I. Faculty Assistance/Development Funding ($98,600)

Funding in this category is intended to be used to "further expand the capabilities and resources of the faculty assistance centers on each campus." The faculty assistance center at WSU is called, Communication Arts & Technologies, or "CATS."

We propose to use this year’s funding to equip CATS' multimedia classroom (SB 78) with computers; to expand CATS' Communication Technology Laboratory (SB 71); and to fund faculty development and/or course development projects administered by the Teaching and Learning Forum.

CATS’ multimedia classroom is already equipped with an equipment console and video projector for technology demonstrations, and has proven useful for training provided not only by CATS but also by other departments. To a degree that we underestimated when we originally designed the classroom, however, effective training in the use of modern communication technologies requires hands-on experience. To upgrade the classroom to enable us (and others) to provide the kind of training today’s technologies require, we propose to equip the classroom with eighteen networked computers. This will allow 36 faculty, staff, and/or students at a time, working in pairs, to receive training in the production and use of multimedia and other technologies. The cost of upgrading the classroom in this way will be approximately $50,000.

Our Communication Technology Laboratory was established, on a small scale, with funding from last year’s Technology Initiative, and has proven useful as a place for consulting with faculty and staff; providing hands-on experience in the use of new technologies; and producing multimedia applications. We now propose to expand the Lab, staffing it with two full-time staff members (Roy Stock and Bob King), and equipping it with additional workstations, image capture and processing equipment, and audio and video capture and editing systems. This will provide a place for faculty and staff to receive individualized, hands-on training in the production of multimedia applications (including Internet applications); to use equipment and software required for the production of these applications; and to experiment, with the assistance of CATS staff, with the use of other new technologies. The cost of this expansion will be approximately $25,000.

The remaining funding (approximately $23,600) will be used to fund faculty development and/or course development projects administered by the Teaching and Learning Forum. Details of these projects will be worked out by the Forum in collaboration with CATS.

II. Classroom Enhancement Funding ($129,300)

Funding in this category is intended to be used "to add an additional enhanced classroom to the campus network. [It] will be outfitted with originate/receive equipment for the EDNET system, multi-media capabilities for amplified instruction and learning, and for access to information resources internal and external to the USHE. After achieving the primary objective, the campuses may develop additional enhanced classrooms, or they may consider enhanced computer labs to provide student access to instruction and information networks."

To comply with the mandate to create an additional "enhanced classroom," we propose to create an EDNET-style classroom/videoconferencing facility at the Davis Center. The new classroom/videoconferencing facility at the Davis Center will make it possible for faculty there to teach courses involving students on the Ogden campus. The cost of this facility will be about $35,000.

With the remaining funding, we propose to finish four projects begun with last year’s Technology Initiative funding (including the creation of a new video conference origination facility); to relocate and upgrade our existing video conference origination facility, creating, at the same time, a new facility for small-group videoconferencing; to purchase the workstations required to connect the Davis Center with eight campus offices via ISDN desktop conferencing; to lease the ISDN lines and purchase the workstations required to connect at least one of our multimedia classrooms with the rest of the world via ISDN desktop conferencing; and to equip (partially) a new multimedia classroom.

The unfinished FY 95 projects include a one-year license for SCOLA ($4,000); unanticipated electrical work in MH 341 ($3,000); more-costly-than-anticipated remodeling in SS 347 ($4,000); and design changes, based on experience, in the new video conference origination facility ($9,200). It now appears likely that SCOLA (satellite-broadcast foreign language news programming) will be licensed by the state, and will not have to be paid for out of Technology Initiative funding. The cost of these projects will therefore be approximately $16,200.

After two years of experience in videoconferencing, it is time to take advantage of what we have learned and upgrade our facilities. We propose to move our existing origination facility to SB 74, making various improvements in its design and converting its present location (SB 77) into a badly-needed small-group videoconferencing facility. The cost of this project will be approximately $14,000.

We have already purchased, and demonstrated the use of, four ISDN desktop conferencing systems. We propose to purchase six more, and to use them to connect the Davis Center (two workstations) with eight selected offices on campus. The cost of this project will be approximately $30,000.

We further propose to equip at least one of our multimedia classrooms with a desktop conferencing system, and to lease the ISDN line(s) required to connect this system with the public telephone network, so that guest speakers from around the world may be brought to class electronically. The cost of this project will be approximately $4,800 (including a one-year lease of the required ISDN service).

Finally, we propose to use the balance of the funding in this category (approximately $29,300) to partially equip a new multimedia classroom in SB 45. This classroom will be shared between the Library and the College of Arts and Humanities.

III. Infrastructure ($301,600)

At least 20% of these funds are designated for science or applied technology. This year, WSU is requesting that $65,900 be allocated for this purpose. The detailed proposal for how these funds will be spent was provided separately, with a cover letter from J. Ronald Galli, Dean of the College of Science.

In addition, $100,000 of this funding MUST be expended on network connectivity. This category includes such things as " . . . fiber to and within buildings, supplemented with appropriate end-point equipment to include the connected building and associated classrooms with the campus and system networks."

"The remaining funds [in this case, $135,700] may be used to provide more connectivity as described above, or may be used for appropriate hardware, faculty workstations, lab workstations, EDNET classrooms, media-enhanced classrooms, and acquisition of related software."

WSU will use of all of the non-science funds in this category to complete the next phase of campus network development. The detailed proposal is as follows:

• Campus Network Development ($130,000). This sum will be used to bring critical campus backbone fiber optic segments up to the State Information Technology Support Committee (ITSC) standard. The remainder will be used to upgrade central network equipment to provide SNMP capabilities, increased capacity for the anticipated increase in network traffic and enhanced network reliability and performance.
• Networking of Student Housing Facilities ($55,700). WSU students living in the residence halls currently do not have direct access to the campus data network. This expenditure will begin the process (first stage only) of extending network services into the student residence halls, including installation of network wiring and hub equipment in selected facilities and fiber optic cable from those facilities back to the campus backbone.
• Classroom and Faculty Connectivity Enhancements ($50,000). This amount will be used to provide network services to several of the smaller, currently unconnected buildings on campus. It will also help to cover the cost of network hub equipment and internal wiring for buildings that are connected to the network but are currently not wired or wired in a substandard manner. A portion will be used to provide or enhance network services to off-campus facilities at the Ogden MetroCenter, Davis Center, and new downtown Convention Center.