February 3, 2022

Present

Raymond Brennan, Juan Diaz, David Garrido, Pam Grey, Jory Hadsell, Alex Harrell (tri-chair), Shri Lakshmanan, Sharon Luciw, Joe Moreau, Mary Pape (tri-chair), Iman Seale (notes), Marisa Spatafore (tri-chair)

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Approval of minutes

The December 2021 meeting minutes were approved.

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Zoom spaces

Pape shared that there is signage on campus to direct students to Zoom spaces on campus. The signage was designed by the Office of Communications. There are plans to add additional Zoom spaces. The goal is to have dedicated Zoom spaces for each Guided Pathways Village as well. Hadsell asked whether any data is being collected on student usage of the spaces. Spatafore noted that there are plans to survey students about this.

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Website improvements and updates

Harrell shared that the college website's content management system, OmniUpdate, has been upgraded to the latest version and has been rebranded as OmniCMS. The user interface is still the same for users at this point. The new interface will likely roll out in March, to allow time for training. 

The COVID self-reporting forms for students and employees are now live on the website. 

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Listserv management

Harrell also shared updates on listserv management and ongoing exploration into a system that can replace the older tool that is currently being used. Harrell had surveyed current users to inform this exploration. Some highly requested features for the replacement system were list management; directly send to an email address instead of having to work through an interface; tracking email delivery; rich text editing; and email templates. Harrell is now coordinating a date to hold a discussion on next steps.

Hadsell asked whether there was a possibility for collaboration at the district level or selecting a standard tool for listserv management.

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District Tech Plan status update

Hadsell shared that the next step is for the district Tech Plan to be presented at Chancellor's Advisory Council. It is agendized for their next meeting.

Hadsell also noted that Foothill has restarted their Tech Task Force.

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Online Education - Discussion of short- and long-term needs and solutions; a proposal from the chairs for action

The tri-chairs shared sentiments of support for Online Education and expressed the need to find solutions to the increased pressures due to understaffing exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic. Committee members engaged in a discussion on the needs of Online Education and how best to support the department. 

Garrido expressed his thoughts, including the need for redundancy to avoid single points of failure; leadership and administrative support that is more specific to Online Education; and support at the faculty and staff levels for instructional and other technologies.

As far as short term needs, Garrido noted that holding off on non-essential requests and projects would help while the Online Education Center is in maintenance mode. Grey suggested bringing in temporary employees to support Online Education, if it would be helpful. HEERF funding could be used for this. 

Harrell brought up the possibility of utilizing Hadsell's connections to CVC-OEI to temporarily bring in instructional designers to assist. Hadsell was open to exploring what is possible but noted that Grey's suggestion of hiring temporary employees might be more likely as CVC-OEI has a network of contracted instructional designers. Hadsell also suggested connecting with the KCI. 

The tri-chairs presented the following recommendation with the committee to be shared at the next College Council meeting:

As an advisory committee to College Council, the Technology Committee urges College Council -- following the presentation of an analysis of online education needs -- to recommend that President Holmes fully fund, staff and support a robust and fully functioning Online Education Center. This recommendation is in view of significant staffing shortages that existed pre-pandemic and have become ever increasingly apparent, resulting in strained operations and lessened services in an area crucial to current and future educational opportunities for the students of De Anza College.

The committee unanimously expressed support for sharing the recommendation at College Council.

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Tech Plan updates/accomplishments

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	The COVID-19 reporting forms are now live on the website (Spatafore)
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 Tech Committee plans to make a recommendation to College Council on staffing needs in the Online Education Center (Spatafore) Discussion underway regarding faculty mentors for Online Education Center
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	Continued inquiry into and progress into auditing MyPortal for accessibility (Spatafore)
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	Communication has been open and Hadsell has offered potential solutions for Online Education using statewide initiative resources (Spatafore) The Bookstore is now functional as far as integration with Financial Aid (Grey)

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Standing updates

ETS Project Scheduling

Grey noted that there aren't major updates for now. Structurally, there has been a transition from Measure C spending to Measure G. ETS is continuing to refresh classrooms and some conference rooms are being converted to HyFlex. 

ETS

Hadsell shared that there is ongoing work on an accessibility review of MyPortal, per a request from Harrell. 

Accessibility

No updates for now.