Information Technology Committee Minutes
May 3, 2021
Zoom
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
The Information Technology Committee serves as the central focal point to examine technology planning and operations at Taft College. The Committee provides a forum for input from all campus constituents and acts as a resource with regard to technology planning and operational effectiveness. The Committee receives input, recommends areas of interest, analyzes technology effectiveness, and makes recommendations regarding technology-related matters including training needs. The Committee leads the development of the Technology Master Plan and provides annual updates to the plan.
Members Present:
Xiaohong Li, Marianne Castano Bishop, Amar Abbott, Rafael Andrade, Severo Balason, Nikki Crane, John Dodson, Sharyn Eveland, Mark Gibson, Gus Gonzalez, Jessica Grimes, Dana Hicks, Leslie Minor, David Reynolds, Tiffany Rowden
Members Absent:
Abbas Jarrahian,
Student Representative:
Zachary Carter
Facilitator:
Xiaohong Li
Recorder:
Dana Hicks
Meeting Called to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 4:01 p.m.
- Review Minutes from April 5, 2021
- The committee approved the minutes from the April 5, 2021 meeting with no modifications.
- ITS / De Technology updates
- DE Updates:
- Distance Education Staffing Updates
- Castano Bishop mentioned the department will be hiring a full time Distance Education aide. Currently the hiring committee is narrowing applicants from 19 to the top 5. Castano Bishop is hoping to fill the position very soon.
- Course Evaluations
- Course evaluations for spring semester were due on April 30.
- May Inservice
- DE’s May Inservice will be two days, Monday and Tuesday, with both days featuring the same content about updates in Distance Education.
- Marianne spoke briefly about the lockdown browser, Responduce, and how it can be used as an option for exam proctoring in Canvas.
- Information Technology Updates
- Classroom AV Upgrade Project
- The project started in the “G” classrooms which should be finished by end of June. Next areas will be the Cougar Room and the Chevron Innovation Lab. The project is anticipated to finish before start of the fall semester. Rafael will lead training of faculty on the upgraded equipment.
- New Student Email Format
- SIG has been hired and assigned to help with the project with their earliest start date around May 24. The new email format will affect new students starting this fall and beyond. Students will be required to utilize the Taft College provided email instead of a preferred email of choice. The goal of the email project is to require all enrolled students to use TC email within the next three years.
- Carter, the committee’s Student Rep. asked what the email renaming scheme is. Response made by Gibson indicated the renaming scheme is still being determined. One scheme that is being considered may be the student’s first initial + student’s last name + 2 numbers of student’s choice.
- Virtual Machine
- According to Gibson, the hardware has been racked. Next step is for the vendor to finish with configuration, etc. The old VM equipment will be kept in place for testing purposes. The new VM equipment is partly meeting the Technology Master Plan.
- School device security standards: Tiered System Draft discussion/approval
- The committee discussed the draft tiered school device security standards. Discussion will continue at future meetings. Today’s discussion included three possible different security layers:
- Privileged access – Administrative access reserved for following campus roles:
- High Tech Access Specialist
- ITS Tech I & II
- Network Administrator
- IT Director
- Specialized Security Access – Increased security control access for roles with elevated business impact (if compromised by malicious attacks). Accesses may be reserved for the following campus roles:
- Developers
- Sensitive business roles
- High impact social media accounts
- Area VP or approver
- General User Access – accesses for all employees, students, and other productivity scenarios
- Per Li, there will be a listing of pre-approved software that will be available for download by campus staff and faculty. This software list, when developed, will be located on the IT website. Possible name for the software page may be “software central”. Li will be working with Gibson on the development of the “software central” web page.
- A few questions were asked by committee members:
- Grimes:
- What will the procedure be for downloading of specialized, departmental software?
- What will the policy be of reviewing software and the handling of software changes?
- Where will the tiered access information live?
- Li’s answer for this question was it will live on the IT’s website when built.
- Other answers will be discussed during future meeting. This discussion will be the first of many before official tiered security system will be finalized.
- What is meant by the “Specialized Security Access” tier and is this tier depending on one’s position?
- Li’s answer: This access tier will be dependent on one’s position. The Privileged Access will relate to third party downloadable software meant for review prior to installation approval.
- Other Topics (not on published agenda)
- Reynolds asked if the campus would continue to operate on a 4 / 10 schedule during the fall semester. Minor answered that the campus will be reverting to the regular 5 / 8 schedule beginning the fall semester. Reynolds suggested the committee go back to holding the meetings on Friday mornings as originally held prior to the pandemic. Fridays are better for faculty serving on committees due to classes scheduled during the week. Li will consider the meeting time / date move for fall semester.
- Abbott wished to again raise the importance of a training budget for IT staff. Li agrees and will speak with del Rosario what options are available for IT staff training.
The meeting concluded at 4:49 p.m.
Approved by the Committee as written on September 17, 2021
