Research and Education Committee Meeting Notes

RESEARCH AND EDUCATION COMMITTEE MEETING NOTES Thursday, January 21, 2016 9:00 – 10:15 AM FAC 228D

I. How to Access TACC Resources ( Bill Barth ) Bill Barth gave a presentation of How to access TACC resources. Gave an overview of TACC and its history.

Q. How would someone best interact with TACC? A. First checkout the website. If you don’t know what you want, send someone an email and they will help you understand what you need. If you know what you want, use the web portal to sign up for an account and a small allocation that is free. Allocations run for a year. You can generally get started in a day or two. Anything that doesn’t have NSF process to go through runs through pretty quickly.

Q. What’s TACC capacity right now? A. We are taking projects as they come. We can handle small and large projects. We used to not be able to handle many smaller projects due to personnel but now we have a huge range. If we can’t do it, we will tell you.

Q. What’s the funding model for someone who is nontechnical but need personnel help with their projects, not necessarily on hardware? A. Depends on where they are located. If they are in the UT System or UT, we likely have funding that will allow us to help them. Also can use their grant money towards TACC services.

Q. Are you planning on having an open house? A. We are open place! We will have a dedication ceremony soon for the new building. Possibly in May, June, or July. Anyone that wants a tour is welcome.

II. Classroom Response System Review ( Noah Stroehle, Ken Tothero ) Noah Stroehle from Learning Sciences presented the Classroom Response Systems Review plan. Currently reviewing emerging Classroom Response Systems to determine if UT should continue official support of iClicker, or replace it with one or several technologies. Problems with wanting only one classroom response system: there is not consistent Wi-Fi across campus, some professors do not want students using their phone with an app which leads to being a distraction, some tools are not able to handle large classes, etc. Ten to fifteen percent of classes are using this type of service. It seems that sooner or later those professors who use it only for attendance will use it in other ways. Our goal is to understand the use of the tool, why they are, why they are, etc.

Timeline: reviews will take place in Spring 2016 with a final report in June 2016

Q. What do you anticipate the outcome being? A. Goal is to make a final recommendation of one or more technologies that the group or team feels that should be officially supported by UT. May be a caveat there with different technologies with different class sizes or class type. One technology would be great but not one size fits all. We are thinking of making a tier system of vetting for technology. Having varying degree of endorsement or connectivity with Canvas. Need to look at what is happening right now. It will be presumed as a guide rather than a policy.

Q. What would be the entry point of learning about this technology? A. You would contact Noah at [email protected]

III. Longhorn Innovation Fund for Technology – Calendar ( Christy Tran ) Christy Tran gave an over view of the schedule for LIFT. Asked for feedback on the Half Day show and tell. Will have a solicitation coming out to campus again soon.