ILevel Meeting Notes, February 10, 2004
Members present: Elaine Bell, Tony Drommi, Dina Dubuis, Tom Jeffrey, George Libbey, Marcel O’Gorman, Mark Ottenbreit, Emmy Yousey.
iGrants
Twelve iGrant proposals were submitted:
John Freeman: memory upgrade and digital camera for Dudley Randall Center for Print Culture.
Approved. Check prices with Ed Tracy. Approve for the exact items requested plus additional memory for the camera, if needed.
Kathleen Zimmerman-Oster: port replicators and books with CD-ROM. Replicators approved. Requests for books not approved.
Should be referred to the Library. Please contact George Libbey.
Psychology: LCD Projector for Reno.
Approved for $1,000.
Matt Mio: update of workstation for NMR Spectrometer.
Approved for $1,000.
Nassif Rayess: Director 3D and Physics plug-in.
Approved for $788. Talk to Ed about purchasing licenses for Director.
Will Wittig: Eco-tect.
Approved for $965, provided they use it to study heating efficiency in our building (humor).
Judith Luxmore: laptop
Approve for $1,000. Refer her to Summer Institute. Talk to Ed about putting it on a cart with a projector.
Education: SimCity software and funding to attend a conference.
Not approved.
Education: Data Projector for Education Lab.
Approved for $1,000.
Civil Engineering: GPS and GIS software
Approved. ILevel is interested in having CivEng share this software with other departments, perhaps Architecture.
Benvenuto: Media Cart with TV/VCR/DVD for Chemistry.
Approved.
Basic Skills/Computer Proficiency Exam Ad-Hoc Committee
Tom reported on the progress of the committee. The group discussed their expectations of such an exam before examining the current Basic Skills Exam designed by Pat Misterovich et al. They have broken up the Office Suite and are rating its components according to their usefulness to students. The next step is to consider Internet research tools.
Marcel attended the first meeting and noted that the committee is committed to creating the exam with an interdisciplinary (not just CIS) approach. This is, after all, a tool for the core curriculum.
The next meeting of the committee is Thursday, February 19.
Emmy: The exam will be implemented on June 14 and 24, July 8 and 15, and August 5. 10:30-11:30. 6 labs will be used.
Tom: Questions about exam: Will students be able to retake portions of the exam afterwards if they have failed? How much time do they get to take the exam? E.g., if there are 5 modules and they fail 2, where and when can they go to re-take exam?
Emmy: Remember that this is a “basic” exam, and not designed to suit the needs of individual colleges. Currently, there is only one hour slated for this exam during the SOAR sessions.
There is general concern that this exam may not be ready by April. There is also concern that we should be looking at competency exams elsewhere, Seton Hall for example. Marcel will speak with Tony about pushing the exam forward more quickly, and about making a comparative study.
It is important to demonstrate that this new exam will not be a detriment to CIS. Elaine will get data regarding who is teaching CIS100 (primarily adjuncts), and who is taking it. What is the revenue generated by this course, and what students are being advised into it?
Next meeting: Friday, March 12th at 11:00 in the Fisher 5th floor board room.
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