1) Present
University of Aberdeen
Neil Hamilton - Child Health MediCAL
University of Dundee
Gwen Bayne - NLN for Remote Sensing
University of Edinburgh (JCMB)
Charles Duncan - NLN for Remote Sensing
Jean Ritchie - UMI Coordinator
Chunsheng Miao - NLN for Remote Sensing
Kim Underwood - UMI Administrator
Martin Morrey - NLN for Remote Sensing
University of Manchester
Tom Franklin - JTAP Programme Manager
Napier University (Sighthill)
Sandra Foubister - MANTCHI
University of Paisley
Ian MacLaren - NLN for Remote Sensing
Neil Pitcher - SUMSMAN
John McQuillan - NLN for Remote Sensing
University of Strathclyde
Lorna Campbell - CVU
Dave Whittington - CVU
David McNicol - CVU
2. Report from Jean Ritchie
2.1 CD and JR both spoke to representatives of Telespazio, mentioned at the last meeting. The Telespazio delivery mechanisms are not as good as the Scottish MANs. CD and JR had decided not to take matters further.
2.2 JR attended a seminar given by CVU at Napier University. This aroused great interest in CVU from Napier University academics who want a Scottish Virtual University; they want to get long term access to CVU and other similar materials, and to contribute their own materials.
2.3 TaLiSMAN evaluation is underway. The team, who are due to report by the end of August this year, includes Erica McAteer, Simon Heath, John Milne, Kate Morss, Hamish McLeod, Jenny Tizard and Colin Mason.
2.4 A meeting of UMI2 evaluators was held on 11th June. It was agreed to produce a joint paper, itemising the types of evaluation that projects have done, and the tools they have used. The paper may be published in stages, and the first stage can not happen until December as projects must first publish their own individual project results.
2.5 JR hopes to video tape the next UMI meeting for demonstration purposes.
3. Report from UMI 2 projects
3.1 NH reported that Child Health MediCAL are waiting for the clinicians
to give them scripts for several of their ‘model patients’. They had encountered
difficulties in installing the CVU assessment engine. DMcN offered to help.
Action DMcN, NH
3.2 Several projects (not only UMI projects) were using the CVU assessment
engine; CVU will start to keep formal records of who is using it.
Action CVU
3.3 LC reported that all is going according to plan for CVU. LC is currently working on the Chemistry and Social Work modules.
3.4 IMcL reported that the Remote Sensing project is progressing according to plan. An analysis of evaluation has been carried out; a virtual laboratory is being created using java applets to perform image processing etc.
3.5 NP reported that SUMSMAN are also progressing according to plan. They held a staff development day at St Andrews a couple of weeks ago. TaLiSMAN, MANTCHI and SUMSMAN are holding a seminar tomorrow (16th June). NP said there had been a lot of interest from staff for these staff development days.
4. Discussion with Tom Franklin, JTAP (JISC Technical Applications Programme) Programme Manager
4.1 JTAP is funded by JISC and has projects currently carrying out work in a number of areas including:
IMS is a three year project, just entering its second year. The current IMS standard is based on US HE and some changes have already been accepted which will make it suitable for UK HE.
The first version of the IMS standard was launched in the US last month and is now available at http://www.imsproject.org/. Contact:
Mr Oleg Liber
CAL unit
Information Services
University of Wales
Sackville Rd
Bangor
Gwynedd
LL57 2UW
01248 383639
o.liber@bangor.ac.uk
Dr Paul Lefrere
Institute of Educational Technology
The Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA
01908 653388
P.LEFRERE@OPEN.AC.UK
Current JTAP projects were made aware of IMS, and it is likely that IMS compliance will be mandatory for all new JTAP projects.
CVU were interested in producing an IMS compliant system.
NH asked whether the Educom logo would have to be displayed on UMI products which use IMS, if Educom were to become commercial? TF was not sure, but pointed out that Educom was a non profit trade union for IT directors in US HE.
4.3 A technical toolkit for developing Virtual Reality materials was being developed by Roy Middleton, who is based at Computing Services, Univ of Edinburgh.
4.4 JTAP has funded a centre at the University of Dundee to advise on use of IT for staff and students with disabilities. Catering for people with special needs will make products more accessible for all users.
4.5 JTAP currently has 100 projects running. The next funding round will be in autumn 1998. Details of JTAP projects are available at http://www.jtap.ac.uk
4.6 A significant part if JTAP's work is to inform JISC and the community about what is happening and what can be done in the area of IT.
4.7 JTAP are not yet working on security tools and techniques, but are looking at the problems, needs and issues surrounding security and authentication in UK HE. HEIs need a broad security strategy which should form part of their information strategy. A report had recently been published detailing security issues. TF thought that HEIs should work together on this issue to make systems compatible so as to be able to support eg. life long learning.
Some new projects with work on security techniques, and details will be on the web by the end of the week (19th June). TF agreed to supply details of how UMI projects could provide feedback from their experiences with security and authentication systems. Action TF
4.8 JTAP spends about £500/document to produce about 500 printed copies of JTAP project reports, which are distributed to University librarians and other appropriate centres. JTAP reports are also available on the Web in HTML and Word format.
4.14 NH suggested that an archive of tools and utilities produced by
UMI projects could be made available to help any future projects. JR agreed
to discuss this with NH by email.
Action JR, NH
5. AOB
5.1 The next UMI meeting will be held in two weeks time, Monday 29th June.