COUNCIL ON ACADEMIC COMPUTING
DR. GEORGE E. KLINZING, CHAIR
MEETING SUMMARY -- MARCH 8, 2001


The meeting was called to order at 10:30 a.m.

Minutes/Announcements

No changes were requested to the minutes of the February 5, 2001 meeting.

  • Proceedings of the January 2001 National Academies workshop are available for viewing on the Research Channel at www.researchchannel.com.  The web site provides streaming video of lectures and speeches from several institutions and are available in four parts, each corresponding to a panel discussion held on that topic.  Each panel discussion includes questions from the audience.  The four sessions are:
    • Technology Futures
    • The Impact of Information Technology on the Activities of the University
    • The Impact of Information Technology on the Organization and Structure of the University
    • The Impact of Information Technology on the Broader Environment of the Research University

Subcommittees

Bandwidth
Hoelzeman provided highlights of the issues presented in the attached subcommittee report.

Systems Failure
Cohn reported that letters have been sent to school and campus contacts informing them that subcommittee members will be conducting 30-minute interviews requesting specific information on how and what is effected by network outages.  The subcommittee will prepare an executive summary reporting on data gathered once all interviews have been completed.

Tegrity Demonstration - Mike Arenth

Tegrity is a complete hardware/software system created and based in Israel.  The unit consists of a portable, mobile cabinet with a PC in the base, a video projector, and three cameras which captures and saves PowerPoint presentations as HTML files available for viewing at remote locations or at a later date as streaming video.

Some useful features of the system are:

  • ability to annotate slides with a laser pointer or colored marker
  • ability to prerecord class lectures, supplemental information (in the form of "lecturettes"), or meeting presentations for viewing at a later date

Some impractical features of the system are:

  • licensing issues; cannot distribute material previously recorded with Tegrity if license lapses
  • presentation files can be quite sizable
  • has low quality microphone and low resolution camera which does not "follow" the presenter
  • currently cannot interface with SmartBoard software
  • presenter cannot interact with the audience as is possible with teleconferencing, making it unacceptable for distance learning
  • use is limited to those who are not vision impaired
  • requires training to maximize its effectiveness

The meeting was adjourned at 11:54 a.m.