Oct 22 - 2021

Legend:

  • Assignment: bold indicates a delegated task
  • Recommendations: italics

Attendance:

  • Len Sproule, Ken Heidebrecht, Robert LeBlanc, Scott Powell, Marlo Steed
  • Regrets:   Robin Bright,  Lorraine Beaudin, Josh Markle, Jeff Meadows (Teaching Centre)

Reports

Chair (Marlo):

  • NA

Technology Support Report (Scott):

  • laptops, Big Sur, and iPads
  • Getting 6 or 8 new machines/yr
  • Updating classrooms with omnidirectional Mics and new switches, and some classrooms getting large screen TVs.
  • limited budget

Discussion: Len suggested changing how we do laptop allocation and giving Faculty better laptops and that we need a plan for evergreening. Scott indicated that he had already been changing the laptop allocation procedures to give Faculty members a higher priority. The committee seemed to agree that student laptops were less of a priority because students no longer needed that kind of technology support (they are better at bringing their own devices). In addition, it was suggested by several members that we can no longer afford iPads; we are better off putting that money into laptops for Faculty. Finally, one comment suggested that 12 laptops/yr would be a good number for evergreening.

Teaching Centre (Jeff):

  • NA

Instructional Support (Ken):

  • NA

Items for Information

Committee Terms of Reference

Marlo shared the terms of reference for the committee.  There were no issues or discussions around that.

Items for Action

Supervision Video Systems

Robert suggested that a possible avenue of exploration would be Video systems for supervision. He explained that at his last university, they were exploring asynchronous video systems for supervision. The name of the app was Edthena:

It was pointed out that there are a number of competing options that we should explore.

Scott indicated that he would research the options.

Robert agreed to reach out to his former colleagues to see what they went with.

Here is Robert's report:  

I had a chance to chat with my former California State Polytechnic colleague about their use of a video supervision platform, and she told me they switched from Edthena to GoReact about two years ago (mostly a cost issue).

One concern expressed was the FOIP issues around getting permission from local stakeholders (superintendents) to retain the copy of videos for this purpose. The point was made that there is probably a strong rationale that can be used to convince school administrators of the value of this approach. At some point, it might be something the Faculty takes to TEAC.

After the meeting, Robin expressed concern about replacing face-to-face observations, Marlo responded with:

I appreciate your concern about replacing face-to-face supervision. That was part of the conversation, unfortunately, I didn’t capture that in the meeting notes. The committee discussed the important elements that such a system might preclude (informal conversations with the principal or teacher associate). I don’t think this tool was viewed as a complete replacement for face-to-face observations.

Such a video system could be used in the following ways:

  • As an enhancement to the regular face-to-face observation - used as a platform for student reflection. This just jarred a memory - Danny had piloted such a system as an enhancement to his observations. I will check with him and see what his experience was.
  • In blended mode with face-to-face observation - used for one or more observations where circumstances dictate (e.g. far-flung reaches of zone 6 - e.g. Medicine Hat, Millerville, etc.)
  • For distant placements where real-time Zoom observations are difficult (due to limited bandwidth).
  • Dealing with COVID-like scenarios.

In addition, a video system might be a way of addressing shrinking travel budgets.

Instructional Video

Len suggested that it would be useful to have a system to automate video so that students could tune into a class synchronously or asynchronously. This system would be particularly useful for dealing with grad students out of the country and dealing with different time zones. Len suggested that we need to pursue technology options that provide instructional flexibility. 

Example of a video camera that can track the instructor or can be programmed to position itself to several different locations:

 

It was thought that the committee should focus on one area at a time, so we will focus on the Supervision Video first.