of system and software availability and changes
    • Development and support of peripheral loan program to address additional needs, such as doc cams, iPads for whiteboards, etc.
    • College-identified projects that
      • Directly affect student success or the student experience, particularly timely requests via expert administrators
      • Address regulatory issues
    • Pape was able to explore her ideas with Galoyan and Banner 9 staff (Pape)
    • Schultz has been to both Foothill and De Anza's Tech Committees to discuss updates to procedures (Schultz)
    • Schultz is leading effort on creating better printing system for students. Nocito and Shannakian were the first members on the committee to help pioneer this project (Nocito)
    • AB928 Implementation, which automatically places students into ADTs where they exist, has started and will be done by summer hopefully (Hadsell)
    • Jerrick in ETS has been very helpful with the assessment side of eLumen (Harrell)
    • The Multimedia Team in the Office of Communications is getting closer to having a server that will meet office needs – which couldn't be done without ETS. The process for getting new computers from ETS has been easy to navigate (Spatafore)

    Potential Partnership with Apple

    • Lydia Hearn attended an Apple briefing, which was a conversation about approaching students needs on campus, especially thinking about students' trajectory from start to finish. (Hearn)
    • One of their ideas is having an iPad (or other tech) for each student. When they come to campus, they would be given an iPad with everything they need like apps for tutoring and textbooks. (Hearn)
    • This could help find friction points in the student experience and find ways to show students that they can succeed. For example, if parking were a problem there could be apps on the iPad that show available parking spaces on campus. (Hearn)
    • To make this possible, we could shift budgets around, charge students or get donations. iPads are around $300 each and tech support for each student could be included in extra fees. (Hearn)
    • In very preliminary talks, enrollment went up when students were charged – rather than pushed away. (Hearn)
    • Harrell asks if we specifically need iPads/new tech to do this, or can we achieve this through making college apps more robust (Harrell)
    • Hearn adds that ETS can automatically put apps out, therefore the college wouldn't have to rely on students downloading apps themselves. Apps can also be used for instructional purposes. (Hearn)
    • Owiesny adds that this would benefit Athletics in terms of ed planning and seeing schedules on the iPad. However, her other concern is that it can be challenging to have to go to ETS for individual issues. 

    Standing updates

    Accessibility:
    • ETS received MyPortal feedback on accessibility and keyboard navigation from Harrell and Debby Armstrong. The edits are in production (Hadsell)
    • Harrell provided feedback on keyboard navigation for the upcoming Lucien Experience, which will replace MyPortal (Hadsell)
    • The Web Team is continuing to make accessibility improvements to the college website. During the move to the new version of Modern Campus accessibility settings were altered. As a result, the Web Team has made updates to the accessibility checker system in Modern Campus (Harrell)
    • Harrell received certification from National Association of Accessibility Professionals (Harrell)
    Banner Student:
    • ETS has been working hard on trying to prevent fraudulent applications (Harrell)
    • The new FHDA Experience that is replacing MyPortal will be soft launched in a month or so, continuing the movement of things from the old Banner to Banner 9 (Harrell)
    • Tomorrow is next release of CCCApply which will contain a new student identification piece: ID.me. It will be step in right direction of stopping fraudulent applications (Hadsell)
    • Shannakian asks if ID.me is optional, Hadsell confirms that you can delay opting in (Shannakian)
    • Shannakian is working on updating the student email page in MyPortal and backend systems, which makes things easier and clearer for students since there isn’t current student tech help support for district items (Shannakian)
    • ETS and the college have been working together on the application fraud issue, and Galoyan has been very helpful by verifying by hand (Spatafore and Hadsell)
    ETS Update:
    • Working with Foothill as they revitalize shared governance, ETS will reform the hardware and software standards committe. ETS will also define standards for faculty and staff machines and peripherals, and bring in additional dialogue from both colleges on instructional space and multimedia standards. However, they will need to develop clear lines on consulting with faculty,  and how to handle fringe cases that veer from standards (Hadsell)
    • Work on data infrastructure: ETS is in the process of migrating data from ODS to invoke learning snowflake database environment (a more modern and complete data warehouse) (Hadsell)
    • AB928 implementation will involve lots of code changes in Banner, some in eLucien and some more local (Hadsell)
    • The first phase design for the WiFi project is all ready to go and has gone to the Department of State architects for review. Hazmat testing will be conducted over the next couple of weeks to look for hazardous materials that might affect WiFi expansion.  Phase two will involve getting wireless in all parts of campus. The design for that came back and the budget is not high enough, so ETS is trying to figure out how to break up parking lots (Metcalf)
    • ETS is also doing work to roll out security end point detection software, which will happen automatically behind the scenes for most users. Some will have to be updated manually, so messaging will come out with instructions. In compliance with district cyber insurance policy, it will be pushed out before the end of the month (Hadsell)
    • Owiesny adds that internet has not been great for athletics (Owiesny)
      • Metcalf responds that office issues will be in phase one but tennis courts and lots will be in phase two
    • Bliss adds that the CDC needs better wifi (Bliss)
    • Shannakian asks if there are any updates on the ETS call center or ticketing system (Shannakian)
      • Metcalf responds that the call center has an interim supervisor. It also only has one employee there, but there is still the net same amount of employees (Metcalf)
    • Schultz adds that ETS has started technical onboarding for Fresh Service system. Configuration will happen over the next several weeks and after that, they will pull in additional potential users and groups. There will be some overlap between KACE and Fresh Service, which will hopefully be ready for summer (Schultz)
    ETS Project Scheduling:
    • ATC moveback has started after the flooding (Metcalf)

Documents and Links


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