RETREAT: CCSF EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY THREE-YEAR PLAN
March 17, 2000
Presentation Notes/Outline: Technology-Enhanced Courses
Janet Willett, Title III Ed Tech Activity Director
Of major concern for technology-enhanced courses, are the following areas:
I. Discipline-specific education technology surveys and prioritized plans

Such plans provide a basis for funding and grant applications.

They should include all campuses where the discipline has a presence.

The planning in itself creates inclusion and training by providing intracampus
collaboration and shared technology.

These plans should put a high priority on "scaleable" technology-enhanced
curriculum.
Which bring us to the issue of curricula.
II. Curricula

Scaleability is the bang for the buck--whether the buck is money or time. Technology
is pricey in both measures.

Efficiency, effectiveness, quality, and high impact are best addressed via
collaborations within our departments in multiple sections, across levels, with other
departments and other campuses where appropriate.

Our best use is technology-delivered curricula used by multiple faculty and hundreds
or thousands of students rather than dozens.
Examples:

Our Chemistry Department
__Currently course offerings include a heavy dose of technology, some through
assignments shared with various universities and colleges via software developed at
UCLA and served over the web from a UCLA server.
__This same application is spreading to other disciplines. Three of our English and ESL
instructors are now using it for writing instruction and with appropriate design it could
deliver shared curricula with shared responses from students in multiple sections; indeed,
multiple campuses.
—According to the new decision support website put up by Research, Planning, and
Grants, there are currently 7,799 students registered in English and ESL composition
classes. One web-delivered quality lab course serving multiple sections could have a
trackable, large-scale impact.

Three English faculty are developing a resource website for use by all English writing
students across the department.

Large-scale delivery of common curriculum can be shared across campuses, across
credit/noncredit, and across distance learning and technology-enhanced courses.

Commercially prepared software integrated across sections in support of particular
course objectives can provide value and save development time.

The multimedia and tracking aspects of computerized technology allows special focus
to be placed on self-paced, individualized, student-centered materials.

Large scale efforts encourage efficiency of training, create ease of movement between
various delivery modes for both faculty and students, and can provide all classes with
opportunities afforded by collaborative technology.
In our breakout meetings today we could suggest some criteria for prioritizing potential
technology plan as they pertain to curriculum development. These criteria need to include
considerations of student access to the particular technology.
III. Student Access

Lack of home access is apparently becoming less of a problem statistically among our
students. Results of the Title III pilot projects show an 11% percent increase in the
past year of students with home computers. 78% in fall 98 (including large numbers
of CIS students) to 89% in f99, with no CIS students. Of course, many of these
computers will be limited in desired technology (e.g., handling Java applets or even
accessing the web). Only 58% of my intermediate ESL reading class have web access
from home. But this is up from around 12% four years ago.
But we know there is a societal "digital divide" that surely affects some of our students.

We need smart classrooms in all major academic buildings. We have smart
classrooms at all campuses except Mission and CTNB, who are going to get new
buildings. Ensure that courses with populations of tech-disadvantaged students use
them by helping instructors there develop technology-enhanced components to their
courses.

Investigate and fully publicize among our students where community access may be,
like public libraries.

Look carefully at what we might do to get home computers for less advantaged
students in our educational programs.

Incorporate developmental programs with private industry into our plans and our
grant writing, pinpointing those educational programs who have a potentially high
impact in tech-poor populations. I've heard that Bell Atlantic provides an ISP for
$5/month to some students in their area.
IV. Convergence of production/training areas

Technologies are merging and new learning environments arising. Our College
production and training resources working together can take advantage of these
opportunities: Broadcasting, IDST MM Studies, Graphic Communications,
Audio/Visual, the Media Center, the LAC, and the TLC.
V. Faculty

Provide support and rewards for faculty who develop their skills and integrate student
technology use into their courses.

Forge agreements on ownership of intellectual property.
"The real variable that will decide between [future success or failure] is whether higher
education institutions integrate all their face-to-face students in the same communication
environment, prioritizing collaboration for all students and rewarding faculty who
introduce new technology in this way." Murray Turoff (distinguished Professor of
Computer and Information Science, New Jersey Institute of Technology, author,
consultant, etc.)
VI. Training and Support Staff for Faculty Using Technology
Being discussed in the training focus group. But should also investigate
outsourcing help (e.g., to the Help Desk Institute, a private S.F. company). We are unable
to compete with Multimedia Gulch and Silicon Valley in offers for technologically
skilled personnel. We must develop innovative ways to provide for our needs:

contracting out to the companies who have the desired personnel

use of students and specially designed tech-support programs

developing self-sufficiency among contract and tenured employees

using special contracts to employ highly skilled people
We need a special retreat on this issue alone.