Emerging Technologies Committee "ETc"

Committee Members


Lynn Lalko, PVCC
Matt Wozniak, MCC
    Co-Chairs

Alan Levine
Vance Williams
    Group Support

Ann Barrett, DIST
Jerome Baxter, PVCC
Sharon Blanton, SCC
Lis Dorland, GCC
Richard Felnagle, MCC
Darlene Swaim, MCC
Edward Uzemeckis, MCC
David Weaver, CGCC
Chuck West, GCC

Introduction

ETc's mission as a new Ocotillo committee for 1992-93 is summarized by Vice Chancellor de los Santos' charge to "examine the emerging technologies, hardware and software, and to identify issues and implications surrounding them in terms of teaching and learning." As a new committee, ETc spent the year defining its goals and planning action for the following year.

ETc held 6 regular meetings this year and sponsored two district-wide events.

ETc defined four broad arenas of interest regarding "emerging" technology:

  1. Software
  2. Hardware
  3. The Future
  4. Educational applications

The committee decided to focus mainly on the technologies concerning computer-based/aided instruction. We planned to visit major computer vendors in order to determine what hardware and software products they would consider to be "cutting edge." Our goals were to:

  1. Avoid the general sales pitch (i.e. "dog and pony show").
  2. Ask for a non-disclosure agreement so that ETc would receive the "hottest" news, including, but going beyond, the technical "nuts and bolts" measures of computing speed, memory, etc.
  3. Seek corporate alliances -- the District has much to offer as the "Harvard" of community colleges.
  4. Ask to become beta test sites for software/hardware.
  5. Request support for our faculty and staff.

Some of the major issues Etc discussed this year:

  1. Cross-platform applications
  2. Networks (Wide-Area and Local-Area) -- We need more long range planning rather than piece-meal tie ins.
  3. Multimedia -- what is it, and where is it going, what are the hardware (computers, video disks, CDROMs) and software requirements?
  4. How much user support will be available?
  5. How can faculty produce/get custom designed software?
  6. What are the best environments/ configurations for development teams?
  7. What is the support for educators?
  8. How will future purchasing decisions be made?

ETc Meetings

The committee decided to have meetings at different colleges when possible. The structure was to have two parts for each meeting: (1) A tour of present uses of technology at the host college; and (2) ETc discussion. This format gave participants an opportunity to share ideas across the colleges, and received a very popular response from all. ETc established a district-wide A1 distribution list ("@OCOETC") for on-line discussions.

List of Meetings

  1. 10/20/92, Paradise Valley Community College. Lynn Lalko gave a tour of the interactive video disc chemistry labs.
  2. 11/19/92, Mesa Community College. Matt Wozniak and fellow faculty presented developments in using the NeXT computer.
  3. 12/16/93, Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction, District
  4. 1/22/93, Maricopa Center or Learning and Instruction, District
  5. 2/26/93, Glendale Community College. Chuck West gave a tour of the High Tech Center.
  6. 4/20/93, Paradise Valley Community College. Jerome Baxter and Apple hosted a discussion of Apple's future product trends.

Events

  1. "What's NeXT in Instructional Computing?" This event was held on December 3-4, 1992 at the Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction, District. Matt Wozniak, Ken Costello, and Richard Felnagle of Mesa Community College presented examples of software they had created and are currently using on the NeXT computer. The audience included faculty and staff from seven MCCCD colleges as well as representatives from District Information Technology Services (ITS).

  2. Dr. Edward Barboni, a national leader in the use of technology in education, visited the MCCCD from March 31- April 2, 1993. Dr. Barboni gave several presentations, visited two campuses, and participated in panel discussions during his visit. Approximately 88 people were present for the events held at the District Office.

    Dr. Barboni toured the technology centers at Mesa Community College and Glendale Community College. He delivered a presentation at District offices entitled: "Instructional Technology: Planning and Vision" and led a panel discussion on "Planning Issues in Instructional Technology." Both events were videotaped and will be available from MCLI. The powerful video shown by Barboni called "A Private Universe" has also been ordered for the MCLI library.

Future Plans

Closer contact with vendors is important. Planning for future changes and technological advancements can be expedited by direct vendor contact. It is better to have direct access to information about latest products and developments rather than to find out about changes through the popular press. In addition, it is important for educators to provide information to vendors. Most vendors have special sales divisions devoted to the educational community. This is evidence of our importance to them. Educational institutions should take a more proactive role in influencing the direction of future technologies, rather than simply reacting to it.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Matt Wozniak, ETc co-Chair

Conclusions

The first year of activities for this committee has made several things apparent:

I believe the poor attendance at each of our meetings (usually less than five participants) is a reflection of the difficulty of getting active faculty to find time to attend meetings during the semester. This poor turnout was very disappointing as there were many "campus leaders in technology" that were not part of the committee's conversation.

The good news was that we WERE ABLE TO ATTRACT many of these leaders to the "events" the committee sponsored:

  1. The software development on the NeXT computer (using object-oriented programming techniques) seminar that ran for two days (6 hours each day) at the District office ,

  2. The Ed Barboni talk about learning theory and the use of technology and

  3. The Barboni-lead Discussion Panel on which many of the campus leaders in technology were panelists and discussed "Where are we going with software development and the purchase of hardware?"

Although I believe the committee members who attended the meetings at the various colleges and participated in the tours became less parochial, I do not believe these educational experiences were shared with enough faculty to make this author recommend doing it again. Instead, I would prefer our District concentrate on creating more "events", BUT choosing times when the faculty can attend.

Recommendations

  1. Create "Events" such as the Barboni Visit , Panel Discussion, NeXTSTEP programming seminar, but choose times when faculty can attend.

  2. Do not pay faculty to be Co-Chairs of these Ocotillo committees; use the money to fund Events instead.

  3. I recommend that ALL of the full-time faculty be REQUIRED to report to work 2 WEEKS BEFORE school in the fall and remain for 2 WEEKS AFTER the end of the spring semester. I make this recommendation because I believe full time faculty bear the major professional responsibility for the integrity and the development of curriculum as our District moves inexorably toward the use of more part-time faculty, This addition to our contract MUST be reimbursed at our regular (professional) contract rate. Therefore, since this 4 weeks reflects an increase of 10% time on task, the faculty yearly payrate should be increased 10% to reflect this increase in time. These 4 weeks should be designated for MOST of our outside visitors and Events. This activity should NOT be VOLUNTARY; curriculum development and preparation of materials for part-time faculty to use must be an ongoing responsibility.

  4. EVERY DEPARTMENT MUST SEND AT LEAST ONE FACULTY MEMBER TO A NATIONAL MEETING ONCE EVERY THREE YEARS. TRAVEL to national meetings should NOT be a PRIVILEGE, but a responsibility of each department to stay "current" in order to better serve the interests of our students and District.

  5. Finally, there is a tremendous amount of innovation and experimentation going on around the District. The meetings held at the campuses were very enlightening. Efforts at cross connecting the individuals involved in all levels of technological development from across the District should be continued and expanded.

Index

Ocotillo Report '93
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© 1993, Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI) Maricopa County Community College District, Arizona