Minutes of the Information Resources Committee
for November 4, 2002

Present: Lester McCann (chair), Dennis Kaufman, Mary Lenard, Wei Song, Gwen Miller, Tom Peischl.
Guests: Don Cress, Marwan Wafa, Kate Pietri

The meeting was convened at 3:03 p.m.

The committee wasted no time in approving the minutes of the October 7th meeting.

The chair reminded the committee of the classroom remodeling meeting on November 5th at 3:00pm. Dennis Kaufman and Wei Song said that they are planning to represent the committee at the meeting, if they find out where it is being held. The other committee members have classes scheduled at that time. A similar meeting is on the calendars of two of the committee members for Wednesday at noon in Wyllie 357. Mary Lenard and the chair indicated that they are planning to attend.

Discussion then began on the issue of modernizing computers in dedicated computer labs (that is, those dedicated to the use of
students enrolled in classes of a particular department). Tom Peischl began with a summary of the sources of money used to
fund the purchases of new open-lab computers. (Open labs are those open for general use a certain number of hours per week.) The
goal of ITS (Instructional Technology Support) is to replace approximately 75 open-lab computers per year from these sources:

(1) Student Technology Fee: Used for 25 computers/year
(2) Lab Modernization Funds: Used for another 25/year
(3) Miscellaneous Funds: The remaining 25/year
There are close to 200 computers in open labs on campus; replacing 75 per year allows for all open-lab machines to be replaced every three years. Some of these monies (in particular, the lab modernization funds) may be used for the replacement of open-lab machines only. Machines displaced by new computers are reallocated to other uses by ITS based on need.

The problem is that there are now several dedicated computer labs on campus, but no policy dedicated to (nor any funds earmarked
for) their replacement.

The chair, Mary Lenard, and Wei Song briefly told the attendees about the dedicated labs in Computer Science, English, and Geography (respectively). Following this, a wide-ranging discussion ensued which included the following ideas and suggestions for addressing the problem, listed here in no particular order:

• Reallocating some of the money used for faculty/staff computer replacement

• Pushing for an increase in the Student Technology Fee

• Introducing new course/lab fees for students who benefit from the dedicated labs

• Encouraging the sharing/combining of current dedicated labs to reduce the number of machines in dedicated labs, and/or to
make it possible for such labs to become open labs

• Adjusting the lab replacement cycle from three years to four

• Following the lead of UW-Stout (requiring students to purchase or lease laptop computers)

• Being more aggressive in fundraising (donations, grants, etc.)

• Reducing the number of computers available in labs

• Adding a budget line for the continued viability of computer labs

• Encouraging the use of innovative/updated teaching paradigms that make more effective use of the available equipment

Some of these suggestions and ideas are undesirable; some may well be impossible to implement. The committee hopes that this list will inspire new ideas and discussions, and will serve to raise the visibility of this issue across campus. These issues are by
no means unique to Parkside; Tom Peischl told the attendees that he hears these concerns from his fellow UW System CIOs regularly.

The chair will contact Assistant Vice Chancellor Holle and Internal Auditor Irwin for information about the rules for introducing and assessing fees.

No time was set for the next meeting. The chair will convene a meeting when a sufficient quantity or urgency of business has
accumulated.

The meeting adjourned at 4:24 p.m. Minutes taken by the chair.