Administrative Computing

Administrative staff members have contributed both far-reaching visions of the future, as well as some nuts-and-bolts suggestions to implement in the short-term:

• Creation of an electronic portfolio for each student, including transcripts, preregistered courses, employment history, extracurricular activities, remaining requirements, etc.
• Ability of research offices (e.g., the Office of Planning, Budget, and Analysis), transaction offices (e.g., registration), instructors, and departments to collect information (e.g., periodic surveys) from students and employees electr onically, in a secure manner
• Standardization of desktop services, software, and networks within and among the various administrative units
• One-time infusion of funds to bring the administrative "have-nots" up to date with the current IT standards
• Annual unit budgets (including general fund units) for upgrading desktop software/hardware
• Training programs to maintain staff members' IT skills
• Training facility to provide "just-in-time" application training to all staff members (e.g., when units upgrade to Office '97)
• Freedom of various units to remain individualistic regarding operational software programs (e.g., RayTec, Library III, FacMan, Workorder, etc.)
• A planning process for departments to maintain, upgrade, and replace industry software
• Ease of electronic transfer to or from the university, including the ability to easily take nickname lists, "how" files, bookmarks, etc. This would allow faculty, students and staff to become productive very quickly, and students to hit the ground running when they leave the university.

Assistive Technology

Howard Kramer, the assistive technology (AT) lab coordinator with Disability Services at CU-Boulder, notes the importance of integrating accessible workstations and technology in labs around campus--not just the AT Lab. In addition to addressing this need in the IT Strategic Plan, Kramer believes an ongoing coordinating committee is needed to ensure that this goal is implemented effectively.

Computers in Classrooms/Labs

The comments concerning technology use in the classroom submitted so far share a common theme: a request for {\b more}. More "smart" classrooms, more access to the Internet and WWW, and more funds and technical support made available to faculty members interested in employing technology in the classroom and residential hall programs. Both liberal arts and science faculty have responded.

Their needs include:

• More technology-equipped classrooms
• More small computer classrooms with 20-30 computers
• Access to the Web from more classrooms
• Resources for creating Web sites
• Increased technical support within the classroom (e.g., "Bugbusters")
• Upgrading and improving maintenance and technical support to dormitory computer labs, especially housing with residential programs where some faculty members use computer applications for classes and laboratory exercises

Networking

Regarding connectivity, the call for efficient standardization of hardware and software, standards and guidelines for Web courses and publishing, and reliable, faster connections is being echoed across campus units.

More specific requests include:

• More modem lines for faculty access to the Internet and email, as the SLIP accounts aren't effective due to heavy student use
• Ethernet connections to family housing apartments
• Ethernet connections to student residence halls
• Secure dial-up access to facultys' office computers from home computers
• Plug-in ports provided in residence hall lounges, dining areas, in the library, and elsewhere
• Standardization of network plumbing and elimination of unreasonably slow connectivity; network access should be real-time access
• Standardization of desktop services, software, and networks within and among the various administrative units
• Developing standards for the campus Web environment; there is currently no supported standard for Web servers and no uniform guidlines or standards for Web courses

All Web site design should be viewed as publishing and adhere to publishing norms; electronic publishing should follow the same guidelines as print publishing

And some questions have been posed:

• What is the direction for the future of the campus home page?
• Will the campus be developing an intranet?
• Will CU-Boulder support both public and private access systems?

Additionally, faculty members would like the resources to create Web sites:

• For online tutorials which help students master content topics
• To facilitate collaboration/research among faculty in interest "supergroups"
• To increase contact between investigators on other campuses

However, the time involved in creating and maintaining such Web sites is prohibitive for many. One faculty member suggests the following solutions--incentives to help faculty members help themselves:

• Making funds available for summer salaries for faculty working on such projects
• Funding staff-level positions for updating the sites
• Classifying Web site construction as publications for faculty tenure evaluations
• Presenting faculty awards for impact/design of Web sites

Student Computer Issues

Currently, no students have provided suggestions via email about their needs related to IT. However, faculty members and staff have some interesting ideas about how technology might be used by and for students at CU-Boulder, such as:

• Inexpensive and convenient training for students in the applications of their choice (e.g., "Windows '97")
• A convenient way to test students on competency in various technology skills (e.g., email, word processing, desktop publishing/graphics, etc.)
• An entry requirement of solid IT skills
• A reputation of CU-Boulder graduates having solid IT skills, with certification or a graduation requirement to establish this
• A freshman training program ensuring all students have the ability to access the Internet and basic applications, to send materials electronically, to interact with course materials electronically, and other basic IT skills
• Creation of an electronic portfolio for each student, including transcripts, pre-registered courses, employment history, extracurricular activities, remaining requirements, etc.
• The creation of Web sites by faculty members for online tutorials to help students master content topics
• Additionally, computer "have-nots" have been identified as primarily in undergraduate programs in arts and sciences.

Uses of IT

Some on campus have voiced concerns about whether information technology is the best use of resources, whether it will dehumanize teaching, learning and scholarship activities, and whether funds allocated to the purchase of hardware/software and related consulting services might be better used to support other aspects of the educational mission. Additionally, there is a question about whether departments or individual faculty will be given a choice about whether to use such resources for IT or for other aspects of their programs/teaching they believe to be more important. Sam Gill, professor of religious studies, has written a series of essays looking at humans relationship to IT, titled Chips From a Cyborg Workshop

Other respondents, however, have suggested some innovative and expanded uses for the technology as it relates to both students and faculty members:

• Software for grading student papers online via email
• The creation of Web sites by faculty members for online tutorials to help students master content topics
• Training and/or a requirement ensuring all students have the ability to access the Internet and basic applications, to send materials electronically, to interact with course materials electronically, and other basic IT skills
• Every student having an electronic portfolio of courses taken with annotations, work done (e.g., papers, photos, video, audio), their employment history, extracurricular activities, etc., with an easy way to document relevance to curri cular goals
• Inexpensive and convenient training for faculty and staff members in the applications of their choice (e.g., "Excel for Quattro Users")
• A convenient way to test prospective and current employees on competency in various technology skills (e.g., email, word processing, desktop publishing/graphics, etc.)
• Committees storing minutes and handouts electronically for access by current and new members
• Scheduling of meetings through electronic calendars
• Replacing some face-to-face meetings with electronic meetings
• A bulletin board system where people on campus can submit anonymous input to an ongoing electronic discussion

Additionally, faculty members would like the resources to create Web sites:

• For online tutorials which help students master content topics
• To facilitate collaboration/research among faculty in interest "supergroups"
• To increase contact between investigators on other campuses

However, the time involved in creating and maintaining such Web sites is prohibitive for many. One faculty member suggests the following solutions--incentives to help faculty members help themselves:

• Making funds available for summer salaries for faculty working on such projects
• Funding staff-level positions for updating the sites
• Classifying Web site construction as publications for faculty tenure evaluations
• Presenting faculty awards for impact/design of Web sites

Outreach

There have been some interesting suggestions about how the campus community could use IT to expand outreach activities:

• A joint project between the education and computer science departments to create preschool and K-12 educational programs
• Online advice for parents set up by the psychology department and Health Sciences Center
• Constructing a computer model of the CU-Boulder campus that would allow parents, new students and alumni to "visit" and see the campus without traveling to Boulder

Faculty Instructional Support

The creation of Web sites by faculty members for online tutorials to help students master content topics.

Tutorial programs to enhance distant learning programs.

Software for grading student papers online via email.

Technology-Equipped Classrooms

The comments concerning technology use in the classroom submitted so far share a common theme: a request for {\b more}, including more "smart" classrooms with {\b more} personalized technical support and maintanence.

User Support

Inexpensive and convenient training for faculty, staff members and students in the applications of their choice (e.g., "Windows'97")

A convenient way to test prospective and current employees on competency in various technology skills (e.g., email, word processing, desktop publishing/graphics, etc.)

Training programs and/or a requirement ensuring all students have the ability to access the Internet and basic applications, to send materials electronically, to interact with course materials electronically, and other basic IT skills

Faculty members would like the resources to create Web sites:

• For online tutorials which help students master content topics
• To facilitate collaboration/research among faculty in interest "supergroups"
• To increase contact between investigators on other campuses

However, the time involved in creating and maintaining such Web sites is prohibitive for many. One faculty member suggests the following solutions--incentives to help faculty members help themselves:

• Making funds available for summer salaries for faculty working on such projects
• Funding staff-level positions for updating the sites Classifying Web site construction as publications for faculty tenure evaluations
• Presenting faculty awards for impact/design of Web sites

Faculty Computer Issues

The most pressing need expressed is for resources ensuring every faculty member owns or has access to a computer. This is a concern voiced both by the Chancellor and many of the faculty, and the IT Plan will address proactively improving the basic technology infrastructure.

Another request was for:
Inexpensive and convenient training for faculty and staff members in the applications of their choice (e.g., "Excel for Quattro Users")

Funding Strategies

Use of the campus home page for applications, such as access to researchers, can enable funds to the campus via Technology Transfer

• One-time infusion of funds to bring the administrative "have-nots" up to date with the current IT standards
• Annual administrative unit budgets (including general fund units) for upgrading desktop software/hardware

The time involved in creating and maintaining desired faculty Web sites is prohibitive for many. One faculty member suggests the following solutions--incentives to help faculty members help themselves:

• Making funds available for summer salaries for faculty working on such projects
• Funding staff-level positions for updating the sites
• Classifying Web site construction as publications for faculty tenure evaluations
• Presenting faculty awards for impact/design of Web sites

Governance/Organization

No comments have been submitted for this topic so far.

Library Services

Restricted access to library services such as proprietary datatbases by IP address severely limits use of those services by faculty, staff and students who are increasingly likely t use ISPs external to the university. some solution, perhaps involving proxy servers and identikey, must be found soon. Otherwise, the university is paying for more library services that fewer and fewer people can use.

Standards/Interoperability