Attachment A
Faculty Senate Agenda
March 11, 2010
TO: Faculty Senate Executive
Committee
FROM: Academic IT Committee (AITC)
Bob Buckley, Chair
SUBJECT: Academic use of open labs and the request
process
DATE: February
26, 2010
The problem and the complaint regarding
the scheduling and use of computer labs for academic purposes was raised by Dr.
Debra Brady, Nursing faculty member, at the February 4th meeting of the Faculty
Senate with details provided subsequent to the meeting on the 4th.
AITC Recommendation
to the Senate Executive Committee:
Academic Affairs facilitate the
following:
Resolution of this problem needs to occur in time to ensure that whatever
mid-term testing is required can be accommodated
AITC
discussion at its meeting on February 26th: The problem of access to computer labs for
testing purposes is not unique to nursing.
Committee members indicated that Communication Studies as well as
programs in the
Background:
The change in booking a computer lab for testing has
changed in the last year.
The new policy is that MND 2004,
MND 2008, and SLN 2001 have been converted to Open Labs and are no longer used
to book events. When requesting to use a lab for instruction or testing, the
rooms available for scheduling are MND 2003, MND 2007, and SLN 2003. If all
three labs are booked then Space Management must get special permission from
IRT to schedule an event in one of the Open Lab's.
Discussion at Tuesday's (February
23rd) Senate Executive Committee: The impression was that when the
change occurred, scheduling of the open labs for academic purposes would take
precedence and be honored.
Some history: Recognizing the
need for this type of lab usage, the planning for the ARC building included a
computer lab designated for this type of academic use, namely, testing and
on-line evaluation. This space, as
implemented, is currently the “home” of the CMS group.
Nursing – a case study. “When we book computer labs we have to go through one
central administrative person in our division. The labs can no longer be booked
by faculty. The computer lab reservation individuals decline to speak to
faculty directly when this is requested.
There are also fewer labs
available to book (more open labs for students but not for faculty
teaching/testing use)
The major issues affecting the nursing program:
1. Lack of direct assess to
booking labs is one issue. Adding this administrative layer results in delays
and potential mistakes. We used to be able to book directly online.
2. There are not enough labs to reserve.
Example: Last fall when I needed to do a midterm exam I
could not get a lab booked for an 810:50 class for 3 weeks in a row. I ended
up being able to get lab space at 9:30-1130, so I actually had to keep students
past normal class time in order to get the exam done. This delayed them going
to the hospital to select patients and prepare for clinical the next day.
3. There
is a major delay is being able to book times for finals until very late in the
semester.
The scheduling office will not
take the request submitted by the Nursing department. This is true for other
disciplines that have multiple classes needing to use computerized testing.
There is no guarantee that a lab will be available and there is no ability to
inform students of when these exams will occur until 2 weeks before the exam.
If you are teaching in multiple courses this is a significant scheduling
nightmare.
Example:
Last fall when Dr. Van Couwenberghe needed to give the computerized final for
160 students in pharmacology, she could not get a room. She usually tests 60
students a time and runs three 2-hour sessions. This works for eLearning
distance students because they may have multiple classes with finals on that
day, so they can select the time to test.
She was given a room for 30 students, she was scheduled
into another room that turned out not be available. She ended up using some
open labs where other students went in and out during the exam because there
was not physical time in the day to get this many students through a testing
time where only 30 could sit for the exam.
5. Scheduling of labs is not timely.
Example, this fall Dr. Altmann had a nursing class that
needed to use the computers for testing. No labs were available during the
class times for 80 students, so the test was schedule for a Saturday when they
had a lab day (nursing students work many weekends and this is built into their
schedule).
The Tuesday prior to the test date the lab assignment was
received-for 75 students. Not only was the reservation given less then 5 days
before the test date, but there were not enough computer spaces to seat all of
the students. Is there really no space on a Saturday?
The exam runs 1-2 hours. This again represents increased
faculty workload if you have to proctor exams for multiple hours. It also
disrupts curriculum. For a 3 hour course that meets weekly we hold lecture
after a 60 minute exam ...this can not be done if the faculty person is still
proctoring a test.
Another
example: On Monday Feb 15 Dr. Van Couwenberghe and I came in to give a midterm.
There were no computer rooms available that day or on the Monday prior or
following the 15tn.
Students either used their portable lap tops or the 6 year
old Nursing Department laptops. For the 8am test time, Dr. Van came in at 6:30
to set up laptops... a major faculty workload issue.
There were multiple open labs with
only a handful of students using the lab. The 15th was a furlough day, how can
there not be rooms available?”
Approved unanimously by
AITC, February 26, 2010.