Policy Recommendations

The recommendations in this section are not requests for budgetary expenditures. Rather, they suggested policy changes. ICTC hopes that these changes will result in greater productivity and cost-savings to Michigan State University.

ICTC Statement on Classroom Uses of Information Technologies

Increasing uses of information and instructional technologies in classroom environments raise many challenges that are new to the instructional process. These challenges include the creation of physical classroom spaces that will support the effective use of the technology, and the training of faculty and support staff to integrate the new technologies into their classes. These challenges derive directly from the fact that using the technologies requires that several different aspects of classroom design, operation, and support work well together. The ICTC favors the support and continuation of efforts that see the use of classroom technologies as a system involving the work of many diverse units within the University. We encourage efforts to get these units to work together more effectively in providing opportunities to use the technologies.

Discussion

The new technologies depend for their success on the integration of the work of what was previously the independent work of several University units with quite different goals and division of responsibility. For example, in a typical classroom at MSU, the maintenance of the lighting is in the hands of Physical Plant, furniture is provided and maintained by Facilities Planning and Space Management, multimedia equipment is delivered by the Instructional Media Center, and scheduling is handled by the Registrar's Office. Similarly, refurbishing and redesign of existing classroom space has responsibilities spread over the same units, but supplemented in this case by inputs from the university architect, the Engineering Services division of Physical Plant, and the Office of Computing and Technology.

The requirements of the current technology make increased coordination of efforts essential. These requirements arise from the fact that the current technology relies more heavily than in the past on details of the physical environment working well together. The details can be grouped for convenience under three headings: lighting, equipment (including cabling), and security.

Lighting: Computer projection technology, despite recent advances, will not work effectively in most conventional environments equipped with florescent lights. In some rooms, the problems can be solved without the installation of incandescent systems, while in others, dual lighting systems are needed. In many cases special light darkening window and door treatments may be needed. Maintenance of any lighting system takes on increased importance in a multimedia-equipped room.

Equipment: Computers, scanners, VCRs, and other multimedia equipment must be present in the classroom and easy to use. The hardware that is provided in a classroom must meet faculty and student instructional objectives. Because these objectives are so diverse, a good policy for the provision of equipment is to set up a system that provides variety rather than uniformity. In practice, this means that different rooms might be very differently equipped.

Security: Providing secure storage for multimedia equipment while at the same time providing easy accessibility for instruction will provide one of the greatest challenges. Meeting the challenge requires cooperation from the faculty who use the equipment, building maintenance and security personnel, and the providers of the equipment.

Therefore, ICTC endorses these coordinating instructional classroom activities and initiatives. In addition, ICTC acknowledges the importance of a balanced approach to learning, enabling technology to be accessible to students and accessible in the classroom setting.

Equally important, we should not simply assume that multimedia lectures are necessarily better lectures, or that interactive problem-based learning is necessarily better learning. We encourage the university to continue to support efforts to evaluate new as well as ongoing pedagogical strategies. Learning, after all, is what we are about, and the more we know about what actually improves learning, the better.

Commercialization and Marketing of Instructional Technologies

ICTC is concerned about the role of instructional technology as a "cost center" rather than a "revenue center." We are encouraged by the innovation and creativity displayed by faculty in the ITCDG projects and other efforts across campus. However, these efforts are additional costs, on top of the already high costs of preparing and delivering instruction in a university. There is no mechanism to offset or recover these costs.

Software developed by faculty for instruction tends to stop short of final degree of polish necessary to make it more generally useful and robust. Faculty designers neither have the time nor are they rewarded for this final step. However, having software that "mostly works" is not as valuable to the students, the professor, or the rest of the world as having finished software. This finishing process is time consuming, nontrivial and requires programming and design expertise.

ICTC believes that one way to offset these costs is by distributing the materials to an audience beyond not only traditional MSU students, but to other schools and non-traditional learners. To do so would require extensive marketing and production efforts. Up to now, faculty have been "on their own" for this task, with each individual pursuing publishers. These efforts require an enormous amount of faculty time, which must come at the expense of creating these materials. Often, publishers are still wrestling with the problems of understanding these new technologies and their implications for instruction, so have a difficult time understanding the proper way to produce and market these projects. After all of these efforts the return to MSU is usually 10-12 % of the selling price. It is difficult to recover the development costs at these rates.

ICTC urges MSU to explore providing software and graphic production support and aggressive marketing of materials developed at MSU to other schools, individuals, an electronic distribution via computer networks. This process should not be applied indiscriminately to all software that anyone has started. However, selected software regarded as having strong potential should be treated in this manner. This will encourage faculty to develop additional materials and can help SU take a leadership role in the changing educational environment for which these technologies are a catalyst. We believe that an investment of this nature has the potential to produce new sources of revenue for MSU.

ICTC remains interested in formulating more detailed recommendations for the implementation of these ideas.

Professional Accomplishments Categories

ICTC is pleased that last year's recommendation that the university amend its Professional Accomplishments tabulation forms to include Software Products Developed was implemented. We anticipate that this will encourage faculty to pursue development of these materials.

Networking Residence Halls

ICTC supports and encourages the studies currently underway concerning the extension of the MSU network into residence hall rooms.

ICTC Budget Recommendations

ICTC carefully considered each of the following recommendations. There is a total of $2.7 million in one time requests and $275,000 in recurring requests. Voting members were asked to rate each item on a scale of 1 (unimportant) to 10 (very important). The resulting ratings were averaged and used to rank the items in priority order. They are presented in that order. Tables summarizing the overall ratings follow this section.

Microcomputer Lab Software Fund

The response of faculty and students to the ICTC software fund has been strong. The number of requests and the units represented by them continues to grow. We are receiving more requests than the recurring funds may support. In addition, the number of microcomputers continues to grow each year. In 1993, there were 568 seats in public labs; at this time, there are 1419 seats. In this APPR we are recommending that additional labs be installed.

The software fund must be used for recurring costs, such as OS and networking software upgrades. We must also purchase additional copies of basic applications such as word-processing, and fund the ongoing annual renewal fees required by many software packages. Although the specific impact of Microsoft's change in licensing policy for large sites is unknown, it is likely to increase the cost of many of our basic packages such as MS Office.

This year, we received an additional one-time allocation of $50,000 and we expect to receive more requests than we can approved even with these additional funds. Therefore, ICTC recommends that the annual software fund be increased from $40,000 to $110,000. This level of funding should allow us to maintain the current rate of software upgrades and installations based on the increasing numbers of seats.

Additional $70,000 recurring

Student Writeable File Service

Last year, Student Writeable File Service was ICTC's top priority recommendation. The computer lab conducted a number of pilot projects in cooperation with faculty in different departments and, in Spring semester, this service was made available to students, faculty and staff. Students are quickly making use of this facility and creating their own Web home pages. ICTC is enthusiastic about the prospects for improved student-faculty communication. We anticipate that demand will escalate rapidly and that the university community will quickly come to depend on this service. For that reason, sufficient resources must be allocated to stay ahead of the demand, and to ensure 24 hour per day, 7 day per week reliability.

Last year, ICTC identified several desirable features for student-writeable file service. Many are implemented or are in the process of being implemented. We want to reiterate these goals and note the status of each.

1. A generalized file-service system that may be mounted from any type of client microcomputer. AFS may be mounted from PCs, MACs, and Unix workstations. At this phase of the project, the technical details for optimizing the performance on the various platforms are being resolved.
2. Authorization integrated with the Pilot Email authorization system. Students should be able to “login” to a microcomputer with their Pilot Email ID and PW, and have their file system should mounted. The public PC labs currently implement this scheme. The computer lab staff are working on the software to allow Mac and Unix workstations to mount this space.
3. Automated creation, maintenance, and deletion of student disk quota from registrar information. Disk quota should be dynamically allocated depending on the requirements of the courses in which students are enrolled. ICTC has endorsed the computer lab policy of allocating a base level of disk quota based on student class levels or faculty/staff status. Students should be allocated additional, separate space based on course enrollment. In this way, if a student takes a course which requires large amounts of disk space one semester, their personal files will not be impacted when that space is de-allocated the following semester. This will require coordination with faculty and departments throughout the university to specify the disk requirements every term. Such coordination is likely to be labor intensive and require additional personnel resources in the computer lab.
4. Fail safe/low administration requirements. ICTC is pleased that the Computer Lab is using RAID technology for storage, with Uninterruptable Power Supplies to ensure reliability.
5. The use of RAID technology will provide high reliability, reducing the tape backup requirements to those necessary for disaster recovery. ICTC continues to recommend that the computer lab not provide recovery of user-deleted files, as this service is very labor intensive. Users should be notified that they are responsible for careful management of their files. However, off-site tape backups must be made to allow for disaster recovery. As the storage demands escalate upward from 400 GB, a high performance backup is necessary.
6. Scaleability. Storage requirements are likely to continue their historical trend of increasing in a non-linear fashion. AFS is designed to be scaleable in capacity. Sufficient resources must be allocated to meet the administration requirements for providing this service to the entire university community.
7. NFS/AFS/Kerberos compatibility. The selection of AFS meets this goal.
8. Integration with an Instructional File eXchange System (IFXS). ICTC has repeatedly recommended some form of transparent file exchange service which will encourage the electronic exchange of a variety of files between students and faculty. We still believe that “rich Email,” which allows non-text files to be attached to Email messages, is inadequate for this requirement. Email places the burden of file management, both for incoming and outgoing, on the instructor. Particularly in large courses, the logistics of managing the enormous volume of Email will discourage the electronic exchange of documents in an instructional setting. For this facility to be attractive, it must be as transparent as possible to both students and faculty. It must include security, authentication, and verification that assignments have been received and stored. Therefore, we believe that the design of student writeable file service should include this facility.

Requirements for full implementation

AFS is a distributed file system that maintains files on a central file server. When a file is required in a non-central site (e.g., the Union) the file is moved to an “AFS Translator” server in that location. The translator caches the users' files during a session in a particular lab, improving performance and reducing network load on the campus backbone. When the modifications to that file are completed, AFS migrates the file back to the central server. This process is transparent to the user. It provides good performance across busy networks and maintains file integrity.

Currently, NFS is being used for the read-only file service in the public labs. Although NFS and AFS can co-exist, there are advantages to using AFS for the read-only file service in addition to writeable file service.

• AFS groups may be used to enhance the software checkout service, restricting files to certain groups of users. This would allow software or files that are needed for specialized courses to be reserved for those users.
• AFS provides file replication among servers. This would improve consistency across servers and simplify distribution of files to the servers. This feature could also ease the installation of files for class use by instructors.

Expansion of AFS writeable file service to all public labs requires:

1. An AFS translator fileserver be available for every 50 users per physical building location.
2. Centralized file servers to store the user files
3. Expanding disk space to maintain pace with demand as use increases.

A sufficient number of AFS translators (1) must be purchased to provide service for all public labs. The centralized file servers (2) and disk space (3) may be purchased on an “as needed” basis. However, ICTC recommends that funds be reserved for the anticipated exponential demand for this service.

Budget

AFS translators

Currently, AFS translators must be Sun computers. Appropriate performance may be obtained from the SPARCStation Model 5. Configured with 64 Mbytes of memory and 1 Gigabyte hard drives, the cost is approximately $5,000. If we deliver the read-only file service with AFS, these same AFS translators could be used to provide file service, so the existing file servers could be re-deployed.

It may be possible to install single AFS Translators in some labs that have more than 50 computers, based on performance trials. However, every building must have at least one translator. In addition, as the university community moves towards using AFS, it will be desirable to separate the public lab translators from translators used for other computing within the same buildings.

Lab Building	Number of Lab Seats	Minimum Number of AFS Translators	Maximum Number of AFS Translators
Akers	12	1	1
Baker	26	1	1
Berkey	33	1	1
Bessey	48	1	1
Brody	31	1	1
Butterfield	20	1	1
Case	24	1	1
Chemistry	52	1	1
Communication Arts & Sciences	64	1	2
Computer Center	132	1	3
Eppley	92	1	2
Erickson	48	1	1
Farrall	26	1	1
Holden	25	1	1
E. Holmes	43	1	1
S. Hubbard	30	1	1
HumanEcology	20	1	1
N. Kedzie	44	1	1
S. Kedzie	33	1	1
Kresge	25	1	1
W. Landon	38	1	1
Library (Main)	8	1	1
E. McDonel	48	1	1
Old Horticulture	29	1	1
Olds Hall	25	1	1
Phillips	22	1	1
W. Shaw	42	1	1
Union	81	1	2
Wells Hall	96	1	2
Wilson	53	1	1
N. Wonders	66	1	2
E. Yakeley	38	1	1
Grand Rapids Outreach	10	1	1
Groves High School	25	1	1
Otsego County Public Library	6	1	1
Total	1415	35	42

Costs

Item	Minimum	Maximum
AFS Translators	$175,000	$210,000
Hi Performance Backup system	$100,000	$100,000
Total	$275,000.00	$310,000.00

Printer Upgrades for Microcomputer Labs

Many public labs contain Epson FX-85's that are approximately 15 years old. These printers still remain in labs such as Computer Center, Union and Wells where use has increased over the past few years. These machines are used by students for class as well as for individual work. Any student, faculty or staff member may use these machines.

While the initial purchase price for dot matrix printers has constant, there are high costs associated with maintaining and operating these printers. It is common for at least one of the printers in a lab to be down, jammed, or otherwise unusable, making it difficult for students to complete their assignments. The Service Technicians that repair this equipment are concerned with quality and reliability in the equipment as they receive requests to fix these printers at least weekly. As with most dated equipment, parts and supplies are becoming scarce.

Dot matrix printing is now an anachronism. At the time that this printing system was installed, laser printing costs were high. Today, the cost of high-capacity laser printers has now dropped to the level of low-volume laser printers only a few years ago. Printing requirements have also advanced as more software produces graphic oriented output which is extremely slow on dot matrix printers. Many faculty, such as those in IAH, expect their students to print many such documents and do not find the quality of dot matrix printing -- even with good ribbons -- acceptable.

Proposal

ICTC is aware of the Computer Lab's concern about the ongoing costs associated with providing laser printing as the default printing in labs. However, with the drop in costs of laser printing and the rise in costs associated with dot matrix, we believe that it is time to re-evaluate this policy. We suggest that the AFS authentication used in the public micro labs be used to allocate print quota to students. The initial print quota should be computed based on the real costs of providing dot matrix output (this calculation should account for the large amount of technician and systems staff time devoted to keeping the current printing operational). Users could then be allowed to purchase additional print quota in much the same manner as they now purchase laser printing coupons.

Meanwhile, the following labs have the oldest dot matrix printers which should be replaced with some other printing facility immediately.

Lab	Number	Model
313 CC	3	FX-85
Union	10	FX-85
C103 Wells	4	LX-90
Holmes	4	FX-85
Library	2	FX-85

While waiting for laser printing to be installed, ICTC proposes that the 23 printers mentioned above be replaced with current models. Presently other computer labs are using Epson LQ-570+ This model is Epson's commercial quality printer. Funding is requested for printers that provide the best quality and reliability in labs.

Budget

23 Printers

$6900

IMC High Lumen Overhead Projectors

The overhead projector remains one of the most commonly used pieces of equipment on campus, and has become a part of the classroom that faculty expect to be in the room the same as a chalkboard.

With the conversion to semesters (15 week semesters) verses terms (10 week terms), along with the increased demands for classroom service, IMC is faced with the problem of properly maintaining projection equipment. We are not able to cycle equipment for maintenance as frequently as is needed in order to assure optimum quality. IMC is only able to totally service the pool of projectors between semesters and on an emergency basis. Lack of adequate maintenance leads to increased breakdowns and disruption of classes.

In order to equip the remaining large classrooms, IMC will need an additional 80 high lumen overhead projectors.

80 High Lumen Overhead Projectors: $ 96,000.

IMC Wireless Microphone Battery

Replacement and Maintenance Additional Funding

$3,000 Recurring

BCS Off Campus distance Education Facilities

Each of the facilities should be equipped with a fax machine to coordinate written materials between campus and the remote site. Birmingham should have an additional camera capable of pan/tilt/zoom so that individual students can clearly be seen. The temporary facility in Grand Rapids has effectively become permanent, and should be installed in a more functional, permanent manner. Due to the large room size, Muskegon should be equipped with larger monitors, to allow students to effectively view the instructor. In anticipation of the need for computer based instruction from the far end, BCS needs to equip facilities with basic scan converters.

$25,000

Micro Lab Upgrade Wells Hall

The 386 computers in room B100A, and the Next machines in the NEXT lab in room B100C should be replaced with current technology (Pentiums with CD-ROM or Apple PowerMac's). The 386 technology can no longer support Windows 3.1 applications, and will certainly not support the Windows95 platform. Hard drives will also need to be replaced if we continue to use these machines in a microlab environment. The Next machines are becoming very difficult to service because of cost and availability of parts. The estimated cost is:

B100A - 18 stations @ $3,000/station = $54,000

B100C - 22 stations @ $3,000/station = $66,000

$120,000

Microcomputer Lab Increased Hours

ICTC is impressed with the data on the use of the labs that have been open 24 hours. ICTC supports the concept of a “necklace” of labs that provide 24 hour service, allowing students who live in different locations easy access to these facilities. Recurring funds should be allocated to continue 24 hour operations in the Union, Case, Wilson, Hubbard, and Brody.

After hours use should be monitored to determine if there is demand for continued extended hour operations. ICTC is also concerned about security issues in these labs, particularly use of these facilities by non-MSU affiliated individuals. We expect that requiring logins on the microcomputers with Pilot IDs will help control any problems, but this issue should be evaluated periodically to determine what problems may be arising.

Additional $28,000 recurring

Micro Lab Upgrade Residence Halls

The IBM PS/2-55SX computers that are in several residence halls should be replaced with current technology (Pentiums with CD-ROM or Apple PowerMac's). The PS/2 technology will not adequately support applications running in the Windows 3.1 environment, certainly they will not support Windows95 applications. Hard drives will also need to be replaced if we continue to use these machines in the microlab environment. The estimated cost, including installation and security, is:

Hubbard - 13

McDonel - 48

Wonders - 66

Total = 127 stations @ $3,000/station

$381,000

Language Learning Center

The Language Learning Center has been in operation since the end of August of 1994. There are 28 student stations and one instructor station, each of which is equipped with a Macintosh 660AV computer. All stations are linked by ethernet and by a dedicated video network and are served by an Apple WorkGroup server. Each computer has 8 MB of RAM; seventeen of the computers have 80 MB hard drives; the rest have 230 MB hard drives. There are 7 Panasonic LaserDisk players and one flatbed scanner. The furniture consists of 14 large double carrels, which permit students to work in small groups, an especially useful feature during workshops.

During the operation of the Center, the staff have found that the configuration of the machines is no longer adequate. We are using a great deal of graphics and sound materials, for which the RAM and the smaller hard drives are inadequate. The addition last year of Chinese and Japanese fonts has placed a further strain on the capacity of the systems.

In order to provide a sufficient number of multimedia workstations for workshops, the LLC would like to have one LaserDisk player for each carrel and one for the instructor's station: a total of 15. They view the training of teachers in workshops as one of their important functions.

The server, an older Apple Workgroup server, becomes overloaded when there is a full class or a workshop group trying to access the server at the same time. The server would be fine in a normal lab, and the language lab staff would like Computing and Technology to consider swapping it out for a more powerful server, e.g. the Apple Workgroup 9150. These requests are itemized below. The costs for the SIMMs and the hard drives reflect an estimate from Engineering Services. The costs of the laserdisk players are catalog prices; the university may well be able to get a better price. We need to be sure, however, that any laserdisk players that is purchased have both digital and audio tracks and a computer interface.

Workgroup Server 9150/120 CPUs

The Workgroup Server 9150/120 runs the PowerPC 601 processor at 120 Mhz. Includes 16 MB of DRAM, 1 MB level-2 cache, one or two 1GB or 2GB disk drives, quad speed CD-ROM drive, DAT Drive with DDS-2 data compression (optional), built-in Ethernet, on-line and hard-copy documentation. Preinstalled with System 7.5.1 and Apple RAID Software. Bundled with Server Administrator and User Productivity software: Server Manager (AppleShare configurations only), Retrospect Remote (DAT configurations only), Adobe Acrobat Reader and AppleShare Client for Windows v1.0. Keyboard, display and Ethernet transceiver sold separately.

Item	Num	Unit cost	Total Cost
8 MB SIMM upgrades	29	323.75	9388.75
Replace 80MB drive with 850MB	17	286.25	4866.25
Hours of Labor for above	24	45.00	1080.00
Laserdisk players	8	995.00	7960.00
Workgroup Server 9150/120 16MB 2 Hard Disk 1GB w/CD-ROM, DAT Drive w/AppleShare 4.1 preinstalled	1	7751.00	7751.00


Total: 31046.00

IMC Screens and Permanent Sound Systems

IMC currently receives $17,000. for maintenance of screens and permanent sound systems in large classrooms. This funding permits IMC only to react to problems. In the first six months of this fiscal year IMC expended $25,358.

The funding requested will allow IMC to maintain a regular repair and replacement schedule.

$ 35,000 Recurring

IMC Thirty-one Wireless Microphone Systems

The wireless microphones currently used in the lecture halls need to be upgraded to newer models which have built in features to prevent crossovers of frequencies and interference. Increased labor, supplies and usage necessitate the request for additional funding.

$ 37,200.

IMC Supplies and Services

Lamps for Sharp and High Lumen Overhead Projectors

$ 10,000 Recurring

FFCC Macintosh 8500

The FFCC has invested in a high-end Leaf Slide Scanner. It is currently connected to a low-end, out-dated Macintosh II cx. This is a very heavily used service. Upgrading to a speedier Power Mac with a large screen monitor and large hard disk would enhance optimal use of this high-quality service. Staff recommend moving the FFCC's Macintosh 8100 and 1G hard drive to the Leaf Slide Scanner and purchasing a new system for video production. As requests for high-end video and audio abilities increase, a more powerful system is required. A Macintosh 8500, with digital input/output, 2G external hard disk, 144M RAM, 4M VRAM and apple 3D accelerator card, and large monitor is recommended. Along with the full-frame video capture card mentioned above, this system should provide most of the tools users currently require.

$8,000

FFCC MPC

The FFCC currently does not have a Pentium-based MPC. A high-speed, 24-bit, color, large hard disk, Windows-based, multimedia development platform is requested for consulting, software development, and testing.

$4,000

BCS Video cassette recorders.

In its support of classroom instruction, ITV uses six 3/4" Umatic video tape recorder/players over 200 hours per week (2600 hours per semester) to support its video tape library of over 4,500 tapes. These systems, purchased in 1981, have far exceeded their five year life expectancy. The machines and their associated time base correctors are subject to frequent failures and poor performance: video break-up, bad color, poor resolution, and limited audio fidelity. Replacement with state of the art videocassette recorders, time base correctors, and monitors will allow BCS to continue to support instructional video tape playback in a reliable manner.

$70,000

AV Upgrade of Macintosh Computers in Two 24 hour Computer Laboratories

With the development of MSU Macintosh AV multi-media and high resolution graphic communication teaching computer laboratories, there is now a growing demand by students to have an open 24 hour computer lab where the student can work on their classroom assignments. During the day, the teaching labs are often not available for student homework use because of the constant utilization of the teaching lab for classroom instruction. During evening hours the teaching labs are often full, turning away students who wish to work on their classroom projects. The rise in high end Macintosh AV computer use is originating across several colleges in numerous academic departments. Recently, some moderately equipped Power Macs have been added to the 24 hours labs to run word processing and spreadsheet software. However, these machines do not have sufficient configuration and memory to run CAD and AV software.

To resolve the current problem, 12 Macintosh stations should be distributed in two 24 hour labs (the Brody lab and one other to be determined by Computer Lab staff). These should have software supported in other Mac teaching labs so they can accommodate the expanding demand by students. The stations should be compatible with storage devices and hardware configurations found in the teaching labs. The general configuration for each station would typically, include: a quality AV Macintosh computer compatible with the existing teaching labs with keyboard, mouse, CD-ROM, 24 MB of RAM (minimum), 1 GB Hard drive, 24-bit color, 17 inch monitor displaying at least 1024 by 768 pixels, video input, audio input and a Zip drive.

Associated with each machine is an allotment of $2,000 for software purchases, for a total of $24,000, used to purchase an assortment of the required software. The list of software would include: AutoCAD 12, Landcadd 12, Quark Xpress, Map II, Mac GIS, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premier, Mathcad, SYSTAT, MS Word, MS Excel, Director 4.0, and Communication software.

Budget

Item	Unit Cost	Total Cost
12 Mac AV	$4,500	$54,000
Software Suite	$2,000	$24,000


Total $78,000

BCS Engineering Building room 146 and 154

Originally designed as one way facilities for MITN satellite feeds, ITV has successfully used them for two way and even three way connections. In addition to the scan converters listed in item 5, we recommend the acquisition of fax machines, wireless and corded microphones, color monitors for the instructor's console, and two digital videocassette player/recorders.

$46,000

Integrated Technologies Curricular Development Grants

ICTC recommends that the Instructional Technology Curricular Development Grant program be continued on an every-other year basis, at the amount of $75,000. We feel that this program provides an important opportunity for faculty with strong interest in using instructional technology in their teaching to begin to pursue this development. The amount granted (currently limited to a maximum of $15,000) is enough to get started, purchasing technology for curricular material development and some support personnel. It is rarely enough to complete the full implementation of the full plan. However, it is a real incentive to faculty and provides important support at crucial startup phases.

$75,000

Micro Lab Upgrade Human Ecology

The ancient 386SX computers at the Human Ecology microlab need to be replaced. Instructors find it very difficult to hold classes at this location. These machines are not fast enough to support Windows 3.1 applications, much less Windows95. The hard drives will also need to be replaced to support the microlab software environment if we continue to use these machines in this microlab. We recommend replacing them with current technology (probably Pentiums with CD-ROM). The estimated cost, including installation and security, is $3,000 per computer. There are 18 computers.

$54,000

FFCC Full-Frame Video Capture

FFCC users are unable to digitize full-frame (640 X 480), full-motion video at a frame rate of 30 fps. Many users wish to capture full-frame, edit and record back to tape.

$1,000

FFCC Software Requests

There is currently no budget to upgrade existing software or purchase new products requested by users. A high percentage of FFCC software has not been kept current. In some cases, the FFCC has multiple copies, but has only upgraded one, allowing the other licenses to lapse. Funding to begin addressing this problem is requested.

$6,000

BCS Erickson Hall

The low-cost cameras in Erickson Hall do not have external video level controls, or 'white clip' controls, making it possible to have excessive video levels, which can result in audio distortion. This facility should be equipped with a video processing amplifier to control its video level to prevent overmodulation. The existing lighting is straight down and casts shadows on participants' faces, we recommend the acquisition of a florescent lighting system, such as the Videssence specifically designed for television lighting. Many faculty are utilizing slides for graphics and instructional support, therefore an electronic slide projector should be acquired to transfer the slides to video. The three cameras currently share one camera control device, which causes glitches in the video as cameras are selected. Two additional camera control units should be acquired.

$18,500

BCS Computers and scan converters

In the process of scheduling facilities for instruction, ITV is limited in its ability to accommodate faculty requests for multimedia applications. These requests increase each semester. Only one of BCS's five facilities is equipped for full multi computer scan conversion. ITV is not providing the support needed for instruction. Faculty have been asked to convert their computer generated information to hard copy for the overhead camera. This usually means that color visuals go to black & white paper. Computers have become essential components of instruction. Computers are used by faculty both in teaching computer courses (including processor intensive computer graphics) as well as for instructional media and support. BCS must acquire two high end IBM compatible “multimedia” grade computers and two full feature studio quality scan converters, similar to that currently used in EB 154. This equipment will be assigned to CAS 145 and EB 146. Additionally, we propose to upgrade the existing scan converter in EB 154 to current specifications, and replace its associated computer.

$85,000

IMC Overhead Projectors

The overhead projector remains one of the most commonly used pieces of equipment on campus, and has become a part of the classroom that faculty expect to be in the room the same as a chalkboard.

With the conversion to semesters (15 week semesters) verses terms (10 week terms), along with the increased demands for classroom service, IMC is faced with the problem of properly maintaining projection equipment. We are not able to cycle equipment for maintenance as frequently as is needed in order to assure optimum quality. IMC is only able to totally service the pool of projectors between semesters and on an emergency basis. Lack of adequate maintenance leads to increased breakdowns and disruption of classes.

IMC needs funding to add and replace overhead projectors that are over 10 years old. Based on last semester's use, we provided overhead projectors to 424 classrooms by constantly moving projectors around. In order to service every classroom on campus and perform proper maintenance, IMC needs an additional 104 projectors

104 Standard Overhead Projectors: $ 52,000

IMC VCR Decks and Monitors

The use of VCR decks and monitors has increased from 1,387 in the Fall of 1991 to 4,324 during Fall semester 1995, which represents a 212% increase. Industry standards for such equipment indicate life expectancy of a maximum of 3-4 years when the equipment is not constantly transported. Fifty percent of IMC's current VCR decks are four years or more old, which contributes to frequent breakdown. Based on this and the continuing demand for this service we need an additional 40 decks and 60 monitors.

40 VCR Decks and 60 Monitors: $ 42,000

IMC Carousel Slide Projectors

In last year's APPR request to ICTC, IMC requested and received funding for 20 carousel slide projectors in order to replace equipment that was over 20 years old. Parts are no longer available for the rest of the carousels in IMC's inventory.

During Fall 1991, IMC processed 869 requests compared to 2,545 in Fall 1995. This year, IMC needs to replace an additional 95 projectors, special lenses and wireless remotes.

$130,000

Kresge Art Lab Upgrade

See Appendix A for details of this proposal

$251,196

BCS Life Sciences

Life Sciences is the University's newest and largest distance education facility on Campus. Partial funding for this facility was received during FY 96, and as this re-quest is written, construction has not yet begun. However, we expect that additional funding will be required during FY 97 to complete the project. At this time we request additional funds to purchase components such as monitors, processing amplifiers, video switchers, audio and video amplifiers, videocassette recorders, microphones, character generator, lighting, instructor's console, electronic still store devices, and computer to NTSC scan converter.

$200,000

Digital Media Arts Studio

See Appendix B for details of this proposal. Appendix B is not available on line; see the printed APPR document.

$292,000

BCS Audio and Video automatic gain amplifiers

These will make it possible for technicians to set audio parameters for consistent levels on all ITV channels. The amplifiers will automatically make adjustments when incoming audio or video levels (from satellites, tape machines, etc.) become too low or high. The variety of levels is of special concern, as satellite delivered material becomes more frequent. There are a variety of video modulation standards on different satellites, and among different transponders. A satellite receiver can deliver a full video signal from one transponder, then when tuned to the next, might deliver only half the signal. Thus, the video could go from acceptable, to unacceptable in moments. To correct the problems, automatic audio and video controls are necessary.

$15,000

BCS Test and Maintenance Equipment

The University has made a substantial investment in distance education technologies over the last few years: satellite down links in virtually every county, MiCTA standard codec facilities in 7 counties, and a cooperative agreement with MITN for satellite transmission facilities in East Lansing. This equipment is, in many cases, at the leading edge of technology, for example, Michigan State University is one of only 45 Universities equipped to transmit using CLI's proprietary compressed digital video system. Unfortunately, the ability to diagnose problems with the technology has not kept pace. Instructional Television is charged with keeping the equipment operational, yet they have no test equipment suitable for trouble shooting these digital systems. A variety of test equipment, including digital storage oscilloscopes, network analyzers, precision RF demodulator, television waveform monitors, high frequency loop test translators, and specialized test gear is required to provide the ability to respond and correct malfunctions more quickly..

$55,000

FFCC Digitizing Tablet

Drawing and digitizing from a tablet rather than using a mouse has been requested.

$300

BCS Television Channel Modulators

ITV originates two community cable channels to East Lansing and Lansing via TCI and Continental Cablevision. One channel is dedicated to SCOLA almost 24 hours a day, the other is available for more conventional television course instruction, both live and on video tape. Over the last two years, TCI has upgraded the CAS to TCI path with a fiber optic line, and soon the signals will be on fiber to Continental as well. Negotiations are ongoing with Horizon cable to extend the coverage to the suburban communities as well. The modulators, installed in 1981, no longer comply with FCC cable television standards, with noise, high differential phase, differential gain, and mediocre frequency response characteristics To be able to continue to provide these important community outreach services the two modulators should be replaced.

$10,000

FFCC Printers

There is no printer available in the FFCC.

$1,200

BCS Autotracking system for uplink

There are 13 Ku/C band satellites, and 11 Ku only satellites serving the continental US. Of the 11 Ku only satellites, 5 of them are in inclined orbit. The owners of satellites have gone to utilizing inclined orbits, in which the satellites are no longer held to a fixed location in space in an attempt to prolong the life of the satellite by conserving its scarce on-board fuel supply. Keystone's North American Satellite Guide's December, 1995/January, 1996 issue says “…the utilization of inclined orbit satellites is becoming readily accepted by the market. Customers are easily adapting to the figure eight satellite swings and are learning to adjust their downlinks for shorter transmissions. Tracking uplinks will continue to increase as long as customers accept the characteristics associated with inclined orbit operations.” The University's uplink system, installed in 1989 before use of inclined orbit satellites became common, is not capable of tracking an inclined orbit satellite. Failure to track will cause degradation in signal quality during transmissions. We are therefore recommending the acquisition of an autotracking system from Scientific Atlanta for the 7.1 meter dish.

$38,000

BCS TV set replacement

ITV is responsible for 441 television sets in classrooms across the campus. Funding was received during FY 96 to replace some of these, however, the general population of television sets continues to age. Some of the sets no longer produce acceptable quality pictures or sound. They also require frequent maintenance, and are not capable of receiving all of the channels on the campus cable system. As a part of the University's continuing commitment to improve conventional classrooms, older sets should be replaced.

$33,000

IMC Classroom Services Coordinator

Supplies, services and labor dollars remain a priority item to cover increased costs of transporting (delivering, pick-up, security) equipment for optimum use, setting up, maintenance and repair of the equipment. There continues to be an increase in demand for on-site technical assistance prior to and during class hours. In order to recruit, train and retain qualified employees, we must be able to pay competitive rates. Also, present budget constraints has seriously affected IMC's ability to provide technical support to faculty during certain hours.

$ 36,000 Recurring

Visual Resources Library

See Appendix C for details of this proposal. Appendix C is not available on line; see the printed APPR document.

$31,930

IMC Computer System Upgrade

IMC's present computer system, which is used to process classroom service requests, is over five years old and in need of major revamping. This request was previously submitted in January 1995 with IMC's SSPP&R, and then again in August 1995 to Dr. Paul Hunt. Please see Appendix D for information from IMC. Appendix D is not available on line; see the printed APPR document.

$ 92,300

IMC Motor Vehicle Operator

Supplies, services and labor dollars remain a priority item to cover increased costs of transporting (delivering, pick-up, security) equipment for optimum use, setting up, maintenance and repair of the equipment. There continues to be an increase in demand for on-site technical assistance prior to and during class hours. In order to recruit, train and retain qualified employees, we must be able to pay competitive rates. Also, present budget constraints has seriously affected IMC's ability to provide technical support to faculty during certain hours.

$ 35,000 Recurring

IMC Additional Labor

Supplies, services and labor dollars remain a priority item to cover increased costs of transporting (delivering, pick-up, security) equipment for optimum use, setting up, maintenance and repair of the equipment. There continues to be an increase in demand for on-site technical assistance prior to and during class hours. In order to recruit, train and retain qualified employees, we must be able to pay competitive rates. Also, present budget constraints has seriously affected IMC's ability to provide technical support to faculty during certain hours.

$ 55,000 Recurring

FFCC Computer-Controlled Video Editing System

This service does not exist anywhere on campus that FFCC staff are aware of. Users have requested the ability to capture specific frames of video from various sources, edit these while adding computer generated components and lay them to tape under control of the computer, maintaining broadcast quality.

$23,000

FFCC Audio Processing System

A system which would include a DAT recorder and preamp, a digital audio card with software, microphone, and speakers is requested. This service which is currently unavailable would allow FFCC users to take digital audio (DAT) recordings directly to disk for multimedia projects or Audio CD authoring.

$3,200

ICTC Rankings

A total of seven voting members rated the items. Each member rated each item on a scale of 1 (least important) to 10 (most important). The mean rating for each item was computed and the items were ranked based on their average rating.

Table 1 lists each item, the average rating for the item, and the standard deviation of the ratings across the voting members. This table is sorted from highest to lowest rating. The standard deviation for each items shows the divergence of opinion of the members on that item.

Table 1: Ratings Sorted in Priority Order

Item	Budget	Mean	Std Dev
Microcomputer Lab Software Fund recurring	70,000 Additional	9.71	0.49
Student Writeable File Service	275,000 to 310,000	9.14	1.57
Printer Upgrades for Micro Labs	6,900	9.00	1.41
IMC - A 80 High Lumen Overhead Projectors	96,000	8.86	1.07
IMC - A Wireless Microphone Battery Replacement and Maintenance Additional Funding	3,000 Recurring	8.71	1.38
BCS Off Campus distance Education Facilities	25,000	8.57	1.62
ML Upgrade Wells Hall	120,000	8.43	1.51
Microcomputer Lab Increased Hours recurring	28,000 Additional	8.29	1.38
ML Upgrade Residence Halls	381,000	8.29	1.38
Language Learning Center	31,046	8.29	1.25
IMC - A Screens and Permanent Sound Systems Maintenance	35,000 Recurring	8.29	1.70
IMC - A 31 Wireless Mic Systems	37,200	8.29	1.11
IMC - B Supplies and Services (Lamps for Sharp and High Lumen Overhead Projectors)	10,000 Recurring	8.29	1.50
FFCC New MAC 8500	8,000	8.14	1.77
FFCC MPC Pentium	4,000	8.14	1.46
BCS Video cassette recorders	70,000	8.14	1.46
AV Upgrade of Macintosh Computers in Two 24 hour Computer Laboratories	78,000	8.00	1.29
BCS EB rooms 146 and 154	46,000	8.00	1.73
ITCDG	75,000	7.86	2.12
ML Upgrade Human Ecology	54,000	7.71	1.25
FFCC Full Frame Video Capture	1,000	7.71	1.98
FFCC Software requests	6,000	7.71	1.89
BCS Erickson Hall	18,500	7.71	1.50
BCS Computers and scan converters. For CAS and EB.	85,000	7.57	2.51
IMC - A 104 Standard Overhead Projectors	52,000	7.57	1.27
IMC - A 40 VCR Decks and 60 Monitors	42,000	7.57	1.72
IMC - A 95 Carousel Slide Projectors	130,000	7.57	1.27
Kresge Art Lab Upgrade	251,196	7.43	1.99
BCS Life Sciences,	200,000	7.43	1.62
Digital Media Arts Studio	292,000	7.29	1.70
BCS Audio and Video automatic gain amplifiers	15,000	7.29	2.69
BCS Test and Maintenance Equipment	55,000	7.14	2.48
FFCC Digitizing Tablet	300	7.00	2.45
BCS Television Channel Modulators	10,000	7.00	2.24
FCC Printer	1,200	6.86	1.86
BCS Autotracking system for uplink	38,000	6.86	2.85
BCS TV set replacement	33,000	6.86	1.57
IMC - B Classroom Services Coordinator	36,000 Recurring	6.71	2.56
Visual Resources Library Dept of Art	31,930	6.57	1.27
IMC - C Computer System Upgrade	92,300	6.57	3.10
IMC - B Motor Vehicle Operator	35,000 Recurring	5.71	2.43
IMC - B Additional Labor	55,000 Recurring	5.43	3.26
FFCC Computer controlled Video Editing System	23,000	4.57	2.51
FFCC Audio Processing System	3,200	4.14	3.08

Overall: 7.56 1.82

Table 2 shows the same items grouped by Computer Lab related requests, requests for departmental labs, FFCC requests, ITCDG, BCS requests, and IMC requests.

Table 2: Ratings Grouped by Unit

Item	Budget	Mean	Std Dev
1 Student Writeable File Service	275,000 to 310,000	9.14	1.57
2 Printer Upgrades for Micro Labs	6,900	9.00	1.41
3 Microcomputer Lab Software Fund	70,000 Additional recurring	9.71	0.49
4 Microcomputer Lab Increased Hours	28,000 Additional recurring	8.29	1.38
5 AV Upgrade of Macintosh Computers in Two 24 hour Computer Laboratories	78,000	8.00	1.29
6 ML Upgrade Human Ecology	54,000	7.71	1.25
7 ML Upgrade Wells Hall	120,000	8.43	1.51
8 ML Upgrade Residence Halls	381,000	8.29	1.38
9 Language Learning Center	31,046	8.29	1.25
10 Digital Media Arts Studio	292,000	7.29	1.70
11 Kresge Art Lab Upgrade	251,196	7.43	1.99
12 Visual Resources Library Dept of Art	31,930	6.57	1.27
13 FFCC Audio Processing System	3,200	4.14	3.08
14 FFCC Full Frame Video Capture	1,000	7.71	1.98
15 FFCC New MAC 8500	8,000	8.14	1.77
16 FFCC MPC Pentium	4,000	8.14	1.46
17 FFCC Software requests	6,000	7.71	1.89
18 FFCC Printer	1,200	6.86	1.86
19 FFCC Digitizing Tablet	300	7.00	2.45
20 FFCC Computer controlled Video Editing System	23,000	4.57	2.51
21 ITCDG	75,000	7.86	2.12
22 BCS Video cassette recorders.	70,000	8.14	1.46
23 BCS Erickson Hall	18,500	7.71	1.50
24 BCS EB rooms 146 and 154.	46,000	8.00	1.73
25 BCS Life Sciences,	200,000	7.43	1.62
26 BCS Computers and scan converters. For CAS and EB.	85,000	7.57	2.51
27 BCS Off Campus distance Education Facilities	25,000	8.57	1.62
28 BCS Autotracking system for uplink	38,000	6.86	2.85
29 BCS Television Channel Modulators	10,000	7.00	2.24
30 BCS Test and Maintenance Equipment	55,000	7.14	2.48
31 BCS Audio and Video automatic gain amplifiers	15,000	7.29	2.69
32 BCS TV set replacement	33,000	6.86	1.57
33 IMC - A 104 Standard Overhead Projectors	52,000	7.57	1.27
34 IMC - A 80 High Lumen Overhead Projectors	96,000	8.86	1.07
35 IMC - A 40 VCR Decks and 60 Monitors	42,000	7.57	1.72
36 IMC - A 95 Carousel Slide Projectors	130,000	7.57	1.27
37 IMC - A Screens and Permanent Sound Systems Maintenance	35,000 Recurring	8.29	1.70
38 IMC - A 31 Wireless Mic Systems	37,200	8.29	1.11
39 IMC - A Wireless Microphone Battery Replacement and Maintenance	3,000 Additional Funding recurring	8.71	1.38
40 IMC - B Motor Vehicle Operator	35,000 Recurring	5.71	2.43
41 IMC - B Classroom Services Coordinator	36,000 Recurring	6.71	2.56
42 IMC - B Additional Labor	55,000 Recurring	5.43	3.26
43 IMC - B Supplies and Services (Lamps for Sharp and High Lumen Overhead Projectors)	10,000 Recurring	8.29	1.50
44 IMC - C Computer System Upgrade	92,300	6.57	3.10

Overall: 7.56 1.82