November 2, 2017

Present: Susan Cheu, Brandon Gainer, Alex Harrell, Cecilia Hui, Heidi King, Sharon Luciw, Leah Mieso (notes), Mary Pape (co-chair), Lorrie Ranck, Dennis Shannakian, Stacey Shears, Marisa Spatafore

Introductions/Approval of Minutes

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The minutes for June 1 were approved.

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Website Redesign Update

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Harrell said the Web Team is finalizing template updates with Omni and testing will be done over the next two weeks. The Web Team will begin training employees on the new website through numerous workshop opportunities, which were announced to users earlier in the day, via email and the website. The first part of the training will be on the new template and then trainees will have the opportunity to work on moving items from their old site to the new one. The Web Team is encouraging users to stay after the training session to get hands-on help in moving items.

Spatafore noted that the Web Team is also offering one-on-one trainings to any user who prefers that format. She added that King has collaborated in the development of the training.

Hui asked for confirmation that employees will be trained on how to do things themselves so that they don’t need assistance on updating their web page. The Library has new software and she wants to make sure she knows how to incorporate it into the new web page.

Pape asked what pages the Office of Communications will be responsible for moving over. Harrell responded by telling the group the Web Team will be responsible for the overall transition, but it’s best for users to review their own content, taking the opportunity to delete and editing outdated items and improve their own content. Spatafore added that the Office of Communications maintains certain key pages for various departments including Outreach.

King asked, per a Technology Plan activity, if someone is planning to communicate with managers to encourage staff to attend the trainings. Spatafore confirmed that she had already sent a message to other senior staff members with the expectation that it would be forwarded within the areas. She will also be following up with a message to all managers. [This email was sent on Nov. 6.]

Spatafore shared that two of the biggest complaints with the current website are the directory and search bar. Harrell is working on cleaning up the directory and he shared that we will be using a new search engine.

The current Google search is not pulling in results that are relevant and there isn't a way to filter searches (i.e. documents vs. website vs. course schedule). There is also limited styling ability and the search results are poor. Through research, Harrell identified Funnelback as the best option for search on the redesigned website. Harrell gave a preview of the new site and showed the committee all the features the new tool offers. There will also be excellent analytics to track what gets searched and when. The search scanner also checks for accessibility and compliance. Shears encouraged Harrell to continue to work with DSPS experts on accessibility.

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Canvas Update

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King provided basic statistics for people to know about canvas usage and transition. Last fall everyone was on Catalyst and this fall everyone has been transitioned to Canvas.

Spatafore and Pape both complimented Online Education Center staff on their success. Ranck said she appreciates the team for the hard work in the transition. She has seen an increase in sections offered in the last year. She has also seen an 18% increase in online enrollment with retention and success rates growing as well. De Anza surpasses the 70% success rate for online education. She said the quality of the platform, training, instruction and the faculty’s desire to provide a positive learning experience online have contributed to the success rates.

King said Canvas has a new accessibility checker which tells you what’s wrong, how to fix it, and gives a drop down menu of suggestions for how to fix it. She also mentioned that there are new workshops for faculty.

Ranck said an online tool is being worked on to help answer questions people have about Canvas. A new student evaluation pilot will start tomorrow using a tool and they think it will work well for the online question form. The goal is to King said Online Ed added a practice course online for students to practice online class features. It will be housed on Canvas and on a student’s resource page.

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Technology Audit

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Spatafore said three colleges, including De Anza, were selected by the California State Auditor to undergo a technology audit. he auditors conducted interviews over the summer and they were mostly interested in online accessibility, general accessibility, technology training and the technology purchasing process. The final draft of the audit comes in the next month or two.

Harrell said that in response to the audit, the Web Team updated the college’s policies and procedures on website accessibility. He said the Web Team conducts a monthly website accessibility audit. In the website redesign, all pages must be accessible before the CMS will permit publication. The Web Team will assist with any questions. and makes sure that when any page is updated it is checked for accessibility before it gets published.

Spatafore and Luciw added that our college and the district does a much better of checking out website for accessibility than other colleges and we have a lot of resources to make sure our pages are compliant.

Shears asked Harrell is he ever finds individuals who continually make the same mistakes with accessibility compliance. Harrell said he doesn't find that the same people make repeated mistakes, but that the same issues are being found across different pages updated by people. Accessibility will be a key element of the Omni trainings.

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Review of Technology Plan Progress

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Goal 1: Support ubiquitous, agile technology across the campus community

Objective	Implementation Activities
Promote the consolidation of technology functions to yield economies of scale and/or foster better communication	Cecilia sent Harrell some updates, which were added to the technology map. He also added the correct number of macs in the library. King said that Online Ed will be giving syllabi suggestions for particularly online courses to foster better communication between faculty and students
Assist with the transition of the course management system from Catalyst to Canvas	King and Ranck gave the report earlier in the meeting regarding the complete and successful transition to Canvas.
Create a map for technology support	Harrell showed the updated map.

Goal 2: Teaching, learning and student engagement

Objective	Implementation Activities
Collaborate with Academic Senate, other partners on the development of open educational resources	Pape said there has been good collaboration with the academic senate; we’ll get updates on Starfish later.
Assist as affordable and feasible in the organized provision of tablets and similar devices in classrooms and programs	Ranck said they continuing to distribute the tablets and looking into long-term use (i.e. using them in a learning cohort). Pape added that they are looking to use the tablets more in CIS
Guide the continual growth of course management system functionality to foster meaningful student-instructor and student-to-student communication	Spatafore said that this pertains to an issue the Accreditation Evaluation Team mentioned and Ranck supplied information on. Ranck also talked about the advanced workshops and equitable environments for online students
Collaborate with its accessibility expert and Disability Support Programs and Services (DSPS) to continually evaluate accessibility and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance across the website, learning management system and student information systems	Cheu said we’re moving forward with doing a survey for all the computer labs with the goal of ensuring accessibility. She will be talking to various groups to see what needs to be done to provide better access. Shears said all the labs have been assessed and now they’re seeing what the actual accessibility needs are and creating a grid to meet those needs. Shears said it’s been interesting learning more about technology and physical space on campus and how to use that space.
Improve access to student and academic services via technology	Spatafore said that this is accomplished in part through governance group communication. Shears also mentioned counseling via Zoom and Starfish is starting soon.

Goal 3: Deeper research into student success and subsequent responses

Objective	Implementation Activities
Collect and analyze data to guide the enrichment of the student experience through technology	Spatafore thinks it might be a good time to do a new survey. King said that Online Ed has switched over to the new ticketing system this fall. Students utilize it for non-emergency questions. It is separate from Canvas and it has worked well to give a clear picture of what students have questions about. There are fewer questions about online courses. Faculty members haven’t been using it quite as much; the main questions have been from students asking how to get feedback on assignments if their instructor uses turnitin.com. Another question from students are about timed quizzes and quizzes with multiple attempts. The ticketing system has been helping Online Ed know what to suggest to instructors
Research and work to implement device-independent technologies that improve student access and equity	Mary asked how much feedback has been given about submitting assignments on a phone. King said it’s strongly suggested that students don’t use their phone.

Goal 4: Professional development

Objective	Implementation Activities
Collect and analyze data to guide the enrichment of the student experience through technology	Previously reported OmniUpdate training and the follow-up with managers.
Research and work to implement device-independent technologies that improve student access and equity	Ranch noted the rehiring of the tech trainer position and gathering results of asking people what they’re interested in

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Standing Items Update

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Accessibility

Shears talked about the Dudley v. Miami University case, a legal case of a blind student who didn't get all the accommodations she needed to pursue a degree. This case sparked some of the questions from the auditors had about how we meet accessibility standards. Shears mentioned that DSPS just ordered raised graphing paper for blind students to use on a test. She also thinks DSPS would benefit from having agreements with instructors to ensure students get the accommodations they need.

Cheu added that she has become familiar with the fact that you can’t assume everything is accessible for everyone.  

ETS

Hui wanted a better understanding of the new ETS process for moving equipment. Luciw mentioned that there is a kick off meeting this month about moving information to the cloud.

ETS Project Scheduling

Cheu said that there will be a project scheduling meeting on December 1.