June 1, 2023

Present

Brandon Bailey (Guest), Juan Diaz, Nazy Galoyan, David Garrido, Jory Hadsell, Sridevi Lakshmanan, Sharon Luciw, Cheryl Owiesny, Mary Pape (tri-chair), Thomas Ray, Dennis Shannakian (tri-chair), Marisa Spatafore (tri-chair), Chelsey Taniguchi (Notes), Lené Whitley-Putz (Guest)

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Welcome and Introductions

Taniguchi introduced herself to the committee and members of the committee introduced themselves as well.

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Approval of Minutes

The March minutes were approved.

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Canvas Accessibility Workgroup

Hadsell and Whitley-Putz discussed updates in the workgroup, especially the progress made towards finding a Canvas accessibility checker. Previous accessibility checkers would say Canvas content is accessible when it wasn't. Therefore, the workgroup is focused on finding a tool that is specifically targeted towards Canvas content.

The workgroup is conducting a sweep of Canvas courses to get an idea of what past content needs to be fixed. The workgroup is testing potential tools and speaking with vendors, as well as involving faculty and instructional designers in these meetings. The goal is to have support from both colleges' technology committees so that there is a unified product across the district.

The workgroup also hopes to have the tool ready for fall quarter. As a result, the upcoming ETAC meeting will be devoted to this topic and this tool will be incorporated into the Technology Plan. 

Shannakian asked if the new tool will be able to check PDFs, since the existing Omni accessibility checker is able to scan webpages, but not PDF or Word files that are uploaded to the website. Whitley-Putz answered that the new tool will only be able to check HTML-based content within Canvas. However, we also use another tool called Sensus Access, which can identify documents that are part of a course and can alert faculty to check the accessibility of these documents. It is possibly a future goal to have a tool that checks the accessibility of PDFs and Word documents, but there is not an existing tool that can do that, yet.

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Website Updates 

Accessibility Tool

Diaz shared the new Excel to HTML table-building tool that is available on the website. The tool allows Omni users to drag and drop Excel files into the tool, where it turns them into accessible HTML tables. Users can then copy and paste the tables into the webpage they are editing. However, the tool is only for simple tables; for more complex tables, users should still ask the Web Team for help. 

This is a significant update because in the past users did not properly label each table header, which made the tables inaccessible to screen readers. What especially prompted this development was the fact that users wanted to post faculty office hours and would directly upload Excel sheets  to the website, which is not accessible.

Pape then asked if this tool works for Word documents as well. Diaz answered that it is difficult to make Word files work with the tool, as it would require users to make an accessible table within Word. The committee concurred that Word document tables are not common, so it is not a major concern. 

Graduation Page

Bailey and Diaz showcased new graduation updates to the website. There is new cover video for the home page, which shows a slideshow of graduates. The graduation page also has a form that allows users to submit congratulation messages and slideshow images of their graduates. It is an easy user interface for students and employees as they can crop and upload multiple photos, which are automatically fitted onto the template. Once a message is approved, it will populate on the page.

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Accreditation Update

Spatafore announced the rough draft of the Accrediation will be posted on Monday, June 5, and will be included in the Quick Notes. The draft will be heavily worked on in the summer and an updated version will be presented at the October meeting. 

Hadsell mentioned that Foothill published their draft about a week ago, which had more evidence gathering, with the written part to come. 

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Governance Assessment 

The committee provided feedback for the assessment item. 

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Tech 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	Registration video for new registration system (Spatafore) The Self Service Banner 9 student module opened up, and general student profiles and faculty modules are in the works (Galoyan) New firewall for De Anza (Hadsell) Updated graduation page (Diaz) The Office of Communications is editing and managing the content on the Dynasigns by taking a more active role in picking relevant videos and messaging about current events. Communications is also ensuring the College Twitter account stays updated on the Dynasigns.
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	James Capurso will join committee Online Education is hiring a  new Dean of Online Education and Learning Resources by July 5 By July 1 there will be two new instructional designers in Online Education, making it fully staffed CCC Systems and WebAim are offering accessible document training to all faculty (Lakshmanan)
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	New accessible table-building tool (Diaz) Canvas accessibility tool being researched (Hadsell)
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	Accessibility subgroup being developed (Hadsell) Parallel committees at both colleges to communicate with ETAC (Spatafore) Multimedia producer in Office of Communications is   collaborating with ETAC in order to create a multimedia server for redundancy (Spatafore) Plans to work on the MyPortal message headline organization (Hadsell and Spatafore) Close relationship between ETS, student services, and  financial aid in SSB9 and other areas (Hadsell) Conversations about how to more closely support student technical needs and removing student barriers by integrating their needs into the system (Hadsell and Shannakian) ETS simplified the user interface in February/March to streamline the user interface and is looking into a new project request system too, in order to create a more unified system

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Standing Updates

Accessibility

• The audit of MyPortal and upgrading the portal infrastructure brought a lot of accessibility issues into alignment (Hadsell)
• Working with Elucien to make sure that it will be accessible, especially since the college is moving away from the portal (Hadsell)

Banner student

• Elucien glitches are being fixed (Galoyan)
  • Banner is being reset to fix scheduling for non credit courses (Galoyan)
  • Student Elucien is fine (Galoyan)
• Continued work on SSB9 including student profile (Hadsell)

ETS

• The Computer Network Use policy went to ETAC and Chancellor's Advisory Council for a first and second reading
  • Faculty association expressed concerns over policy, so the second version has not been finalized
• Annual district audit and IT audit are in process
• ETS is looking for new ticketing system to replace KACE and is close to making a selection that integrates workflows and helps user experience
  • Facilities and Police have tried the demo
  • It might take a while to make a switch over when it is selected
  • New ticketing system will replace KACE and ticket system for keys, and potentially will replace Facilities' ticket system
• Subscribed to Arctic Security, an early warning service, that will scan to see what could be potentially exploited

Online Education

• James Capurso will join the Technology Committee
• Online Education will be fully staffed in July
  • A new Dean of Online Education and Learning Resources will be hired by July 5
  • Two new instructional designers will be hired by July 1
  • Please come to the October meeting so everyone can be introduced