In FY 95, WSU received $329,000 in one-time funding from the Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) Higher Education Technology Initiative (HETI). $91,000 was added from other sources, and the combined total of $420,000 was allocated to accomplish the following five goals:

1. Initiate a dialogue among faculty and staff concerning the purpose of the Initiative and ways in which it might be accomplished.
2. Provide opportunities for faculty and staff to learn to use the technologies identified by the Initiative.
3. Strengthen support services for the use of these technologies.
4. Begin creating the infrastructure required for productive use of these technologies.
5. Support the development of technology-based courses.

In pursuit of the first goal, the Teaching and Learning Forum sponsored a series of luncheons during winter and spring quarters at which philosophical issues related to the Technology Initiative were discussed. The issues included the purpose (the real purpose) of the Technology Initiative; technology and academic quality; technology and academic productivity; technology and faculty roles; technology and intellectual property rights; etc. The luncheons were well-attended, and gave many faculty an opportunity to think about the Initiative and its probable impact on the University.

In pursuit of the second goal, Communication Arts & Technologies (CATS) conducted a series of workshops entitled "Teaching on the Information Superhighway" during spring quarter. Meeting an hour and a half per week for seven weeks, the workshops introduced the participants to electronic mail; computer conferencing; presentation graphics; videoconferencing; multimedia; online information; and computer-based testing and evaluation. More than forty faculty and staff attended, and the workshops will be repeated each quarter (except summer) as long as interest continues. More advanced workshops are also being planned.

In pursuit of the third goal, funds were provided for communication controllers for the new electronic mail system; a server to support computer-based testing in Health Professions; new satellite receivers; multimedia production equipment for CATS; and a Communication Technology Laboratory staffed by CATS. The last provides a place for workshop participants to get follow-up hands-on experience, as well as a place to use multimedia production equipment.

In pursuit of the fourth goal, CATS collaborated with Architectural Services and Electronic Systems and Repair in the design and creation of a new videoconference origination facility (SB 63A) and six new multimedia classrooms in the following locations:  WB 120, ET 101, MH 346, LL 124, SS 347 and ED 325.  Several of these projects could not begin until the summer of 1995, but all were completed by the end of the 1995-96 academic year

In pursuit of the fifth goal, $57,914 was distributed by the RS&PG Committee to 11 faculty members who submitted proposals to develop and teach technology-based courses or course modules. Summaries of the funded proposals are available in hard copy.