The Curricular Technology team, like all the newly formed teams will do a “self-assessment.” Sheila Andrus from Human Resources will facilitate this self-assessment which has been tentatively scheduled for Dec 8th from 2:30-4 pm

Team Goals and Objectives

The team agreed to reserve our next meeting (Dec. 1st) to discuss goals and objectives for the next 12-18 months. Alex agreed to send team members our original charge. It was recommended we all review the 4 LIS strategic directions, as well as slides from Sheila Andrus.

Curricular Technology Web Site

The team continued its work on the new Curricular Technology website. It was suggested we contact Linda Knutson about helping with the “wikification” of the existing helpdesk documentation.

Team members volunteered to begin adding content to the new site as follows:

* Buzzwords: Sue
* Research: Bryan
* Graphics: Mack
* Course Management: Alex
* Web Publishing: Joe
* Video: Mac
* Discussion and Communications: Joe
* Visualization: Bryan, Mac
* Audio: Alex
* Presentation: Bryan

Segue v1 Shutdown Discussion

The Area Director’s team responded to our first draft of recommendations for when and how to finally shut-down Segue v1, suggesting a later date then we had proposed to ensure that all Segue v1 site owners are properly informed and are able to migrate their sites to v2. The team agreed to let Alex and Shel continue work on this project.

Mack and Alex are working at the helpdesk. Alex tangentially wondered if and how the CTT should be more involved in the helpdesk. It was noted that the team has a number of issues on its plate – not the least of which was the original charge to find a replacement for Segue. If the team is to be involved in other projects – then we need direction and new goal setting from the ADs. It was agreed however, the CTT could have a hand in training staff at the helpdesk once a replacement application is chosen. It was suggested that the team could also have a hand in application development – particularly for MiddMedia and could help determine which features and applications are most appropriate for curricular use.

For the rest of the meeting CTT discussed its new website. There was some disagreement about the current navigation – but it was agreed to seek feedback from a few potential users before changing the navigation from the current mock up.

Discussed the philosophy behind  Quick Starts, and came up with the following rubric:

• That we need to post some information that relates to the different labs on campus
• That there needs to be information about some of the free for download applications such as Audacity that are included among the tools
• Discussed what essentials might be included in a Quick Start Guide as it related to Audacity.

In attendance: all team members, Sue Driscoll (minutes)

The focus of the meeting was the IA of the CT website and how to build the site.

Decisions we made:
We agreed that we will use Drupal for the quick starts and overviews, which will then link to MediaWiki for more detailed documentation. The existing Ed Tech site was an initial attempt at a curricular technology site, and should only be used for its content.

We agreed that Dan, who volunteered, will be the ‘project manager’ of the CT site. His responsibility is to oversee the building of the site and make sure that others are doing what they said they would do. Others will be involved in finding and writing documentation. He will begin by adding the lists of Tools and Uses to the site.

We decided that each Tool will have its own page and will include an overview, a quick start and a link to more detailed documentation. Alex will write an example ‘quick start’ before the next meeting.

We decided that each Category of Uses will have consistent headings:
1. What is it? (overview)
2. What do you need to do it? (software, hardware)
3. How do you do it? (quick start)
4. Tips and Suggestions
Also, a link to more detail than the average user wants, or to a glossary and/or buzzwords
Alex will create sample text for the Video category of Uses.

Joe commented that it is important to identify who is going to do what. For example, who will curate the stories? What is a story? We agreed that a story is a 3 sentence blurb about an activity using curricular technology that links to a longer story on another department page or blog. There may be photos and links to our tools. Someone on the team should be responsible for finding these stories as they are reported around campus, write a blurb, perhaps add a photo and put them on the CT site.

Where do pdfs live? They should be linked to Midd Files because Drupal is not the place to store large files. Word documents can go into the Wiki and video files can go in MiddMedia. CT should set the example on this.

Team ok with Alex sending out the notice he presented. Team decided that the notice should be sent to all faculty rather than a limited group. Team decided that Segue 1 should be made unavailable at the end of Fall 2009 classes and not postponed until later.

Topic 2: CT Site IA.

Team looked at the Uses categories started by Alex. After much discussion and a few changes, we agreed to use the following IA as a starting point for our build-out:

• Uses
  • Video
    • Video recording/editing/formatting
    • Computer screen recording (i.e. screencasts)
    • Images/audio/video collection
    • Share video on the web
    • Create/share series of audio/video files (i.e. podcast)
  • Audio
    • Audio recording/editing/formatting
    • Share audio on the web
    • Create/share series of audio/video files (i.e. podcast)
    • Musical notation
  • Graphics
    • Scan a photo/slide or document
    • Image editing (resize, crop, reformat)
    • Images/audio/video collection
    • Presentation of text/images
    • Create/share a collection of images/audio/video
    • Model creation
    • Charts/graphs/diagrams
    • Create and print posters
  • Web Publishing
    • Create a web site
    • Create a course site
    • Create an online journal (i.e. blog)
    • Share files on the web
    • Share documents/presentations for collaborative editing
    • tagging
    • Share news/opinions/ideas with a group
    • create/edit/share calendars/schedules
  • Research
    • Find news on a topic
    • Web page “bookmarks” (i.e.  tags)
    • Manage citations
    • tagging
  • Data Collection & Analysis
    • Data analysis (i.e. statistical analysis)
    • Surveying
    • Document collection from others in a group (e.g. assignments)??
    • Quizzes/Exams??
  • Presentation
    • Create a presentation of text/images/audio/video
    • Create and print posters
    • Share presentations for collaborative editing
    • Share presentations/slide-shows on the web
    • Display geographic data
  • Course Management
    • Share files on the web
    • Share documents/presentations for collaborative editing
    • Document collection from others in a group (e.g. assignments)
    • Announcements
    • create/edit/share calendars/schedules
    • Grading
    • Quizzes/Exams
    • View/share a list of students in a class/people in a group
    • View/share views of roles/participation in a site (i.e. contributions of subscribers, authors, editors, admins… etc)
  • Discussion & Communications
    • “real-time” discussion
    • “asynchronous” discussion (needs nicer term)
    • A meeting in a virtual environment
    • send email to a class/group
    • Give feedback about contents of a document (e.g. assignment)
    • Annotate content of a document (i.e. inline notes) (e.g. assignment feedback)
    • Share news/opinions/ideas with a group
  • Visualization
    • Create/edit/annotate maps
    • Display geographic data
    • Model creation
    • Participate in a virtual environment (e.g. 2nd Life)
    • Meet in a virtual environment
• Tools
  • MediaWiki
  • WordPress
  • Audacity
  • Segue
  • GoogleDocs
  • Key Survey
  • Voice Recorders
  • Video Cameras
  • Still cameras
  • Microphones
  • iPods
  • ArcGIS
  • GoogleEarth
  • Moodle
  • Sibelius
  • GradeKeeper
  • RefWorks
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Adobe Flash
  • MiddMedia
  • Scanner
  • Blender
  • EndNote
  • CONTENTdm
  • SubjectsPlus
  • SnapzPro
  • PowerPoint/Keynote
  • Word
  • Excel
  • Google Reader
  • Drupal
• Buzzwords
• Stories
• Help

Next Week

• Discuss what platform[s] will be used to build out different parts of the site (Drupal, MediaWiki, or both).
• Assign editing roles for the site.

Tasks to accomplish between meetings should be proposed during the meeting, not proposed between meetings. If proposed between meetings, should not have no expectations of accomplishment.

Communications strategies, EMail vs. Google Docs. Be clear about what is up for debate, what is not.
Vote: Email will be sent to team list. New message threads with descriptive subjects will be created for new topics. (unanimous)

Q: How does the CT site relate to our main charge?
A: A good CT site helps direct users to CT tools and services and helps users make better usage of all things we provide.

Topic 2: CT Site IA

Uses will be categorized under the following categories (to start):

• Video
• Audio
• Graphics
• Web Publishing
• Data Collection & Analysis
• Presentation
• Course (stuff?)
• Discussion

Uses will often fall under multiple categories. This should be encouraged to allow our constituents to find things even if they would assume categorization different from us.

CT and CTLR Collaboration

Alex met with Mary Ellen Bertolini, JoAnn Brewer and Shel Sax to discuss ways in which the Curricular Technology team and the Center for Teaching, Learning and Research (CTLR) can collaborate.  It was agreed that at the very least we would cross link our sites in a consistent way so that visitor of either site could easily move from one to the other.  Beyond that we discussed documenting “teaching with technology” stories that we would organize by means of “pedagogies” and “technologies.”  The CT team with the help of Academic Consulting Services (ACS) would take the lead on developing an initial site for these stories and a basic organizational schema with the CTLR would review.

Review of Technology in Education Sites

Of the sites about technology in education that were compiled, The Tufts Academic Technology site seemed the best organized and well-written.  Many of these sites included documentation such as A/V classroom support that we have decided is best maintained in our wiki.  The team struggled with how to handle tech buzzwords that so many people use but so few really understand.

Curricular Technology Site Information Architecture

The overarching objective of the CT site IA continues to be finding a way to connect technologies/tools with pedagogies/uses with case studies/stories.
The team continued to struggle with the challenging task of categorizing different types of technologies and uses and how to label and describe these. Two strategies were debated:

Lists of specific Uses and Tools
This approach favors creating potentially long lists of different uses/objectives (real-time discussion, asynchronous discussion, collaborative writing…) and tools, both hardware and software (Audacity, Blender,…,Microphone,…,MediaWiki,…,WordPress).  If the lists are properly organized, efficiently laid out and contain simple descriptions, then people ought to be able to find what they are looking for…  Key to this strategy is short simple labels when possible for categories, particularly for higher level navigation (e.g. Uses, Tools, Stories, Help)

Categories of Technologies/Tools and Uses/Pedagogies

This approach favors categorizing technologies/tools and uses/pedagogies into a limited number (no more than 10).  If these categories are well thought out and taken as a whole form some sort of narrative, then people ought to be able to browse and find what they need…  The strategy requires longer, more descriptive navigation labels (Tools, Platforms and Media, Teaching and Learning Strategies, Case Studies, Help)

Tech Buzzwords

There was a lively discussion of tech buzzwords and whether or not to use them in our navigation.  Many felt that it might be better to avoid these as much as possible and include a section on Buzzwords/FAQs

While part of the CT team charge is to create a “tech incubator,” it was briefly considered that we might include a section on Initiatives, many felt we hadn’t done enough in this area to include such a section in our initial IA.

MiddMedia

Adam added server-side transcoding to MiddMedia which will allow users to upload a wider range of audio and video formats (see: MiddMedia now supports more video formats).  He chose video compression settings that sought a balance between quality and deliverability for most formats, settling on 720px X 480px as the largest resolution and a maximum data rate of 1000 Kbps.  MP4-H264 (and the lower quality FLV) are the only formats in which the original user’s resolution and data rate is preserved and so MP4-H264 is the best choice for the highest quality video.

The LIS wiki has documentation for how to use MiddMedia and how to export video files as .mp4 files. Mack noted that the new version of Quick Time “dumbs down” some of the earlier features – and that we should look at Quick Time 9 to confirm comparable export options.

ShadowBox WordPress Theme

Education Studies e-Portfolios

Shel has been recommending to the Education Studies program to move e-Portfolios to WordPress – The team noted that WordPress does NOT meet the requirements of at least some of the faculty in Education Studies including Gregg Humphrey and Jonathan Miller-Lane. Apparently both Gregg and Jonathan ask their students to include information in their e-Portfolios that should have different access settings than other parts of the portfolio.  Thus for these faculty granular access control is critical.

UPDATE: Shel has discussed the use of WordPress with all faculty in Education Studies and explained its pros and cons as as platform for e-portfolios.  Some faculty in the department are currently trying out WordPress, others are observing…

BreadNet recommendations

Shel has reviewed our BreadNet recommendations and supports them.  He has requested these be put on the agenda of the next AD team meeting.  A proposal that First Class (the application that powers Breadnet) might be a possible solution for large file management was briefly considered.  The team agreed that there are likely better solutions for this particular problem, solutions that would probably better integrate with our existing platforms.

CT Team blog to merge with New LIS blog

The team decided to include CT Team blog as part of the new LIS blog, but did not come to consensus as to where to put meeting minutes.  Possible platforms for these would be the blog or a wiki or even Google Docs.  Critical to this discussion was whether all meeting activity was suitable for public discussion.  Some meeting activity might be too sensitive or unresolved for public debate or may simply be too boring!

CTLR and CT Collaboration