Date / Monday 12th October2007
Time / 8.45am – 10.00am
Location / Library Conference Room
Attendees / Garry Allan, Amgad Louka (Chair), Warren Nageswaran, Rod Van den Akker, Craig Anderson, Ellie Johns (notes), Garry Bradley, Lyn Atkinson, Joyce Kirk, John Benwell.
Guests / Alan Levine, Filiz Ergec, Thembi Mason, Andrew Buntine
Apologies / Prof Jim Barber, Jim McGovern, Jim Barber, Rod Noble
Item / Discussion/Outcomes / Action
Confirmation of Notes / Notes from previous meeting accepted as true and approved
Business from previous Notes /
- Notes from the Promoting Active Learning group to be distributed in a few weeks.
- Aligning Course Admin roles document and Business Analyst paper were distributed as soft copy.
- Gradebook & RPO integration - The Chair explained that he has received some concerns regarding the Gradebook being incorporated as a minimum requirement in MOP. This is an issue that the Chair wanted discussed with the DVC (Academic) present. It will be included as an agenda item at a future meeting.
- Electronics communication policy – Chair followed up with Allan Morris who felt that it should be the responsibility of ITS. Rod van der Akker reported that this was discussed at the ITS executive meeting and that Allan will follow this up with Steve Somygi. Regardless, he will ensure that the review and amendment occurs in a timely manner.
Amgad Louka
Business / 3.1 MOP reporting template (open discussion)
Discussions on the use of the particular word “compliance” in the context of statistical MOP data was problematic as it will only reflect the number of hits made to the Bb course, not the use of particular functions and the quality of use. The data reporting also needs to be clarified. Issues were raised regarding the statistical representation of courses that are grouped. Current reports are produced from data at the Bb course level not from hits to courses at the Learning Hub level. In so doing, all courses linked to the same Bb shell are provided the group statistics, not individual course statistics. Warren has agreed to follow up refinements to the statistical reports with Ronnie (ITS/DLS systems) in order to finalise a report format.
3.2 CUB Site proposal (Warren Nagaswaren)
Warren presented a proposal to document the development of the CUB site in the form of learning objects/modules that could be used in a number of programs across multiple disciplines in all portfolios. These would be developed with support from groups such as EMG and Business Online. The resources would also be beneficial for marketing and promotional activities. A number of schools and program coordinators have provided letters of support. In order for the project to proceed support would be required from the University Executive and the site developers, Grocon. It was noted that the resources may also be of great benefit to Grocon who can use them in training and promotional activities. Joyce also pointed out that Grocon could benefit from the variety and breadth of expertise that RMIT staff and students could contribute to the project. An example was in the social sciences whereby studies in the environmental impact of the development could be of great value to the developers. Further discussion and ideas were shared and unanimous support was given for the proposal to advance to the next stage. Garry Bradley suggested that Chris White was the appropriate person to approach about the proposal as he is the key and most senior University liaison with the developers. Garry undertook to raise the proposal with Chris and report back to ETAG. Since a detailed project plan would require a great amount of work, it would was agreed that notional support for the proposal should first be sought from all parties.
3.3Program Annual Reports – e-Learning requirements
The Chair explained that a paper which summarises individual school priorities for e-learning and educational technology has been developed by Bridgit Cameron. This was derived from PARs and consultations between HoSs and the DVC (Academic). The DVC requested that the paper be submitted at the meeting for consideration. The paper was not submitted as expected so the item will be carried forward.
Lyn took the opportunity to inform the Group of recent developments in Business that will see SIM programs using Blackboard from 25th December 2007. Colin Bent has prepared a paper outlining all the issues and actions required for this to occur. This includes timely enrolments (lead by Terrie Healy, Student Admin), in situ training of SIM staff in Bb functionality and administration and resource development. This is a great development that will lead to improvements in processing of student admissions and admin across all portfolios.
3.4Obstacles to the adoption of educational technologies (Craig Anderson)
Craig gave an informative presentation based on early findings from his PhD in factors affecting the adoption of educational technologies in the tertiary sector, and in particular, focusing on RMIT.
Craig ran through literature review that tended to be mainly pre-2005. It also tended to be based on quantitative research. Craig intends to adopt a more qualitative approach to his own research.
An open discussion took place focusing on the motivators and inhibitors to the adoption of educational technologies from the perspective of staff. Craig has agreed to make regular (approx. every 6 months) reports to ETAG on his PhD research.
3.5Emerging technologies and the New Media Consortium (Alan Levine)
Alan Levine was welcomed to the meeting. Alan is the Vice President Community and CTO of the New Media Consortium (NMC). He was referred to RMIT by Phillip Long who is Ass. Dir. Educational Innovation and Technology (MIT), Director iCampus (MIT) and Chair of NMC.
Alan presented and facilitated discussion on topics
NMC:
- Its role and resources
- Potential RMIT involvement with the Consortium
Horizon report and trends in:
- User created content/Social networking
- Mobile technology and learning
- Virtual worlds
- Massively Multiplayer Educational Gaming
- New scholarship and forms of publishing
-Mash-ups and mapping technologies (eg. Google Earth)
- Web services/outsourcing/data-mining/privacy
- Google Scholar
RMIT is now a member of NMC with access to their resources. Staff are able to create an account through the NMC website.
/ Warren
Garry Bradley
Other Business
Date, Time & Location of next meeting / Friday 2nd November 8.8.23
Document: eTAG Notes 12.10.2007
Status:Draft Author: Ellie Johns
Version: 1.0Save Date: 22/10/2007
DocRef: TRIMPage 1 of 3