Abstract: 38 The amount of information we receive daily through newspapers, radio, television, and the Internet is increasing at an unimaginable rate. The problems and possibilities that this imposes on our knowledge and understanding are also increasing. Having information so readily available brings with it the expectation that each of us can and will increase our knowledge base. To build on what we already know, however, requires critical thinking. Otherwise, we may fall prey to modern communication media, which present a world where the prepackaging of intellectual positions and views is so ingenious that thinking seems unnecessary. We want our students to acquire knowledge and exercise reasoned judgment. They must be able to examine logical relationships among statements of data, construct arguments, respect diverse perspectives, view phenomena from different points of view, and have the flexibility to recast their thinking when reason leads them to do so. This, too, requires critical thinking. Critical thinking is a common objective of various disciplines and a goal that most faculty can aspire to. “Critical thinking,” as defined by Michael Scriven and Richard Paul, “is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.”1 It is a standard of intellectual excellence required for full participation in the social, economic, and political life of our society.

Abstract: 24 With the increased availability of multimedia tools in the classroom, many instructors have begun accepting the challenge of enhancing their traditional courses with an array of information technology (IT) applications. Many of the IT planning efforts within colleges and universities advocate that every classroom be equipped with the latest multimedia and networking equipment available, at a cost of anywhere from $3,000 to $50,000 per classroom.1 The presumption has been that students expect schools to offer more technology-enhanced courses and that the level of expectation for technology use is far greater than most instructors are able to achieve. These presumptions, however, have not been validated by documented research.

Abstract: Colleges and universities typically have a unique resource that is not always recognized as such, that is, their significant Internet bandwidth, which allows members of their campus communities to do things that cannot yet typically be done by businesses and private individuals. One such Internet function that has become practical for widespread use is videoconferencing. Many people have used the older, more traditional method of videoconferencing, which uses ISDN or leased telephone lines at high hourly rates and requires special room setups and advanced scheduling. Internet videoconferencing has none of these characteristics. It is much more like using the telephone, with the added feature of being able to see the person you are talking to, so there are not only technological, but also sociological differences (see Table 1). It is possible to communicate between traditional and Internet videoconferencing systems via gateways that exist just for this purpose, as described below. One of the first reactions some people have, when hearing about ubiquitous videoconferencing in their office or laboratory, is fear of the loss of privacy, but this is not really a concern if you think of this technology as being similar to the telephone. You do not fear that your voice will be heard somewhere else if the telephone receiver is on its cradle; similarly your image will not be seen from afar unless you turn on your camera and start up your video system. It is important to distinguish between Internet videoconferencing and Internet video broadcasting. Conferencing is a two-way process, like using the telephone. Terms such as “call up” and “answer” apply. Broadcasting is a one-way process, like watching television. Terms such as “tune in,” “enter URL,” “streaming,” and “Webcasting” apply. This article addresses only videoconferencing. In the most basic approach to making a videoconference call, you type in the IP (Internet protocol) address of the person’s PC you wish to call, and the call is completed with no further action needed. The systems provide a local dialing directory into which you can enter commonly called numbers, giving them names such as “Bob” or “Dean’s Office,” which frees you from having to Internet Videoconferencing:

Abstract: Globally, universities and colleges are relying upon a chief information officer (CIO) to bring order to the chaotic world of information technology (IT) on campus. As higher education becomes increasingly dependent on its IT capabilities, more CIOs are reporting directly to their organization’s CEO and serving on the CEO’s executive management team. While this new visibility may position the CIO to better serve the institution and the IT organization, the downside is that it often makes him or her a target for criticism. Longevity in the CIO position is still limited compared with other senior executive management positions as academic institutions continue to change CIOs on a regular and short cycle. We believe this is as much an indicator of the inability of many CIOs to gain acceptance from the college or university executive management team as it is a measure of failed technology strategies, decisions, or initiatives. The CIO has two distinct roles within two different organizational units. The CIO is both the leader of the information systems (IS) organization and a member of the CEO’s executive management team. In the latter role, many CIOs view themselves as a communicator or representative. They communicate executive management’s strategies, views, and concerns to the information systems organization, and they communicate the IS department’s issues, directions, and capabilities to executive management. By being present when business strategies are developed, the CIO can provide input on technology capabilities and

Abstract: In 1996, Louisiana State University tapped the expertise of the Enterprise Solutions Group (ESG) and analysts from other departments within the Office of Computing Services (OCS) to build enterprise solutions that spanned the academic, research, and administrative requirements of the university. In response, OCS presented a portal application, Personal Access Web Services (PAWS), to the LSU community in September of 1997. In the year following its implementation, approximately 12,000 students, faculty, and staff requested access to this service. Today, almost three years later, more than 45,000 students, faculty, and staff are using PAWS accounts. PAWS offers enterprise, workgroup, and personal services. Enterprise services include access to the central university directory, electronic library reserves, midterm and final grades, current and potential degree program audits, and financial aid status. In addition, students can conduct homecoming elections, register for classes, and select meal and parking plans. Workgroup applications include a course content and communication management tool, a universitywide faculty newsletter, and the computer services help desk support center. Personal applications are e-mail, an electronic planner, and personal Web pages. Naturally, the PAWS suite continues to evolve. We are enhancing the course management tool to allow for online assessment and soon the registration process will allow for online credit card use. Also, the requirements for a Webbased sponsored-projects management system are being defined. Using this system, faculty will be able to create proposals, route them for approval, and submit them to sponsoring agencies—all online. Once a response has been received from the agency and a proposal is funded, the budget information will be automatically loaded to the sponsored project’s accounting system. The sponsored-projects management system will be the first of many workflow applications available through PAWS.

Abstract: 6 Surrounded as it is by such northern Virginia neighbors as Dominion Semiconductor, Oracle, MCI WorldCom, and AOL, George Mason University has significant external motivation to produce graduates who can function effectively in a high-tech environment. Some corporate leaders and Virginia legislators fretted that we were graduating “too many history majors and not enough engineers.” However, the literature on workforce development and our own conversations with CEOs and human resources officers convinced us that producing more engineers would not necessarily be the right answer by itself for our region or our students. We have an excellent and innovative School of Information Technology and Engineering that does, in fact, produce many well-trained technical specialists, including, among others, engineers. However, our largest undergraduate program—10,000 students—is the College of Arts and Sciences. And many businesses want the skills that come with a liberal arts education, provided that these graduates can also handle technology well. So, we thought, why not graduate history majors who are fluent in technology? The governor and the legislature agreed with our proposal. And thus in 1998, by leveraging some additional state funding and some existing university resources, was born George Mason University’s Technology Across the Curriculum (TAC) program.

Abstract: According to a Minnesota state planning report, “If Minnesota’s higher education institutions—both public and private—are to thrive...they need to see themselves as brokers of educational services, rather than as competitors fighting for enrollment and public funds, and they need to work cooperatively to provide affordable services.”1 The citizens of our states, our nation, our world—our learners—expect our educational systems to partner in providing high quality, affordable, relevant, flexible, and focused programs and services that meet immediate and long-term educational needs. They expect us to leverage our resources in the development of joint systems and services that are designed with the learner at the center. Furthermore, we are all faced with growing competition from around the world as well as from nontraditional educational organizations. In 1997 the state of Minnesota passed the Higher Education Bill, which called for the development of a virtual university, defined as “a system to provide the uniform delivery of higher education administrative services and program offerings to students through the electronic medium of the Internet.” In this article we describe the development of such a statewide system—primarily the building of a suite of online resources to meet the needs of lifelong learners—and evaluate the results to date. In assessing our achievement, we examine two prevailing taxonomies for classifying virtual universities and explore several sets of readiness criteria that should be in place and addressed before beginning a statewide virtual university effort. We conclude with a discussion of keys to success in advancing virtual university partnerships. In 1997 the state of Minnesota passed the Higher Education Bill, which called for the development of a statewide virtual university. This article describes the response to that mandate, measures the results to date against two classification systems and several sets of readiness criteria for virtual universities, and suggests keys to advancing virtual university partnerships based on lessons learned. Creating the Minnesota Virtual University— Assessing Results and Readiness Criteria

Abstract: The telecommunications industry has developed a standard set of high-level design building blocks and practices that the most basic network shares with the most complex. This substantial experience has enabled the development of a set of guiding principles for designing and managing networks to maximize investment value and promote flexibility to meet changing needs. The key to a campus network that will maintain currency and gracefully accommodate future advanced services is to use these principles to guide ongoing renewals of the standard building blocks to maximize network value, technology, and flexibility to meet campus needs. Once critical mass is established with a standards-guided campus network, unit costs will level off, even with rapid expansion in connections and bandwidth. Because of rising user expectations and some external factors, however, overall costs for an evolving technology (for example, the data network) are likely to continue to rise at rates substantially above inflation for the foreseeable future. Specialty applications will require specialty equipment and knowledge (but will likely use standard network building blocks and cabling) and thus will come at a premium cost. But those costs need only be incurred when the need emerges locally and justifies the cost. This article offers a set of principles to guide network planning and design; provides Communications networks are core infrastructure for higher education, providing an essential foundation for all electronic teaching, research, library, and administrative services. How can a school create, manage, and maintain these networks? With continuous advances in technology, how can a school prepare for an unknown future? This article shares some good news: by following some basic guidelines, a campus can ensure a course of network growth and renewal, providing continuous network upgrades and maintaining a position of flexibility to meet expected and unexpected future needs.1 a Campus Network for the Future

Abstract: Three significant societal trends will most certainly have a broad impact on information services and higher education for some time to come: • the increasing use of information technology (IT) for worldwide communications and information creation, storage, and retrieval; • the continuing rapid change in the development, maturity, and uses of information technology itself; and • the growing need in society for skilled workers who can understand and take advantage of the new methods of communication and information management. These trends have more serious implications for liberal arts education than other segments of higher education, but because of their unique mission, liberal arts colleges are more likely to ignore these trends and thus run a greater risk of becoming irrelevant, obsolete, and financially unstable. Thus I believe that it is the responsibility of chief information officers at liberal arts colleges to work with their leadership to understand three fundamental tenets related to information technology: (1) The futures of their colleges are tied directly to the strategic use of IT and that institutional planning and decision making must reflect the realities of rapidly changing information technology. Boards of trustees and senior management must not delay in examining how these changes in society will impact their institutions, both negatively and positively, and in embracing the idea that IT is integral to fulfilling their liberal arts missions in the future. (2) To plan and support technological change effectively, their colleges must have sufficient high-quality information services staff and must take a flexible and creative approach to recruiting and retaining such staff. The growing societal need for skilled workers who can understand and take advantage of the new methods of communication and information management has put pressure on all organizations to attract and retain skilled information services employees as well as to help all employees understand the vital role of information. (3) Information technology must become an integral part of the academic programs and the life of liberal arts colleges to ensure information-literate communities. Graduates must be able to assume appropriate roles in the information society. Five principal reasons why the future success of liberal arts colleges is tied to their effective use of information technology are: • Liberal arts colleges have an obligation to prepare their students for lifelong learning and for the leadership roles they will assume when they graduate. • Liberal arts colleges must demonstrate the use of the most significant approaches to problem solving and communications to have emerged since the invention of the printing press and movable type. • Information technology can help liberal arts colleges meet their unique mission to help students connect ideas and disciplines broadly, think critically, act responsibly, and communicate effectively. • Twenty-first-century workers must be well prepared and confident in managing technology and its role in all segments of the economy. • Prospective students and their parents need to understand the importance of information technology and expect it to be integrated into the curriculum. For these reasons, the role of information technology at liberal arts colleges Liberal Arts Education and Information Technology: Time for Another Renewal

Abstract: Anyone with even a passing interest in Wall Street has heard it said that the Internet stock party couldn’t last forever. Despite the warnings, share prices for companies with small revenues and deep losses continually climbed into the stratosphere on hopes that Web-enabled technology would eventually translate into huge profits. Only recently, with word that many of these companies are nearly out of cash and earnings are nowhere in sight, have share prices begun to fall dramatically as investors realize that many of these businesses might not survive long enough to ever turn a profit. Even Forrester Research, one of the most bullish prognosticators of the “new economy,” has predicted that most of the current e-tailers will not be with us by the end of next year. So many investment analysts can now point their fingers and say, “I told you so.” Yet organizations around the globe are embracing the Internet now more than ever as an opportunity to reach customers and employees better, reduce costs, and offer enhanced services. Many corporate executives have gone on record as being afraid of the impact that the dot coms and the new technologies would have on their businesses. Now these same companies are leveraging their experience and skills to incorporate this new technology and accomplish something a majority of dot coms have found elusive—to improve their bottom line. Why discuss stock market gyrations and dot-com failures in relation to higher education? Colleges and universities are faced with many of the same challenges brought about by the Internet

Abstract: The Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium (CTDLC) provides its 32 members with Information Technologies (IT) services including a portal Web site, course management software, course hosting and development, faculty training, a help desk, online assessment, and a student financial aid database. These services are supplied to twoand four-year institutions, both public and private. The $2.5 million budget comes mostly from the legislature, as well as from fees. This paper describes the IT services, infrastructure, budget, and successes of the CTDLC with the aim of providing a model for schools looking to expand their learning technologies while containing costs of development and maintaining pedagogical effectiveness. Discussion focuses on detailing services, costs, growth rate, and future plans of the CTDLC, and concludes with advantages to using a consortial approach to IT development. An appendix charts the increase in number of distance learning courses from the 1997-1998 to 1999-2000 academic years. (AEF) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Consortial IT Services: Collaborating To Reduce the Pain Ed Klonoski, Executive Director Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium New Britain Connecticut The Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium provides its 32 members IT services including a portal web site, course management software, course hosting & development, faculty training, help desk, online assessment, and a student financial aid database. The Consortium is a model for expanding learning technologies while containing costs and maintaining effectiveness. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

Abstract: 48 Getting college students to participate in elections is a continual challenge for student governments. Voting rates of 30 percent are considered good and those in the single digits are not unheard of. This student apathy may only be a reflection of society at large. Presidential elections attract half the eligible voters, while off-year congressional races bring out little more than a third.1 In an attempt to combat this apathy and increase voter participation, student government often turns to technology for answers. Information technology staffs are getting requests to put student elections on the Web.2 Given the various projects that compete for our attention, how should these requests be handled? At Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., we conducted our first Web-based election in April 2000. The “polls” were open for 48 hours and more than 51 percent of the students voted. Election results were available immediately after polls closed. We considered the project important as a way to increase participation in elections as well as showcase the college’s investment in technology.

Abstract: 6 Surrounded as it is by such northern Virginia neighbors as Dominion Semiconductor, Oracle, MCI WorldCom, and AOL, George Mason University has significant external motivation to produce graduates who can function effectively in a high-tech environment. Some corporate leaders and Virginia legislators fretted that we were graduating “too many history majors and not enough engineers.” However, the literature on workforce development and our own conversations with CEOs and human resources officers convinced us that producing more engineers would not necessarily be the right answer by itself for our region or our students. We have an excellent and innovative School of Information Technology and Engineering that does, in fact, produce many well-trained technical specialists, including, among others, engineers. However, our largest undergraduate program—10,000 students—is the College of Arts and Sciences. And many businesses want the skills that come with a liberal arts education, provided that these graduates can also handle technology well. So, we thought, why not graduate history majors who are fluent in technology? The governor and the legislature agreed with our proposal. And thus in 1998, by leveraging some additional state funding and some existing university resources, was born George Mason University’s Technology Across the Curriculum (TAC) program.