ComETS Community Team Meeting - March 23, 2009

Attending: Catherine Stephens, Moira Lafayette, Paul Gunther, John Thomson

Action Items

Meeting notes

ComETS Membership/Communications/Community/SIGs Team

Attending:

• Catherine Stephens, Moira Lafayette, Paul Gunther, John Thomson

Goals of this meeting:

• Timeline the website launch
• Steering Committee business
• Continue to brainstorm and prioritize an initial set of goals for this and next semester
• Brainstorm ways to support and learn from SIGs
• Make plans to contact people that can help
• If time: come up with a better name than Membership/Communications/Community/SIGs Committee
• If time: Continue to brainstorm the broad goals/purpose of this team

Website launch

• Update:
  • technically ready to go, except for NetID authentication
  • waiting for a D6 version of secure site
• Questions:
  • Where is the site currently? - http://comets.cae.wisc.edu
  • Can the community team access/edit it before NetID begins? guest login and request new password -
  • What alternatives do we have to secure site? - pubcookie for D6 might be an option but needs testing
  • What other resources are available to us to help solve this puzzle? -
• Timeline / Milestones:
  • Starting now
    • Community team (CT) begins familiarizing themselves with the site in order to provide a "first line" for questions/comments on the new site
    • Email SIG captains with account information (John)
      
      • login
      • explore
      • think about how you can use the site to help your SIG
      • add some content
    • invite SIG Captains to next meeting (Doug)
    • Work with Media SIG to create a screencast / demo / tutorials (John)
    • Kevin investigates secure site D6
    • ___ investigates secure site alternatives
  • April 1 - Demo at repositories?
  • April 6 - NetID authentication ready to go
  • April 13 -
  • April 20 -

Steering Committee Business

• Moira Lafayette - SLO event? Project Team? SIG?
  • Possible partners: UW Assessment Council
  • Meeting on the March 31st - Noon to 1 Engineering Resource Center - 1045
  • Assessment SIG?
  • Where is assessment in the CIO's plan? Strategic plan?
  • Importance of assessment - currently higher need for evidence and accountability
• Jo Ann Carr - Learning Spaces SIG - anyone heard anything? follow up?
  
  • merge with clicker group?
  • Doug to ask Ron - is there a list of Learning Spaces attendees - Jo Ann - email
  • What do you want to get done?
  • Partners: John Staley, Discovery Center, Digital Media Center, New Business Building
  • Who will lead this effort
• SIG captains as part of community team?
  • invitations, invitations, invitations
• Policy and Community - https://comets.wisc.edu/cometswiki/index.php/Policy_and_Community
  • Meet with Policy - can we attend your next meeting - what can we do to help with this?
  • fostering more conversations

SIGs

• Review the guidelines for SIG formation / define "project team" or "working group"
• how to foster better connections between SIGs and membership?
• Should members be able to form groups organically?
  • Should the steering committee continue to be involved in group formation?
  • Should the community team shepherd groups?
• More of a project approach?
• Easy formation of groups/teams?
• Identify barriers to form a SIG?
• how to end a SIG/group?
• more "soft" requirements for updating the community
• get feedback from SIGs - what's working?
• Change name to Community Groups / Project Groups
• Talk to policy group about SIGs
• "Bigger buckets" with broader interests that have an opportunity to form project groups work groups
  
  • e.g., Community Group: Learning Spaces / Work Group: Recommend top picks for clickers / Community Group: Asssessment / Work Group: Inventory campus approaches/tools to assessing student learning outcomes

Brainstorm (potential) short term / this semester actions

• Host orientation to new site for SIG leaders focused on role of new site for SIGs
• Work with Media SIG to create a screencast introducing the new site to the membership
• If needed, orientation to new site for general membership (screencast may meet this need)
• Work with events to survey membership - What do you want to get out of ComETS? What do you want to contribute? What are the most important areas of your PD in the next 2 years?
• Make sure communication templates are easily accessible on the new site
• Review/Define communication guidelines in contect of new site (e.g., posting meeting agendas and minutes as "public")
• Brainstorm ways to counter the recent characterization of ComETS as stodgy and institutional

Who do we need to help us?

• SIG leaders
• Open call to members before each meeting of community group with list of topics discussed
• Assessment - how do we know we're meeting the needs of our membership?

Is Membership/Communications/Community/SIGs Committee a good name?

• no.
• Community Team

Brainstorming - Goals / purpose of this team

How should we be active in each of the following areas?

Membership

• How can we increase the number of "active" members?
  • Model / provide examples of range of "actions" ComETS members can take:
    • send and reply to messages on the ComETS listserv
    • join a SIG, hot team, or working group
    • start a SIG, hot team, or working group
    • get involved with an event planning team
    • chair an event planning team
    • Join Steering sub-committees
    • Nominate someone, or yourself to be a steering committee member
    • ....
• How can we make sure sure that those on campus that would like to be members find out about ComETS and join?
  • better contact with Deans and Department Chairs explaining the role and importance of ComETS, encouraging them to support activity in ComETS as a part of campus service and PD for their IT staff. Perhaps draft a letter for RK1 to send to Deans/Dept Chairs?
  • ....?
• Work with steering to make sure members involved and informed whenever ComETS / ComETS steering is called on for work on campus policy

Communications

• Members <--> Members: Take advantage of "Profile" features of new website - allowing ComETS members to quickly find others by areas of interest and expertise
• Members <--> Members: Help members leverage group-based communication potential of new website
• Campus <--> Members: Foster CoMETS involvement with Knowledgebase / HelpDesk so that there are better pointers for key services (relates to longstanding request from TEL iniative to make it easier for faculty to find relevant help)
• Steering<--> Members: Continue improving communications between steering groups and membership through open agendas, involvement in policy recommendations, ....

Community

• Work with events to foster smaller scope events where people primarily get to talk to each other (rather than listen to a speaker)
• Work with events to survey membership - What do you want to get out of ComETS? What do you want to contribute? What are the most important areas of your PD in the next 2 years?

SIGs

• SIG leaders as members of Community Team

Policy and Community

It is clear that ComETS members are a remarkably talented group, and have considerable expertise to add to IT policy discussions on campus. The response to the TEL report, the work of SIGs like the Clicker SIG and the OpenSIG, and the call for ComETS members to draft a portion of the IT strategic plan are just a few examples of ComETS members providing essential service and leadership for the campus.

ComETS Steering, then, should continue to assist and advocate for ComETS members to be actively involved in IT policy decisions and working groups, but should itself, as a committee, stay largely out of policy matters.

When ComETS as an organization, or the ComETS Steering Committee, is approached with a request to weigh in on a policy related issue, we should be ready to present a few options:

* assistance with the formation of a ComETS working group or SIG
* a call for nominations for appointment to a campus working group (e.g., the TEL Shaping Committee)
* a simple survey of our members

A few common scenarios and questions:

1.  Can ComETs working groups and SIGs engage in policy work?

Yes - SIGs and working groups can be actively involved with advocacy and policy work, as long as they follow a few simple guidelines:
* membership in the SIG/working group must be open to all ComETs members
* meetings, agendas, and outcomes must be made available to all ComETS members
* SIGs should appoint one of their members to serve on the "Community / Membership / SIGs Committee" as a liaison to ComETS Steering. Working groups should select a liaison to the steering committee to provide updates on their work at least each semester.

Example for discussion - The Moodle Council initially left ComETS, but there is some discussion that they may want to re-affiliate. In this model, they would be allowed to do so, provided that they are comfortable with the rules above.

2. Can the ComETS Steering Committee draft policy statements (like the response to the TEL report / strategic plan)

Strictly speaking, no. In these cases, steering helps the group in question form a working group, which can include members of the steering committee. Whenever possible, participation in these working groups should be open to any ComETS member.

Example for discussion - A group of ComETS members, primarily form the Steering Committee, is asked to draft the strategic plan. This becomes "The CIO's Academic Technology Strategic Plan Team" (or somesuch) rather than "ComETS Steering." We open up participation in the group to the membership. (This is essentially what we have done, I think).

3. What if the sponsor only wants one or two people?

In these cases ComETS Steering can open a call for nominations, or if necessary, suggest ComETS members that would be a good fit for the job. In these cases, the sponsor is selecting individuals not to "represent ComETS" but to bring an understanding of the educational technology support landscape to the table, while representing their own unit.

Example for discussion - The TEL Shaping Committee has asked for 1-2 ComETS representatives. These individuals are selected based on their total set of skills and expertise - a part of which is that as active members of ComETS they are well networked with other members of the educational support community.