Technology Fee Advisory Committee
Meeting Notes - Spring Proposal Review Session
Friday, April 4, 2008
Group Decision Center, FLC 320 - 8-10 a.m.

Members Present: Kevin Brooks, Geoffrey Childress, Anne Denton, Brian Fier, Gary Fisher, Peter Gregory Jeff Gerst, Cathy Hanson, Abram Jackson, Lalita Jyoti, Kalpana Katti, Christopher McEwen, Rian Nostrum, Britt McAlister, David Wittrock (The names of voting members are presented in regular type. The names of non-voting members are presented in italics type.)

Members Absent: none

Guests: Linda Charlton & Gerry Olson, facilitators from the Group Decision Center. Janet Stringer IT Budget Coordinator

Jeff welcomed all the TFAC members to the GDC and shared how we would be using the Center to discuss and evaluate the nine submitted action plans. Submitted were a total of nine proposals, requesting $836,336.00 in funding requests.

The designated primary reviewer and secondary reviewers of each proposal gave summary statements to the committee regarding the proposal, citing any issues or concerns or general feeling about recommendations for or against funding. The GDC tools were used to capture some of the concerns of the committee; however open discussion facilitated more robust conversations. Motions were made to fund, partially fund, not fund or table the various proposals with discussion following.

Key points:
Considerable discussion evolved around the BIN project (0807). Issues of whether the project had enough evidence of project planning, long-term commitment, and applicable funding /budgeting were raised. Lengthy online Group Decision Center discussion provided good reasons to support the project as well as a number of reservations which some responders felt had been addressed. Ann Denton also asked about the hiring of faculty position within the Communications Department? Will this faculty member be designated to support the efforts of this project? Is this position actually being sought, and what relationship will it have to "managing" the project? Should funding be contingent upon getting this faculty member? Students requested Dr. Nelson come to the next meeting and address the concerns. Dave Whitrock made an additional three points - 1) is there wide-spread support for this project? (obviously have the Communications Dept support); 2) might we suggest getting enough money to bridge the gap to get the project started; 3) project proposers & partners should be encouraged to further develop business to reflect project planning activity and solidify milestones during the next year. Students voiced there confidence in this project and feel they have put a great deal of time and effort into answering the numerous questions raised. Additional documentation and further projected equipment costs analysis, was provided at the meeting in response to those concerns. A motion was made to request no less than $175,000 this cycle to jump start this project. The motion was tabled along with further discussion on this proposal until a future date.

Due to time constraints, proposals 0803 and 0804 were also tabled for future discussion and funding recommendations.

Lastly, Janet Stringer, IT Budget Coordinator, reiterated how the funding cycle has changed. The dollars being requested now won't become available to spend until July 1, 2008 and will go through December 31, 2008. The funding shift is to move things toward a calendar year cycle, so the funds being requested in the fall of 2008 would then cover January 1, 2009 - through December 31, 2009.

Log #	Project Director	Department	Project Title	Funding recommendation	Action
0801	Ron Johnson	College of Business	Finance & Accounting Databases	Recommended NOT funding and to resubmit in the fall to include information with regard to what courses, classes impacted. Not for students in general.	$35,000.00 NOT to fund
0802	Carmen Schatz, Megan Velo	NDSU English Club	HP 4200 Printer & Battery Replacements for English Department Laptop Lab (S Eng 314)	Recommended partially funding. Committee questioned the battery provisions, (remove) and requests that printers are specifically attached to print station. Requested $5,080.00	$1,800.00 Partial funding
0803R	Sheree Kornkven	ITS	Ongoing Funding for Student Technology Support & Services	After considerable discussion this proposal was tabled for future discussion.	Table
0804	Melissa Stotz	ITS	New Classroom Technology	After considerable discussion this proposal was tabled for future discussion.	Table
0805	Michael Thrasher	College of AH&SS, Div. of Fine Arts, Dept of Music	The Online Fine Arts Listening Library: Providing Access to Instructional Material through Wireless Streaming Audio	Recommend to NOT fund. TFAC members felt this service was narrowly focused on students within this discipline. Difficult to identify how widely this impacted students in general. Suggested this service might be funded by a course fee.	$18,060.00 NOT to fund
0806	Kimberly Vess Halbur	Pharmacy Practice	Renewal of PDA's that Enhance the Pharmacy Curriculum	Recommended NOT funding. Had concerns regarding the cost of PDA's - seemed high; lacked evidence of assessment or outcomes of whether this tool actually aided learning or was useful. Funded previously as pilot with anticipation of it be self-sustaining in the future, now asking again.	$11,127.00 NOT to fund
0807	Mike Ostlie, Peter Gregory	NDSU Student Government	Bison Information Network Studio	After considerable discussion this proposal was tabled for future discussion.	Table
0808	Eloyes Hill, Sarah Wagner	Veterinary Technology Program, Animal Range Sciences	Portable Computer Lab for Veterinary Technology Program	Recommended FULL funding. There is substantial need for equipment. Could potentially have impact on the reaccreditation of program	$3,000.00 Full funding
0809R	Mark England, Jeremy Brown	Library	Web 2.0 Library Tools for Students	Recommended FULL funding. Will enhance the ability for student and faculty to more easily search and link to a wide-range of library resources.	$46,500.00 Full funding
				Total	$51,300.00

Respectfully submitted,
Cathy Hanson, recorder