Instructional Support Committee

Attending: Bill Francis, Marci Sortor, Leslie Gregg-Jolly, Karen Shuman, Richard Fyffe, Matt Kluber, Terri Phipps

Minutes of 4 November will be sent for email approval.

Update on campus printing: With demand for e-reserves and other online resources (along with accompanying printing expenses) growing, we should assess the actual expenses of information resources as costs have moved from the student (textbooks, course packets) to the college budget (printing, e-reserve/copyright permissions) and now possibly back to the student (printing charge-backs).  Inter-Library Loan articles are now delivered electronically.  Richard will ask Library staff to begin tracking unretrieved printed documents.
                Leslie has been charged with forming a task force to look at the cost of information resources for students. She invited input from ISC members regarding the composition of the task force, that will hopefully be small but still include students, faculty and key administrators.

Campus Plan Update: Marci Sortor and a team of faculty and administrators visited six campuses to explore various teaching and learning spaces. The College has some grant money to experiment with spaces before investing a lot of time, energy and financial resources into creating or re-purposing spaces for the long-term. The team is very conscious of various types of spaces, including labs and other types of research, as well as concerns for staffing needs that may arise.

The team has drafted four proposals for consideration. Proposal numbers are for reference only; proposals have not been prioritized.

Proposal 1:

Consolidate the media collections in Burling Listening Room and the AV Center, and the viewing and production equipment in those locations and the Creative Computing Lab, into a single facility that is staffed on a regular schedule with technical support.

Proposal 2:

A computer teaching space for 20-30 designed to facilitate collaboration, and allow both discussion and lecture.

Proposal 3:

Set aside space, purchase equipment, and hire the necessary personnel to support data analysis across the curriculum.

• Qualitative and quantitative teaching and research.
• New methodologies such as Geographic Information System (GIS).

Proposal 4:

One or more computer-equipped semi-private consultation spaces on Burling's first floor that could be used by Writing Center, ITS, library, or other academic staff, or by classroom faculty, for office hours or by-appointment consultation with students or groups of students.

Proposal 1 would be most challenging as an experiment because of space and staffing concerns. It is not clear how critical it is to have viewing and production equipment together, though some viewing ability is essential to production. Technical support personnel will need to be readily available.

Proposal 2: Computers should be accessible in—but should not dominate—the space. It is not clear if there would be one computer per person or if computers would be shared. The vision for this space seamlessly integrates digital imaging with a flexible space. A tour of Noyce will be held on Tuesday, November 24, for faculty to talk about teaching spaces.

Proposal 3: Space and staffing concerns make this proposal challenging as well. The Data Analysis Center would be an interdisciplinary space, not just for science. Students can develop research methodology and the Center could offer some consulting services. As such, the Center would require a high level of support.

Proposal 4: It would be helpful to bring support resources (Writing Lab, tutors, etc) into the Library to work with Librarians, to have easier access to materials, and to offer small group study space. This space could include white boards and one or more computers.

Long-range issues:

• What should / should not be in a Library?
• What is a Media Center?
• What is a Data Analysis Center?
• What type and levels of support might be necessary in each space?

Respectfully submitted,
Terri Phipps