USA Faculty Senate Technology Utilization Committee

Technology Utilization Report

Sept. 20, 2006

Steve Brick, Arts & Sciences
Elliot Lauderdale, Continuing Education
Kristy Britt, Chair, Arts & Sciences
Jie Li , University Libraries
Barbara Burckhartt, College of Medicine
Ehab Molokhia, College of Medicine

The committee met on August 30, 2006.

The first items of discussion were leftover business.

• Faculty Development Coordination and Centralization of technology-related faculty development opportunities- The committee is making a recommendation to the University that its faculty homepage add an additional link to centralize information about faculty development opportunities.
• Technology fair-The committee brainstormed and discussed various options and related concerns. Ultimately the committee decided to create a brief survey to poll colleges/departments about their particular interests, needs, and expectations for such a fair. Currently the committee is in the process of creating this survey.
• PRS- In the interest of facilitating usage/support and student costs, the committee recommends that the University unify this technology across campus.
• Web accessibility- We will continue working with the Academic Computing Committee in recommending that the University investigate and mitigate web inaccessibility problems on University webpages and institute training and guidelines for department and other webmasters related to accessibility issues on locally controlled pages.

New items for discussion surfaced in the meeting and the committee is in the process of exploring the following:

• University email / retirement- It was brought to the attention of the committee that upon retirement faculty lose privileges to their university email accounts.
• Disjointed email within the University- Some faculty are not receiving important updates due to the various email systems. Specifically cited was Family Medicine.
• I-Tune University

Respectfully Submitted,

Kristy Britt

Chair, Technology Utilization Committee

University of South Alabama Faculty Senate

September 20, 2006