To :Academic Senate, Larry Pagel–Vice-Chair
From:Michael Kowalczyk, Chair ETRPC
RE:ETRPC Annual Reportfor the 2012-2013 Academic Year
Date:April 11, 2013
The Educational Technology Resources and Policy Committee (ETRPC) consists of representatives from each academic department, two student representatives, the Instructional Technologist, the Vice-President for Academic Affairs, and standing members representing: IT (Information Technology), IDT (Instructional Design and Technology), ADIT (Administration Information Technology), and Olson Library. The diverse membership of this committee enhances the exchange of information across the NMU campus, and ensures that the technology needs and concerns of all academic departments are addressed in a timely fashion.
ETRPC met every other Friday at 11:00am during the fall and winter semesters of the 2012-2013 academic year. Michael Kowalczyk served as committee chair and Kevin McDonough served as committee secretary.
There were two primary visible accomplishments of the committee:
- Technology Innovation Award for Faculty (formerly the TLC Faculty Awards) (presented in December 2012) – the committee received two applications and recommended that one award be presented.
- Technology Innovation Award for Students (formerly the TLC Students Awards) (presented in April 2013) – the committee reviewed ten applications and recommended that two awards be presented.
In addition to these two visible accomplishments, the committee devoted time to a number of other issues:
- The general student record had an "Expected Graduation Date", which was an estimate set to 5 years after the any given student enrolled at NMU. This estimate caused some confusion among students, and in at least one case, almost caused a student to transfer away from NMU. This estimate is no longer visible to students, since it didn't provide any direct benefit, and may have been harming retention.
- Committee members sought feedback from their individual departments regarding the standardization of a classroom response system (i.e. “clickers”). It was determined that overall, faculty didn’t have a strong preference on which system should be adopted, so IDT was free to make a final decision based primarily on other criteria.
- Suggestions were made for improving visibility of the online degree audit system, which is very useful but currently underutilized by students.
- The system for online student evaluations was discussed, and suggestions for improvements were made.
- Planned changes in the online math placement system were discussed, and feedback was obtained.
- Email limitation policies were discussed.
- Various software systems for scheduling advising appointments were discussed.
- The issue of students declaring a major in Art & Design for the sole purpose of getting a Mac instead of a Windows machine was raised and discussed. There was also discussion on the topic of how departments can make a transition from one platform to the other.
- We plan on revising some aspects of the application and review process for the Technology Innovation Awards before this academic year comes to a close.
As in previous years, the regular reports from the IT and Instructional Design and Technology representatives proved to be quite informative. Topics presented in these reports and broached during new business led to discussions of EduCat issues, nighttime wireless access, hardware concerns, technology trends, help desk suggestions, Java 7 security issues, Respondus Lockdown Browser issues, classroom upgrades, workshops, webinars, and software updates.
The committee will elect a chairman and a secretary for the 2013-2014 academic year during the upcoming meeting on Friday, April 26, 2013.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael Kowalczyk
Chair of ETRPC (2012-2013)
Assistant Professor of Computer Science