Committee meeting - March 3, 2016

Darren Bondy
Secretary to the Committee
March 8, 2016

Present: 

Bruce Campbell (Chair), Darren Bondy (Secretary), Steven Bourque, Andrea Chappell, Marko Dumancic, Erick Engelke, Bob Hicks, Dawn Keenan, Dave Kibble, Robyn Landers, Paul Miskovsky, Sati Singh, Jason Testart

Guests:

Peggy Day, Stefan Idziak, Isaac Morland, Mirko Vucicevich, Heather Wey, Jan Willwerth

Regrets:

Trevor Bain, Dave Gawley, Carl Nagel

Agenda

  1. MarkBox exam processing demonstration (Paul Miskovsky, Mirko Vucicevich) [30 min.]
  2. Engineering survey tool demonstration (Erick Engelke) [20 min.]
  3. Chair’s remarks [5 min.]
  4. Approval of the minutes of the meeting of February 18, 2016 [5 min.]
  5. Undergraduate Student Email in the cloud RFP (Bruce Campbell) [15 min.]
  6. Other Business [5 min.]
  7. Roundtable discussion – all [15 min.]
  1. Next CTSC Meeting

[Will be held Thursday, March 17, 2016, at 1:30 p.m., in EC2 111.]

MarkBox exam processing demonstration (Stefan Idziak, Paul Miskovsky, Mirko Vucicevich)

Stefan Idziak Presented on Science’s exam processing tool, MarkBox. Idziak provided an overview and explained the processes of creating and grading tests within the tool as well as what is coming up in the near future for MarkBox.

View the full presentation on MarkBox (PDF).

Comments & discussion

  • When results are sent to students, do they also receive the question set for reference?
    • It depends on the professor; some do not like to release their question set, others do.
  • You can randomize questions for an entire test or within certain question sets/groups.
  • The results can be exported to LEARN.
  • Currently restricted to single answer questions; it is difficult to have a user interface (UI) that can handle multi answer questions properly.
  • Essentially any scanner will work; New Media Services will scan them for a fee.
  • This can be available for other faculties if there is interest; we are capable of adding a few more users at this time, please contact Stefan Idziak.
  • The only alternative at this time is Scantron.
  • It is in beta right now; currently have a resource issue that would make it difficult to support broader (campus-wide) use.
  • Cannot currently share tests with other users in MarkBox; working on that now.
    • You can export a test and then another user can import it but we are working on a simpler way of sharing.
  • Tests are stored in the system for 1 year (which is also standard for the University for paper tests).

Surveyor demonstration (Erick Engelke)

Erick Engelke presented on Surveyor and provided a demonstration. Topics included:

  • Problems to solve
  • Considerations
  • Version 1
  • Version 2 – February 2016
  • Overview
  • Compatibility
  • Network considerations
  • Faculty/staff
  • Demonstration

View the full presentation on Surveyor (PDF).

Comments & discussion

  • How does it differentiate from what is already available like SurveyMonkey?
    • It has UWaterloo user ID’s in it so that surveys can be sent to specific groups of people on campus.
  • So far, the biggest use case for it has been in the classroom; more informal than the official surveys students are asked to take.
  • Results are live just like iClickers.
  • Jan Willwerth has been leading a project to look at student response systems and alternatives to using iClickers; Jan will take a look at this tool.

Chair’s remarks

  • The chair proposed that Colin Bell be added to the committee as a member. For unknown reasons CTSC had only included 6 of the 7 IST directors.
    • Campbell believes that Bell will be a good contributor to the committee and with everyone’s support will officially add Bell as a member.
    • Members all agree with the proposal; Bell will begin attending at the next meeting on March 17, 2016.
  • Campbell gave an update to Executive Council on IST on March 2nd; at a future meeting will give a recap of that update.

Approval of the minutes of the previous meeting

The minutes from the previous meeting were accepted as distributed.

Student email in the cloud update (Bruce Campbell)

In-camera item.

Other business

  • What is the strategy for replacing/upgrading the physical security systems on campus?
    • We are beginning to investigate next steps for security because the analog systems will be end of life soon.
  • There is an investigative team in IST currently looking at cloud storage solutions; OwnCloud is up next to be reviewed.
    • Whatever tool is chosen, the plan is to make it available centrally.
    • Shawn Winnington-Ball will attend a future meeting to discuss this in more detail.

Roundtable Reporting

Technology Integrated Services (Steve Bourque)

  • Just a reminder to ask your groups about the use of campus news groups and shutting them down; will bring it up again next week looking for a final decision.

Instructional Technology & Multimedia Services (Andrea Chappell)

  • Had the second meeting for the Teaching and Learning Spaces committee.
    • This committee will be focused on classrooms
    • Next phase is going to be gathering info; will look at the spaces we have on campus as well as take some fieldtrips to other educational institutions to see what they have.
  • Hired a new Production Services Manager to replace Erin Young while she is maternity leave. Pamela Braza Pitman will be the new manager of that group until Erin returns. 
  • Integration between CrowdMark and LEARN has been discussed before; looks like the issue is fixed now.

Environment (Marko Dumancic)

  • Still dealing with an outstanding issue with our WLU joint programs; both sides have met but still waiting on the results of that discussion.

Arts (Dawn Keenan)

  • Local Administrator Password Solution (LAPS) for Windows machines is working effectively in our labs; working on getting that into our offices on staff and faculty machines now.

Math (Robyn Landers)

  • Computer Science has decided to purchase the Casper Suite from JAMF for their Mac management.
    • Will have on-site training and could potentially have room for a few additional people if there is interest. Contact Dave Gawley if interested.

Science (Paul Miskovsky)

  • Swapped out one of our Visibull boxes and put Scinage up; uncovered a couple problems that Mirko will need to work on but it is live now.
  • Raspberry Pi 3 has dropped in price so we are hoping to make digital signage more affordable.

IT Security (Jason Testart)

  • Put out an RFP a while ago for the Email Security Gateway project; 4 were shortlisted.
    • Awarded the RFP to Trend Micro which has both an email and exchange integration solution.
    • Implementation plans will be coming out soon; hoping to launch in the spring.

Next meeting

The next meeting will be held on March 17, 2016 at 1:30pm, in EC2 111.