Francis X. Moore III
Acting Assistant Vice President of Information technology
And Director of Instructional Technology Services
(804) 395-2034
fmoore@longwood.lwc.edu

Joanne Worsham
Director of User Support Services
(804) 395-4357
jgworsha@longwood.lwc.edu

Longwood College
201 High Street
Farmville, VA 23909

Introduction

Longwood College is one of 15 public four-year institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Located in Farmville, a very rural community, Longwood has aggressively approached using technology in all aspects of student learning. Although there were many reasons for our technology initiative, one of the more pressing reasons was recognition that the College, while educating citizen leaders dedicated to the common good of society, must provide a technologically literate graduate. Longwood recognizes that in Virginia alone in 2001, there are more than 20,000 unfilled high tech positions. The Commonwealth's system of higher education is expected to help fill these positions.

Longwood's response to this need is its ubiquitous technology initiative. At Longwood, technology permeates every aspect of the educational experience. Every student and faculty member has access to the latest technology. As examples, faculty members have a high-end personal computer and a network connection in their offices. All students are required to have a laptop. As a result, the College now requires that students and faculty meet high levels of technological ability and understanding. The result is a Longwood graduate with technology competencies in basic computer skills and in depth, discipline-specific technology skill sets.

Like most institutions, Longwood College was not always in this "technology position". Five years ago, technology at Longwood was very limited. Technology consisted of a telephone system, an IBM series 9000 mainframe, three computer labs for a student population of approximately 3,200, a "Helpless" Desk, a few faculty computers, and classrooms equipped with blackboards. High tech classrooms included overhead projectors.

Longwood College did a self-assessment and then planned and implemented a holistic approach to campus technology. There are two primary components, student technology and instructional technology. Again, the goal was to ensure that all students are prepared to enter the workforce with a high degree of technical skills. The technology experience starts with the admission process that along with payment is done entirely electronically. At Freshman Orientation, all placement testing is done on-line. Technology at Longwood College is a freshman to graduate experience. As a result, the College is bound to provide a technology infrastructure and support throughout all parts of the academic lives of our students. Longwood provides its students with a myriad of technology learning experiences before graduation.

The College, while placing resources on the student side, did not neglect the instructional components of ubiquitous technology. The goal here was to provide faculty with technology training and tools in order to improve the quality of instruction. Five years ago, all full time faculty received high-end computers with a connection to the Internet. The Instructional Technology Teaching and Learning Program (ITTL) was designed and implemented to provide faculty with the understanding of software programs used in instruction as well as the support that they need in order to integrate technology into the curriculum. Finally, the ITTL program provides a high tech classroom infrastructure so that the faculty can apply in the classroom what they learned in training. One of the most important components of ubiquitous technology at Longwood is assessment. Our Office of Assessment is constantly assessing outcomes of all components of this program so that we can see what works, and fix what doesn't work.

Student Technology

Our Student Technology component began with our laptop initiative. Four years ago, all freshmen were required to purchase a laptop. The College also provides within the residence halls a high-speed data network at the ratio of a port per pillow. Network connections are also available in the Library, classrooms, informal study spaces, the Dining Hall, in two apartment complexes in town and with commuter dial-up. Several student technology programs have been very successful. The Residence Technology Associates (RTA) program provides all students support with their laptops. The Instructional Technology Associates program uses students to provide faculty and academic departments support in integrating technology into the curriculum. Finally, Information and Instructional Technology Services supplies internships to students at the College who wish to gain academic credit and learn more about technology in higher education.

Many institutions ask us why the laptop initiative was ever adopted at Longwood. Prior to our mandate program, we had 1 computer for every 21 students on campus. Our computer labs were plagued with long lines, especially at the end of a semester, and disgruntled students and faculty. We were at a crisis point in instruction. The laptop program was designed to provide direct support for word processing, spreadsheets and databases. The laptop was to be an access device for course materials. It was to be a research tool providing students with access to our Library and to the Internet. The laptop was to be used as a communications tool linking students with students, and students with faculty.

The laptop initiative would guarantee that computers were available to 100% of the students 100% of the time. Because most if not all of our students would buy off of the contract that the College negotiated on their behalf, faculty and support staff would have a know quantity in instruction. We would know the software image on the student laptops as well as the hardware configuration. Rather than having 900 freshmen each with their own type and configuration of a computer, we would have 900 freshmen with the same type of software and hardware-a support dream. The College was also looking for a level playing field for all students. We did not want a digital divide on our campus with some students being able to afford computers and others left out. The College worked aggressively with the Office of Financial Aid to ensure that no student would be left behind. Our goal was to provide our students with the tools of today, help them master them so that they could graduate and learn the tools of tomorrow.

Longwood also provides its students with various opportunities in technology. The RTA program provides students in the residence halls, local apartment complexes, and commuter students with support after 5:00 PM and on weekends, when our Helpdesk is closed. These students are the most technologically sophisticated on campus and come recommended by faculty. They are put through a 40-hour technology boot camp each summer before the start of the academic year and are also taught the elements of good customer service skills and communication. In return for their hours, they are compensated with free room and board. The ITA program is very similar. Rather than provide support to the student population, the ITA's are Information Technology's direct link to the academic departments. They work one-on-one with faculty in their offices and in the classrooms. They also assist entire academic departments with technology projects. Like the RTA's, the ITA's are compensated with free room and board. Students at Longwood also serve as interns in our networking department, in Instructional Technology Services, and with our Systems Analysts and our Information Security area. The College also provides student web space for individual student needs as well as space on a web server for required web-based portfolios.

Instructional Technology

The Instructional component of the Longwood ubiquitous computing initiative is equally comprehensive. The College has ensured that there is a computer with an Internet connection on every faculty desk since 1995. Included with this is a refresh program on a three year cycle. The ITTL program, also started in 1995 trains faculty in all aspects of instructional technology, from the use of web-based course management software, to the use HTML editors such as Frontpage 2000, to the implementation of wireless technologies in the curriculum. Faculty training is assured through the ITTL program. The ITTL program also offers summer research grants in the form of equipment for faculty. There is also a reassign time competition in which faculty submit proposals to use technology to retool a course. In exchange, the ITTL will pay for a course release by hiring an adjunct. The ITTL program also provides funds for faculty who wish to pursue training off campus.

The ITTL program is also responsible for retrofitting classrooms with technology. Currently 45% of all classrooms on campus are multimedia capable. A multimedia classroom has as a standard a high-end Pentium computer, an Internet connection, a visual presenter (Elmo), a vcr, a Crestron control panel, and an Extron switch. Our goal is to have 98% of all applicable academic spaces retrofitted within the next three years.

The ITTL program also provides classroom specialists to guarantee that classroom equipment is fully operational. Our goal is one classroom specialist for every 30 classrooms. The program has also hired an Instructional Technology Design and Development Specialist who works with faculty in training and in incorporating technology into the curriculum. This staff member is also responsible for the ITA program.

Virginia as a state is really looking towards higher education to provide a technologically literate graduate for the market place. Longwood is "under the gun" as are all state institutions of higher education. To this end, the Institution has contracted with Smartforce CBT to provide computer-based training for the students, faculty, and staff. As a result, students, faculty, and staff have access to over 200 titles of training ranging from basic Microsoft Word, to Advanced Access, Oracle, and Firewalls and Routers and Switches. The modules are housed on the Smartforce server and are accessed through the Internet. Students have the option of doing the training on the Internet or downloading the modules onto their computers. Students are required to do the training and first take a pre-test. If they fail the pretest they do a module (which takes 4 to 5 hours and can be done in increments if the students so wish) and then take a post test. When they finish the module (if they are not doing it live play on the Internet), they log on to the Smartforce site again and their test score is removed from their computer and put into the database to which our Director of Assessment and Registrar have access.

The class of 2004 was required to complete their modules and testing by November 23, 2000. The areas they completed were:

· Basic and Intermediate MS Word
· Basic PowerPoint
· Basic Excel
· Basic Internet Explorer 5.0

The students have until the end of their Second year to complete all training and testing. The results are posted on their transcripts as non-credit bearing courses with a grade of P or F. All tests are normed nationally as there are more than 3000 institutions of higher education and industry who use Smartforce for training.

Outcomes

As stated previously, assessment drives this initiative. What have we discovered? I look at the results and I am not impressed and yet, when I compare what we are doing and the results we are getting with the Campus Computing Project, I understand that Longwood is far ahead of the curve. The numbers do not lie. 94% of our faculty require students to use computers outside of class. 80% of the faculty require use of the web by students. 77% of the faculty use the web in conjunction with classes. The data show that Longwood seniors use technology significantly more that seniors in national benchmark institutions.

To continue, 40% of our faculty regularly teach with computers in a lab setting. Almost 50 % of the faculty require students to use presentation graphics in class (PowerPoint). More than half of the faculty regularly discuss copyright and technology ethics in class. The Institution just rolled out Blackboard's CourseInfo in September 2000. In 4 weeks the faculty placed more than 300 courses on line.

One has to ask what the satisfaction on campus is with our technology. 96% of the faculty are more than satisfied with the technology in their offices. 92% of the faculty are satisfied with the technology in the academic computing labs. 94% of the students are satisfied with the service from our laptop vendor. 92% of our students are satisfied with the support our Helpdesk supplies.

All in all, we are very satisfied with what we have provided our students, faculty and staff. Our approach has been proven by our market. Our faculty are extremely satisfied with the technology in the classrooms. Our students find that the laptop initiative, our network infrastructure, and our wireless endeavors are very successful. The market has proven our approach. Longwood College has the highest non-military job placement rate in the Commonwealth of Virginia.