Meeting Minutes: November 4, 2009

Present: Joe Appelget; Gary Blievernicht; Stephen Blosser; Matt Carbary; Mike Hudson; Virginia Martz; John Pedraza; Jim Renuk; Sarah Swierenga; Vi'Nessa Webster; Graham Pierce;

Blosser called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m.
Blosser requested Matt Carbary (representative from COGS) introduced himself to the committee. Blosser welcomed Matt and members introduced themselves.
Blosser advised the request for funding is accelerated; the ATC draft must be ready in December. Blosser also thanked Blievernicht for developing the letter of invitation to departments to attract new members.
Blosser advised there will be an elimination of the Artificial Language Lab (ALL) undergraduate program. Eulenberg will remain available at the ALL and the Graduate program will survive under the Communications Department, and Audiology is restructuring. Blosser advised he is extending invitations to other departments to attend the next ATC meeting.
Blosser requested proposals for the ATC and discussion re: emerging technologies. Vi'Nessa demonstrated the accessible I-Clicker system and advised there will be another demonstration at the Accessible Learning Institute on Friday, November 20, 2009, at the MSU Union. Vi'Nessa advised MSU students who are deaf or hard of hearing are using the Assistive Listening Devices (ALD) to access the audio information shared in their classrooms and to use remote realtime captioning options. Realtime captioning staff and the students, use Skype and an FM receiver to access the audio from the classrooms and transfer the lecture in text over the Internet.
Blosser passed out a list of software for the ATC proposal. Swierenga inquired about sufficient funding to continue upgrades on ZoomText and other software. Blosser advised there may be some competitive software resources to add to the tech areas, which would be set-up with site licenses.
Swierenga inquired regarding the capacity for the university to caption films. Hudson advised RCPD has a suite of software and hardware to make captioning available in some capacity. Swierenga inquired regarding available funding for departments to pay for captioning of film. Hudson stated the ATC requested and received funding last year for captioning of high impact materials. Blosser advised a team established to explore the options currently available. Hudson recommended Tom Hwang, Media Access Coordinator, included in the discussion regarding captioning, as he has knowledge, experience, and has facilitated the captioning of high impact materials.
Webster & Martz advised how FM systems are used and set-up in the classrooms. Reviewed the number of ALD technology on Tech carts and podiums. Advised MSU FM systems have six channels to prevent interference from neighboring classrooms. Remote realtime captioning staff and deaf/HOH students can use the FM units, a notebook, and Skype to access the audio from the classroom, and send text back to the student sitting in the classroom. Learned in the process, that not all tech rooms had working microphones. ATS may need to review the need for additional classroom microphones. There is a need for an ALD symbol/sticker placed in the classrooms with this stystem.
Swierenga inquired regarding the accessible I-Phone Al Puzzuoli at RCPD is testing for accessibility. Is there a need for I-Phones on campus because MSU Mobile is coming? Swienrenga inquired regarding the need for people who can use the I-phone and test the usability of our systems. Build the capacity of Mobile MSU options. Blosser requested more information regarding MSU Mobile. Strategic research team includes Dave Mobar from Usability Center. $1300 for I phone w/out contract. 2 years for phone plan. $74/month + device = $2000 for the request. Redesign of MSU site (CMP is live on some parts). More content will be available via mobile network. Blosser advised the environment can be duplicated on a laptop.
The meeting was adjourned (Renuk - moved, Carbary- second) at 4:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Virginia Martz, Recording Secretary