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2: Becoming a Safe, Supportive and Welcoming Campus Community
and Physical Environment
Report on Issue No. 4: Availability of Technology to
Assist Students and Operations
Ten years ago, the major technological issue facing the campus
was the selection and implementation of e-mail. Questions
such as who should have access, hours of operation, staffing,
passwords, etc. were of eminent concern. Computer labs existed
conceptually - the room was makeshift and used monitors that
frequently malfunctioned. The universal complaints voiced
most frequently were related to the computer lab; there was
no staffing and the hours of operation were consistently inconsistent.
Telecommunications primarily consisted of phone service. Data
connections existed, but not to every office, nor every building.
Two-way compressed video did not exist. Instead, one-way video
and two-way audio was implemented using intermittent microwave
communications between CSUSB and Palm Desert. On many occasions
signals could not reach the destination site because palm
trees impeded the signals. Media Services consisted primarily
of delivering overhead projectors to classrooms (over 14,000
deliveries annually) along with public address installations
university-wide. Students preparing for teacher certification
would demonstrate their media expertise by threading 16 mm
film projectors and "burning" overhead transparencies.
Words such as "key-stoning," used to convey overhead
projection distortion, and the "revelation method"
of selectively revealing the information projected onto the
screen, were all in vogue.
Many of the tools we take for granted today did not exist.
Wireless, voice over IP, fiber optics, two-way audio and video,
computer-based instruction, multi-casting, calendar scheduling,
photographic software, digital cameras, instructional software
(WebCT, Blackboard), laptop or notebook computers, discipline
specific computer labs (except for computer science and information
decision sciences), PowerPoint presentations, cell phones,
touch tone registration, web-based registration and grades,
on-line journals, online indices and abstracts, and much,
much more were not available.
In the past ten years information technology has imbued virtually
every segment of our university. Many of our operations are
founded on technological principles. Today every division/college
has it own technological staff, and almost every employee
has his or her own computer workstation and in some instances
more than one. Assistance in the development of course instructional
materials is readily available. The John M. Pfau Library subscribes
to over 16,000 journals on line, and over one million "hits"
are made to the Library's home page monthly. The number and
sophistication of IT staff university-wide continues to expand
and become increasingly complex. Along with new technologies,
capabilities, and capacities come new concerns and increasingly
intrusive problems. Our technology has spawned new disciplines
and positions, and has re-shaped much of our world. Information
security today is an international phenomenon. We are cognizant
that the security of our information systems is as important
as the security of our buildings and staff.
We have had many milestones during the last decade, but the
reality is that we've only just begun this technological sojourn.
In this beginning of the 21st Century, technology advances
faster than we can implement. And as "new" technologies
continue to emerge, we must carefully and thoughtfully consider
what will bring the most value to the university. We've come
a long way in the last ten years, but perhaps the single most
important lesson we've learned is to recognize that even the
longest of journeys begins with an initial step.
The Technology Strategic Planning Committee (TSPC) was established
in Fall 2000 to advise the President on strategic directions
for technology in support of the University's mission. As
a result of the committee's recommendation, the Technology
Advisory Council (TAC) was formed a year later that would
continue the work of the TSPC by recommending technology directions
and policies for CSUSB and serving as a conduit for keeping
the campus current on information technology issues. The TAC
worked diligently during AY 2001/02 to develop a comprehensive
technology strategic plan that would address the technology
needs of students, faculty, staff, and administrators. Campus
senior management approved the plan during Summer 2002. (The
full plan is available on the CSUSB TAC Web-Site at: http://irt.csusb.edu/tac )
The vision established by the TAC is that:
CSUSB will become known as a regional comprehensive
university with highly effective, state-of-the-art technologies
to facilitate the University's vision for achieving and
sustaining academic leadership and excellence in teaching,
learning, and scholarship; to empower people of the region
by facilitating the understanding and effective use of technology
through partnerships and other community support activities.
The CSUSB mission for technology is to provide a robust,
secure, and reliable application of technology in support
of the educational (institutional) goals and objectives
of the University by offering a flexible learning environment
through efficient, effective, and timely access to information
and services.
While the first draft of the Technology Strategic Plan was
written in Spring 2002, the campus has made much progress
in meeting the teaching and learning needs of faculty and
students. A large number of accomplishments are available
on the IRT Division web site, http://irt.csusb.edu/, and highlights
are outlined as follows:
- The campus currently has 121 Smart Classrooms, with another
10 planned for availability Fall 2003.
- CSUSB is leading the CSU in the development and implementation
of the Telecommunications Infrastructure Initiative (TII).
This project will provide 100mb connection, and enable the
campus to move to voice, data, and video over a single line
(VoIP).
- Wireless technology is now available in Student Housing
Residence Halls, the Student Union Events Center, and throughout
several academic departments.
- The campus operating system was upgraded in December 2001
to improve the speed, performance, and reliability of the
campus network.
- The campus hired an Information Security Officer in July
2000, and through US Department of Education Title V funds,
the campus infrastructure and information is being secured
and staff members are being trained in information and network
security.
- Remote Learning Centers (RLC) are being established at
several community colleges in remote places throughout San
Bernardino County through a US Department of Education Title
V grant. This grant allows CSUSB students to take part in
classes via distributed learning from remote sites, saving
them time and gasoline.
- The Office of Distributed Learning (ODL) is committed
to the development of programs leading to degrees or certificates
and delivered through distributed learning avenues.
- CSUSB was the first of 11 CSU campuses to go live with
a Common Management System (CMS) that provides more effective
human resources information management and financial records.
The student records project is on hold; however, an interim
solution is being implemented which will expand the capabilities
of the current SIS+ system.
- The Assistive Computing Resources Center was established
(2001) to meet the needs of students, faculty, and staff
with disabilities and make recommendations for assistive
technology solutions to their needs.
- The Teaching Resource Center, University Librarians, and
faculty are working collaboratively to develop information
literacy among faculty and students.
- More than 250 courses are now available on-line through
Blackboard and Web CT; over 100 faculty were engaged in
pedagogical review of course material and worked with administrative
staff to design and prepare course materials.
- The Pfau Library has made a number of enhancements that
provide additional benefit to the campus community. Students
and faculty may reserve materials electronically, remotely;
students may renew materials online; and access to 2,417
on-line databases offer 16,000 full text periodicals. PHAROS,
part of the Unified Information Access System of the CSU
Libraries, will expand access to all CSU resources, and
is expected to be implemented Fall 2003.
- Feasibility study being conducted for renovation of original
Pfau Library building and addition of a second wing.
- Students may access their class confirmations, grades,
and PAWS reports electronically via a secured server.
In the CSUSB Technology Strategic Plan, the TAC established
a number of General Recommendations (to be carried out over
a period of two to three years). They are divided into six
categories and are outlined as follows:
Fundamental Recommendations
- Faculty, staff, and students shall have equal opportunities
to access and use technologies. CSUSB has a diverse student
population with varying needs. Each technology decision
needs to address these issues of diversity. This may range
from adaptive technologies to time and geographical restrictions,
to socio-economic and cultural contexts.
- All university information systems should recognize individual
privacy rights.
- Continue to develop digital information and replace paper
distribution.
- Continue to maximize the benefits of collaborative decision-making
and student services that technology makes possible.
- All university information systems shall be integrated
and maintained with reasonable system security, redundancy,
and disaster recovery measures.
CSUSB Uniqueness
- Teacher preparation for effective use of technology in
the classroom will be addressed. As the major provider of
the region's teachers, CSUSB must commit itself to preparing
teachers to use technology for effective teaching and learning.
Programs such as the "Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers
to Use Technology" are an important first step.
- CSUSB will distinguish itself in its monitoring and evaluation
of the effectiveness of technology in teaching and learning
in all colleges on campus.
Distance Learning
- CSUSB will expand distance-learning formats to include
complete courses and/or degree programs.
- Remote students will have access to student services that
are comparable to those afforded to on-campus students.
- Information technology has blurred the distinction between
classroom-based education and distance education. On-site
campus learners and remote learners should be insured of
equal quality of instruction, although the array of teaching
and learning technologies may vary.
Training
- Students, faculty, and staff will be provided with opportunities
to develop technology competency and information literacy
skills. Technology has become a part of every aspect of
the university's mission. Every member of the university
community must meet standards of locating, evaluating, organizing,
and communicating information for problem solving. This
requires that policy-makers, administrators and staff be
technologically literate and support exemplary adoption
of academic technologies; that all faculty are able to use
appropriate educational technology; and that students and
faculty learn to become critical users of information technology.
Funding
- The campus technology infrastructure shall maintain parity
with like institutions. CSUSB shall monitor like institutions
and maintain parity in IT equipment and personnel.
Governance
- CSUSB will continue to address information technology
issues through wide-based campus involvement.
Over a period of seven months, the TAC Sub-Committees met
independently and reviewed data as they applied to their respective
areas. Recommendations for Immediate Action Steps that could
be undertaken over the next two-year period are reproduced
below.
Baseline Access Training & Support
- Smart Classrooms: Develop a timeline for determining
number of remaining classrooms that need to be made "smart",
ongoing assessment of usage in those rooms, and augmentation
to current technology (such as wireless antennas), in addition
to establishing a cycle and budget for upgrading the equipment
to keep the classrooms as current as necessary.
- Expand the role of the BATS to: a) better reflect its
role in facilitating access to technology for teaching and
learning; and b) recommend technology directions for the
campus, particularly as they impact teaching and learning.
- Bring forward a student technology fee referendum to
guarantee a steady source of funding for technology for
teaching and learning.
- Assess in-progress "new technology" initiatives
and recommend areas for expansion to support teaching and
learning while optimizing access with moderate cost.
- Continue to evaluate and pilot test strategies to maximize
access to Smart Classrooms, computer labs, and new technologies.
- Devise a strategy to monitor student lab use (possible
ways: software installed on lab computers, or surveys required
of labs planning to request future upgrade funds).
- Continue to pursue campus input into student technology
issues, while providing both easy-to-use resources (access)
and awareness of (communication) technology tools.
Infrastructure
- Plan for on-going replacement and support for infrastructure
and licensing agreements. Telecommunications and Network
Services, Academic Computing and Media Services and Data
Center Services need to develop a complete inventory of
all infrastructure components. Using the inventory as a
basis, develop a replacement/upgrade cycle, determine annual
maintenance/licensing costs. Once all of the above is accomplished
an estimated annual budget needs to be developed along with
any known source of funds.
- Plan for optimal staffing level for technical staff to
support IT in all units on campus. This element is probably
best accomplished with a consulting firm who has experience
in IT staffing. An inventory will need to be made of all
current IT positions, their job responsibilities, and their
current skill sets. A separate analysis will have to be
accomplished on the IT staffing needs of the university
to obtain a gap analysis.
- Plan for a converged telecommunications infrastructure.
A converged telecommunications infrastructure is inevitable
where voice, video and data communications will take place
over the same network as opposed to the current model of
separate wiring and switching for each of the elements.
This will require planning, study, preparation and training
to insure the convergence is accomplished with as little
or no degradation in service and features. A joint plan
by TNS and ACM needs to be developed to insure this is accomplished.
- Seek out and implement tools and infrastructure that support
collaboration. The first step will be to define just what
kind of collaboration is to take place. This would be an
academic and administrative exercise as there are two or
more different needs. Once collaboration is defined an appropriate
group such as BATS should do exploratory work as to the
software that is available to meet the needs.
- Make the electronic borders between classroom, student
housing, home and roaming invisible. This element will take
planning and exploration as the technology is not sufficiently
complete to accomplish this task.
- Thin-client technologies. This would be a good project
for BATS to explore to determine if it is a direction that
the university wants to go and if so what is the best technology
to support our mission.
- Develop a Telecommunications Master Plan. With the number
of new building projects projected over the next ten years,
this becomes important so that new growth in telecommunications
will not create additional, unexpected burdens regarding
personnel, equipment, and other similar items.
University Information Systems
- Coordinate oversight, and plan for development and implementation
of a seamless university information system.
- Expand training opportunities for all university technical
staff.
- Continue building digital library.
Teaching and Learning
- Expand training opportunities to include regular and
periodic training for students, staff, faculty, and administrators.
- Encourage removal of disincentives and putting in place
incentives to encourage and reward faculty and staff in
the use of technology for teaching, research, and service.
This would include encouraging the Faculty Senate review
of the current Criteria for Performance Review to specifically
address the concerns of faculty using technology in instruction.
- Fund faculty research projects which are designed to
assess the effectiveness of various uses of technology in
instruction.
- Implement or reinforce information literacy programs
in the general education program.
- Encourage that technology skills and technology integration
be part of faculty, staff, and administrators' professional
development plans (annual or as per unit's evaluation time
period), and be evaluated and rewarded accordingly.
Distance Learning
- Develop business and academic accountability model plan
for distance learning programs.
- Insure that distance-learning students have appropriate
access to student services.
- Insure valid assessment procedures for class outcomes.
- Insure valid assessment procedures for program outcomes.
- Expand course and program availability for students.
Community
- Establish an advisory committee to assess needs and identify
opportunities for technological collaborations.
- Cooperatively establish and offer an information competency
tutoring program for area high schools and community colleges.
- Establish a study committee to recommend policies for
establishing collaborative partnerships.
There are a number of key issues that continue to be addressed
by the campus. The BATS Committee, in its report to the TAC,
sums these up nicely: The campus climate for change involves
not only providing access to equipment, but also educating
faculty, staff, students. A perennial campus problem is inadequate
technical support for technology (too few staff and/or too
little staff training) in many areas. Students use campus
computer labs primarily for convenience while on campus, followed
by access to specialty software/hardware, and about half of
them would bring or buy laptops, if campus resources/wireless
networking were readily available. Fourth, the majority of
students want campus technology dollars to go to supporting
student labs, not to assist them in purchasing their own computers.
Fifth, smart classrooms are widely popular with faculty and
with students, and most students believe they learn more with
the assistance of a 'smart' facility. Sixth, successful technology
initiatives include a well-designed and evaluated 'pilot'
phase." The new Technology Strategic Plan attempts to
provide solutions to address these and other key issues related
to technology on the CSUSB campus.
Appendix of Supporting Materials and Links for Theme II,
Issue No. 4
Reports (Available in hardcopy on-campus):
Technology Strategic Plan, 2002/03 - 2004/05: http://irt.csusb.edu/tacwww
Interim DRAFT Technology Strategic Plan, 2001/02
IRT Strategic Plans: http://irt.csusb.edu
2002/03
2001/02
2000/01
1999/2000
1998/99
Smart Classroom Project
Title V Grant. Improving Access to Information Systems
at Hispanic Serving Institutions: A Cooperative Arrangement
Project
Baseline Access Training and Support
BATS Report, 2001/2002
Committee List 1999/2000
Charge to the 1998/99 Committee
Letter to President Karnig re: BATS Implementation Committee
1996/97 Follow Up Report
1996/97 Original BATS Document
Technology Surveys
Winter 2002 Student Registration Survey, conducted Fall 2001
Smart Classroom Faculty Survey, November 2001
Technology Resources Survey of Faculty, December 2001
Student Survey (conducted by electronic mail), January 2002
Faculty Assessment of Library Services, April 2002
Telecommunications Infrastructure Initiative (TII). TII information
is located at: http://tii.calstate.edu/BuildoutProject/InfrastructureBuildout.shtml
Wireless Networks Common Management System (CMS): http://cms.csusb.edu
Other Useful Links
Academic Computing and Media Home Page: http://acm.csusb.edu
Administrative Computing Services: http://acs.csusb.edu
CSU Common Management System: http://cms.calstate.edu
CSUSB Common Management System: http://cms.csusb.edu
Data Center Services Home Page: http://helpweb.csusb.edu
Office of Distributed Learning: http://odl.csusb.edu
CSUSB Information Resources & Technology: http://irt.csusb.edu
Information Security Office: http://www.infosec.csusb.edu
Information Security Policies and Information
Contact Information for Information Security Office
Campus Resources
Incident Reports
Title V Grant Information. Improving Access to Information
Systems at Hispanic Serving Institutions: A Cooperative Arrangement
Project
CSU Information Technology Services: http://its.calstate.edu
Pfau Library Home Page: http://www.lib.csusb.edu
Secure IT Conference: http://www.secureitconf.com
Teaching Resource Center: http://trc.csusb.edu
Technology Day 2002: http://irt.csusb.edu
Technology Surveys: http://irt.csusb.edu/tacwww
The 1999 CSU Technology Survey: http://ir.csusb.edu/1999techsurvey.html
Telecommunications and Network Services: http://tns.csusb.edu Water Resources Institute: http://wri.csusb.edu
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