Wesleyan seeks to provide its students and faculty with a rich technology resource that allows the full array of possibilities for teaching and learning, to the end that graduates are fully prepared to live and work in a society that relies on technology for its success. Our technology-integrated environment can result in richer classroom content and higher student success rates, both in college and in life pursuits. This technology plan has been developed to directly support the mission of the college and to be driven by our foundational commitment to the teaching and learning process.

Priorities for the continued implementation of technology include the following:

1. continuing to gather assessment data to evaluate our chosen direction of technology implementation,
2. an administrative system that will enable an increase in online student services, and lessen the gap between academic and administrative computer users,
3. an increase in web-based services and information; better use of the web as an internal and external communication tool,
4. distance learning endeavors that can make the Wesleyan experience one of which more students can take advantage, unlimited by geographic location,
5. continued attention and resources directed toward classrooms that support the use of technology in the teaching and learning process, and that these spaces meet ADA requirements,
6. creation of a Technology Resource Center that offers integrated programs for faculty, staff, and student in technology training and use,
7. working with the Professional Affairs Committee toward a plan of faculty recognition for the use of technology in teaching
8. research in the area of off-campus network access to augment and address volume usage of Internet services
9. commitment to continue support of community technology needs,
10. continuing the pursuit of showcasing our technology integration, through publication, presentation and conference attendance,
11. and continuing the implementation and development of our Student Technology Assistant program in direct support of our technology plan.

West Virginia Wesleyan College will continue to support and expand the Strategic Plan for Technology Innovation and Implementation set in place in September of 1996. This plan is accessible in its entirety at www.wvwc.edu/sptf/sptf.html. Progress in meeting goals of the plan, as well as newly revised goals, are documented in this report. The College's academic program has expanded to include the everyday use of technology in many ways to enhance our traditional classroom setting. By continuing to make rapid, efficient use of future technologies for the benefit of its students and the citizens of West Virginia, WVWC will continue to provide leadership in the use of technology in higher education. Major recommendations as presented in this document are outlined in Appendix A.

In March of 1998, Netcom, a leading global Internet service provider and consulting group, located in San Jose, California, made the following projection about the state of higher education, circa 2003:

Everyone has a box and has access to a port - wherever they need it

Mobile computing predominates

Network is integral to business and learning

Bandwidth abundance

Wesleyan has met or exceeded all of the criteria on the list, a full five years ahead of this projection. This commitment has allowed West Virginia Wesleyan College to be among the first colleges in the nation to support this wide array of technology, and makes us a leader in educational technology use.

In response to the need for universal access to computing, Wesleyan became a partner with IBM, as a ThinkPad University, early in 1997. This program has allowed us to offer mobile computing to our students and faculty. Fall of 2000 will put a laptop in the hands of each student on our campus. Entering freshmen will continue to receive laptop computers until in the year 2000 every student will have a personal computer. The laptop program is facilitated with a lease arrangement that includes new computers every 2 years. This 100% access to mobile computing by the student population allows faculty and administrators to think about academic computing much more freely.

It is our intention to begin to serve students through an updated administrative system as the next major phase of technology implementation at Wesleyan. We seek to apply technology to all administrative functions of the College, thus increasing efficiency and reducing student and staff frustration. For example, we will have a system where students can access accurate, timely information at their own discretion. This system will also allow faculty advisors to work independently with the information needed to advise students in an efficient manner. In general, the new user-friendly student, financial, and human resource information system will make campus administrative operations run more smoothly for all constituencies.

The commitment to total campus integration will be carried on by the Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtable, founded at Wesleyan in 1998. This body is made up of constituents from all facets of the College and will lead the way in providing ongoing vision for technology integration.

Continued support for community needs will also be strategic in planning for the future of technology implementation at the College. Programs that impact the community such as the Technology Van, offering technology exposure to community groups, will serve as models for future community oriented projects.

Infrastructure specifications to date include the following:

This hardware and software mix is meeting our needs at this time. Preliminary findings of the Academic Technology Survey demonstrate that there is a direct and positive correlation between the implementation of the network and laptop programs and the proliferation of use of these resources.* See Appendix B for preliminary survey results. One of our future considerations is to offer better on-line service to off campus students. We want to offer the same level of service to our students who live off campus as we offer to those who live on campus. Research in this area will be ongoing as we search for the technology to best suit our needs.

Faculty network access was projected for January 1997. In February 1997, all full-time faculty were issued an IBM ThinkPad 365. Access to an Ethernet connection in each faculty office was also available at this time. The College maintains a small bank of modems to provide dial-in service from an off-campus connection. The faculty machines are scheduled to be refreshed in the summer of 1999. This two-year refresh plan was too long a period for the model of machine that was chosen. The newer machines will be much better suited with the capacity and power that faculty need in order to work efficiently over the projected life of the computer.

Student access was projected to be completed for the freshman class in the fall of 1997. Freshmen did receive computers at this time and were able to fully utilize the campus network. Students arrived at campus to find an Ethernet connection for every occupant in the residence halls, and an otherwise fully wired campus. There are now over 2,500 connections on campus and also wireless connections available in the Student Center and in the Library.

The goal for Administrative Staff to be furnished with appropriate connected workstations has not yet been realized. In some cases, the College has delayed acquisition of computer hardware for administrative users until a decision is made about new administrative information systems. We are now undergoing a study to secure new system software and this will then lead us to the purchase of appropriate workstations for these offices. The goal of appropriate systems has been met in some administrative areas including Development, Admissions and Financial Aid.

We are continuing to offer equitable service to our faculty and students with disabilities in the area of technology. Our helpdesk is staffed daily to offer special assistance and service to those who request it, and we also house special needs software in the Learning Center Computer Lab located on campus.

Policies and procedures are in place for ethical computing use on campus. These policies can be found in the Student Handbook and the Wesleyan Technology Guide. An ethical use committee has been formed to continue to update the policies of use of specific applications, frequently Electronic Mail and Internet Service. Beginning in the fall of 1999, all students and college personnel will be asked to sign an ethical use statement to continue use of the online services offered by the College.

Fall Technology Workshops for the faculty have taken place during 1997 and 1998. These have been very successful events that have offered a platform for faculty to become involved in the innovations in technology and the changes in college policies as they relate to technology. These events will be continued and perhaps offered with more regularity throughout the year to keep the campus community abreast of new developments.

Computerized classrooms were a major part of projected instructional delivery in the original plan. The plan called specifically for a "fully-equipped computerized classroom on each teaching floor" of the main classroom buildings on campus. This objective was stated too narrowly, as a computerized teaching room can take on many different characteristics that are dynamic in nature.

The first step toward designing computerized classrooms was accomplished in the spring of 1997 with the installation of at least one Ethernet port in each classroom on campus. In November of 1997 three virtual labs were made operational, these labs include computer projection equipment and data and power connections at every student desk. We now have five classrooms of this configuration, nine additional classrooms with permanent computer projection, and shared projection available upon request to every other classroom. This technology has been added by purchases each year. Based on the findings of the Academic Technology Survey, 70% of faculty are taking the initial steps to integrate computer-based technology into the curriculum. By using technology for student communication and many more sophisticated applications, our faculty are integrating these tools into their overall classroom experiences.* Continued support of and attention to classroom technology will enable the College to offer the most current teaching and learning environments available to its students.

Discipline specific computer labs were recommended for those departments with special hardware and software needs. To date the only needs for this type of lab have been the Art and Music Departments. Most professional computer-based artwork is not done on our chosen standard PC platform. The platform in use in the graphic arts and desktop publishing industries is predominantly Macintosh. The Art lab is therefore outfitted with Macintosh computers. The Art lab was developed in 1993 and has been upgraded with new equipment installed in February 1999. The Music department was able to adopt the PC platform, but needed computers capable of interfacing with keyboards and playback equipment. The Music lab was developed in 1997 through a grant from the Clay Foundation.

General-purpose computer labs are available on campus and we will continue to support these labs until Fall 2000. The computers in these labs were upgraded to Pentium machines in 1998. These labs are located in Christopher Hall of Science and in Haymond Hall. The laboratory in Haymond Hall still supports the Macintosh platform as well, offering a familiar computing environment to those upperclassmen that prefer Macintosh, as they were widely available when those students came to Wesleyan as freshmen.

A reorganization of the Computing Service department was implemented in the spring of 1997. This included the addition of several positions and the development of the HelpDesk. The HelpDesk had an original mission to facilitate all user questions from academic and administrative campus users. The HelpDesk is staffed largely by Student Technology Assistants. We found training that includes the administrative system was not efficient or effective with these student workers. Because the full-time personnel who support this system are well acquainted with the software, help for these types of specific questions are now routed directly to those individuals.

The HelpDesk is operational 80 hours per week, allowing for walk in or over the phone assistance. Assistance is also available via online help through the Computing Services web site. Staffing includes two full-time HelpDesk Consultants and approximately 35 student Technology Assistants. The personnel in this area are trained in offering technical assistance, customer service strategies, and interpersonal communication skills.

An organized Student Technology Assistant program has been developed within the structure of the Computing Services Student Employment program. These students serve the College in three different capacities:

• Students work as computer support, staffing the general use computer labs and the HelpDesk;
• students serve as Technology Assistants to other students, offering on-call assistance when the HelpDesk is closed and as instructors in training courses for students;
• students serve as Faculty Technology Assistants. This program was begun in December 1998. Students are matched with faculty members and work toward the implementation of a specific piece of courseware. Projects include online lab manual and courses, tutorials, and class electronic class delivery materials.

As projected in the 1996 plan, Computing Services has been responsible for negotiating site licenses for software that are advantageous to the College in cost or service. The department has been involved in several grant programs that have offered progressive software purchases for the College. This type of procurement should be continued throughout all phases of future technology integration. The department has expanded in staff and services in order to support the overall technology implementation process.

In an effort to continue to progress with the technology plan the College undertook the formation of a campus-wide Teaching, Learning and Technology Roundtable (TLTR) in 1998. The roundtable has resumed the work of the pre-existing Computers and Technology Committee, the Strategic Planning Task Force, and the Implementation Committee. The roundtable serves as a central structure to work toward achieving the best in teaching and learning on our campus through more effective use and future development of information technology. The goal of a roundtable is to facilitate better planning, decision-making, and support for students and faculty.

The roundtable meets approximately 6-8 times a year. Developmental events on campus are integral to the TLTR activities. These events explore timely topics in the use and development of technology and occur approximately twice during the academic year. One such topic that was featured during 1998 was Copyright and the Internet and its impact on classroom teaching and web design. The TLTR maintains a listserve to facilitate discussions concerning use and improvement of technology. The Roundtable will facilitate continuing communication, cooperation, and collaboration among representatives of a wide range of faculty, students, and academic and administrative support services.

The TLTR does not set policy; it is instead a recommending body that serves as a ground for technology-based discussions and an avenue for campus-wide dissemination of information regarding technology. Membership is dynamic, encouraging wide campus participation and representation, from high-end to novice user of technology. Representation of all campus constituencies will be required. This Roundtable makes recommendations to the WVWC Council on Technology.

The WVWC Council on Computing serves as a governing structure to prioritize and implement the ongoing technology implementation. They serve as permanent members of the roundtable. It is the responsibility of the Council to act on recommendations of the roundtable, to set policy and make budgetary decisions. The Council develops the discussions of the roundtable and serves as the consulting body to the Board of Trustees.

The WVWC Council on Technology serves as a governing structure to prioritize and implement the ongoing technology implementation. They serve as permanent members of the roundtable. It is the responsibility of the Council to act on recommendations of the roundtable, to set policy and make budgetary decisions. The Council develops the discussions of the roundtable and serves as the consulting body to the Board of Trustees.

Members of the Council on Technology include: Bill Haden, President of the College; Richard Weeks, Dean of the College; Mike Goins, VP of Finance; David Burns, Faculty, Mike Choban, Faculty, Rich Clemens, Faculty, Pete Galarneau, WebMaster, Kathy Parker, Director of the Library; Karen Petitto, Instructional Technology Specialist; Duwane Squires, Director of Computing Services and two-four elected student representatives.

The faculty mentor program as implemented in 1995/96 has indeed been preserved. This position is a full-time administrative position within Computing Services. The Instructional Technology Specialist has responsibility for offering leadership and guidance in the area of academic computing and support. Working with both the college faculty and as a member of the Computing Services staff, this individual serves as a liaison between the two entities. Having a background in classroom teaching and technical expertise, the Instructional Technology Specialist is pivotal in the ongoing support of the program. Specific responsibilities of this position include: assisting faculty to design and program instructional materials using a combination of authoring tools and Internet software tools; developing and conducting workshops for faculty; designing instructional materials that employ technology; and supervising technology workshops, training, and development for faculty, staff and students.

A projected need in order to continue faculty technology integration is funding for a Technology Resource Center (TRC.) Such a center would have specialized equipment for multimedia production, support documentation, and review copies of educational software. The TRC would be a resource area for development of academic technology projects. This project will have a direct impact on faculty and students. Students would provide the technical support and a portion of the multimedia development work in the center. This would impact teaching and learning in a reciprocal out-of-the-classroom environment. Research shows that some of the most significant learning in higher education occurs outside of the classroom.

Students will be trained to support faculty more extensively from disciplines all across the campus. Students will work with information within and outside of their own discipline. This would offer technology opportunities to students from across the campus and promote technology use in a broad array of disciplines. Students would gain life skills in appropriate technology integration and use.

Wesleyan's web site will continue to grow as an electronic tool in the areas of external marketing and information dissemination and internal communication, teaching, research and collaboration. The web site will maintain a comfortable, robust mixture of the newest Internet technologies. The Webmaster will pursue and evaluate these technologies as a means to consistently produce an effective, compliant, "modern" Internet presence. These technologies will be designed with specific audiences in mind including but not limited to: 1) potential, present, and former students; 2) teaching-learning partnerships between students and faculty; 3) teaching-learning instruction, partnership and collaboration among all persons within the Wesleyan community; 4) and the casual web surfer.

As a first step toward campus-wide Intranet communication efficiency, an Internet application was developed in December 1998 to ease the submission, dissemination, delivery and presentation of current campus news. With the Electronic Message Organizer (eMO), designated "campus news administrators" can send automated messages via e-mail to subscribed accounts on the Wesleyan Intranet. These messages also become a part of a dynamically generated bulletin board system that enables the Internet world access to immediate Wesleyan current events information.

As the web site matures, it is expected that students, faculty and staff, by necessity, will become important influences in the development of the overall Internet presence. To this end, instruction in the creation and use of Internet technologies and tools will be made available to the campus community. Collaboration among students, faculty and staff in the development and maintenance of web pages and effective-use interaction will become commonplace as the Web's influence continues to intermingle with other computer technologies.

The Applications Training Specialist has offered seminars and workshops for faculty, staff, and students on an ongoing basis. Monthly schedules are distributed and there is also time allocated for individual and departmental training sessions. The response to this training program has been less than expected, due to the difficulty for staff to schedule time for training into their workday. Implementation of professional development credits among college personnel would allow for more staff to take advantage of these training opportunities.

Ongoing curricular development that includes the infusion of technology are also ongoing, led by the Instructional Technology Specialist. These efforts are dynamic in nature, offered via push technology, a proactive approach implemented by researching the emerging technologies, acquiring them and then exposing the faculty to their advantages. Pull technology is also present in curricular development among faculty; many faculty are pursuing technology research within their own discipline and then seeking the resources to implement those strategies. Consideration of merit for faculty that includes recognition of successful teaching through technology integration should be seriously considered.

Many current job descriptions for vacancies at the College for both faculty and staff positions now require proficiency in the use of computers. Future integration must continue to support training and staff development in order to assure equitable access and efficient use by the entire College Community. A training program that is more integrated into each employees' work assignment is a model we are working toward achieving.

An extensive support system has been designed for incoming freshmen. Students receive two hours of laptop orientation previous to receiving their machine when they arrive. All students have access to a network account that allows them to access email, electronic library, Intranet, Internet, and WWW resources. Students then participate in six weeks of training, meeting once a week with peer student instructors. These students receive training appropriate to their skill level on Email, Networking, Electronic Library Resources, and the standard software loaded on their laptops. This training enables students to have foundational skills in applications that are necessary for class work. Computing Services and the Library offer voluntary training programs on an ongoing basis.

As technology progresses in the K-12 arena, our expectations of students' familiarity with technology will continue to rise. Student training programs and the validity of academic credit for Computer Literacy courses will continue to be evaluated. These programs will continue to be supported for as long as the need is present.

The College plans continuously for the orderly integration of computer resources. Major planning and financial commitment include support for infrastructure, including networks, hardware, and software; instructional, research, and management applications; and assessment/evaluation procedures to measure computer resource effectiveness. This type of commitment to the ongoing funding of technology is a priority in the continuation of the program.

The College has obtained funding from many different outside agencies and individuals. The chart below outlines the major contributions in support of campus technology.

Selection and installation of a comprehensive administrative information system was originally scheduled to take place over the last 2 ½ years. However, Wesleyan’s involvement in a consortium of local colleges looking at ways to share administrative computing has impacted that schedule.

The members of this consortium, Alderson-Broaddus College, Davis and Elkins College, the University of Charleston and Wesleyan, have formed an entity called WV-ICE (West Virginia Independent College Enterprise) which is currently looking at the feasibility of a joint administrative computing facility. This facility will house the administrative servers and a majority of the administrative support staff to support all four institutions. Data will be delivered to the desktop using the statewide ATM high-speed network. All colleges will be running the same administrative software and using the same or similar desktop hardware and applications. The hope is that by pooling these resources and creating an environment where everyone is running the same applications will produce an overall savings in the cost of operations for administrative computing along with improved systems and service.

The Teagle Foundation has awarded a grant to WV-ICE to perform this feasibility study and the firm of Booze-Allen & Hamilton has been retained to assist in this effort. The goals of the consortium are ultimately the same as described in Wesleyan’s original technology plan, "to provide a secure database containing all student data with adequate capabilities for providing easy access for users." The system will make use of web access; electronic document delivery and other network based features to automate routine processes to enhance productivity and data accuracy. The feasibility study is expected to be completed by late April 1999.

Many forms have been made available electronically on campus; these include purchase order requests, check requests, annual faculty surveys, and faculty schedules. Electronic documentation and submissions have also become proliferate in the teaching and learning environment. The college Intranet has provided a platform for faculty and students to exchange information electronically that would previously have been available in print media only. Examples of these include course syllabi and numerous course assignments that can now be submitted electronically. This information is available 24 hours a day and has greatly improved the efficiency of information dissemination on campus. Computing Services will continue to support efforts to transfer more of the paperwork generated for and by faculty to electronic form.

In an institutional environment rich in technology, students and faculty have high expectations that the Library will provide its services utilizing technology. Our patrons expect that the information they need --a reserve reading; a stock quote; an artistic image; a symphony -- will be available on the desktop when they need it. While we educate our users about the promises and constraints of electronic information, the Library strives to provide that convenient and timely access which is so much in demand. Librarians partner with classroom faculty and computer professionals in using technology to advance instruction, independent learning, research, and institutional management.

The Library does not develop projects in isolation, but works in collaboration with other members of the campus community to assure that resources are allocated to achieve maximum benefit and that library services are user-centered. It provides informational resources and user guidance to faculty and students who use technology in a seamless scholarly process. That process involves collecting data, consulting published sources, communicating electronically with experts, documenting results, preparing presentations, and writing papers. The Library's role in the process includes provision of licensed access to data files; a common web-based interface to catalogs and indexes; access to electronic journals; instruction in research methods; physical space conducive to collaborative work; walk-in technology assistance; files of clip art; digital "hand-outs" on documentation style; a room with computer projection for presentation practice sessions; and a networked laser printer to produce hard copy of the final result.

Electronic journals are among the highest use of electronic resources, with 72% of those surveyed reporting uses at least once a week. The Academic Survey has verified the need for increased and ongoing training in the use of electronic library resources.* The College has authorized the appointment of an Instructional Services Librarian, whose main responsibilities would be in support of the teaching and learning process. This position should be filled by September 1, 1999.

*Findings reported herein from the Academic Technology Survey are preliminary. Final analysis will be reflected in the final revision of this plan.

Appendix A

1. Provide an administrative database that will provide secure and efficient information access
2. Research in the area of off-campus network access
3. Continued support for community needs
4. Opportunities to showcase technology use on campus
5. Continuing to upgrade classroom technology
6. Continued assistance for professional presentations of technology related projects, showcasing Wesleyan as a leader in Educational Technology use
7. More services and help available electronically
8. Creation of a Technology Resource Center
9. More aggressive and integrated programs for faculty, staff, and students technology training
10. Faculty recognition for successful teaching that includes technology integration
11. Proactively seeking grant funding for technology related projects

Appendix B

The respondents were asked to reflect their use of the listed technology two years ago (or pre network and laptops at WVWC) and currently. The results showed an increase in using the technology at least monthly in all cases except for use of a scanner and use of a digital camera. The largest increases in usage occurred in the e-mail and WWW areas. The % increase in faculty usage in those areas range from School E-mail at 38.2% to WWW resources at school at 58.8% bringing the % of faculty using E-mail and WWW tools all to above 70%. Other areas with significant increases were computer based instruction (8.8% pre to 38.2% post), spreadsheet programs (23.5%pre to 52.9%post), presentational software (5.9% pre to 32.4% post), and word processing (67.6% pre to 94.1% post). See result below.

Appendix B, cont.