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Reading, Writing ... and Windows?
Computers @ ORU
By Laura B. Raphael
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Today, of course, computers are everywhere--in obvious places like atop our desks, and not-so-obvious ones like our car engines and refrigerators.
It only makes sense that they've become an essential element of the college classroom as well.
This fall, ORU began implementing the final piece of a long-range technology plan that has transformed the university from trailing-behind to cutting-edge, according to Dr. Debra Sowell, dean of Instruction, and Dr. Ralph Fagin, vice president for Academic Affairs.
Basic plumbing
The first part of the plan addressed what Dr. Fagin calls "technological plumbing"--the basic behind-the-scenes wires and computer infrastructure in classrooms, the library, and dorms that set the stage for using technology for educational purposes.
With generous annual grants of $500,000 from the Linden Root Dickinson Foundation, awarded to the university since 1995, ORU has made amazing leaps forward in the realm of technology.
"We have gone from slim beginnings to having a really well-equipped university," Fagin said. "We've been very, very fortunate to have the Linden Root grant. It's given us the technological plumbing that doesn't have a lot of sparkle and sizzle but is so necessary to deliver the learning opportunities available today through computers and software."
In just one example of infrastructure updating, the 2000-01 Linden Root Dickinson Foundation grant allowed ORU to replace an outdated and inefficient hub backbone network in the Graduate Center and Learning Resources Center with a reliable switch-port network--a move that eliminated bottlenecks and prevented inconvenient shutdowns. While not as flashy or noticeable as new multimedia systems and computer labs (which the grant also purchased), infrastructure changes like these have made a huge difference in the technology experience of students and faculty.
Faculty face the future
The second item on the technology agenda focused on the faculty. It was a logical next step; as classroom leaders, professors must successfully use technology if they are asking students to do the same.
To prepare faculty, Dr. Sowell says, ORU was a founding member of the Tulsa County Professional Development Consortium, known as "The 8th Floor" to its members. Begun in 1998, The 8th Floor is a collection of educators from various Tulsa-area schools, community colleges, and universities who meet, appropriately enough, on the eighth floor of the Tulsa Community College-Tulsa Technology Center midtown campus to learn more about how to use technology in the classroom.
"This has proven to be a marvelous resource for our faculty members," Sowell said. "We've sent hundreds of ORU faculty to classes and intensive workshops through The 8th Floor so they can learn the proper pedagogy of integrating technology and learning."
Sowell is quick to point out that ORU faculty members do not use technology for technology's sake. "They've been trained to use technology so that it supports learning. Computers are in the background, supporting what happens in the classroom. I can tell you that we have some truly masterful teachers here doing just that."
Once faculty learned how to use technology, the task became to give faculty access to the technology itself. This was accomplished with Linden Root Dickinson Foundation grant funding as well, which allowed ORU to purchase desktop computers and equipment for every faculty member and to equip about 20 classrooms with the necessary equipment--computers, wiring, and projectors--to use technology during class presentations and discussions.
Students get techie with it
Finally, this fall, ORU has begun to focus on the third magical piece of the technology puzzle: students.
Since new technology came to campus (again, thanks in large part to the Linden Root Dickinson Foundation), students have had an increasing number of dorm and on-campus computer labs to use for tasks both simple and sophisticated.
Now administrators feel it's time to move to the next step and ask students to bring their own computers to campus. This year, students in five departments--theology (all majors), English (all majors), business (management information systems major), engineering (computer engineering concentration), and music (all majors)--were told that owning a computer, while not required, was "strongly recommended" for their educational success.
"As the computer becomes as important as a textbook in the classroom, we feel that students really need to have their own personal computer, something they can have with them all the time so they can access whatever they need anywhere on campus," Sowell said. "We're hoping that students will agree with us that their education, to a great extent, will be enhanced if they have their own equipment."
Comparing today's computer with yesterday's calculator, Sowell emphasizes that computers are just tools for learning, not the learning itself. "Thirty or more years ago, a calculator in a statistics class was unusual. Today, we wouldn't think of taking statistics without one! Computers are similar: they are tools, like calculators, that greatly enhance the learning opportunities of our students."
Other benefits of the new recommendation are practical and career-oriented in nature. "When students graduate from ORU, they will have both the practical experience working with computers--making them more marketable class="text" in the workplace--and, in some cases, actual tools they'll be able to use in their jobs," Sowell said. "For example, by the time they graduate, theology majors will have developed or be able to develop a series of technological tools, like PowerPoint presentations, to use during church services. This will be especially helpful to small churches, where many graduates will be working. They'll be able to do some of the sophisticated things that only big churches can do now."
Another plus: Now that computers are formally recommended as necessary to classroom learning, the purchase of a personal computer will be eligible to be part of students' financial aid packages.
Cost has been a concern behind the recommendation, and this will help students who may find it difficult to add a computer to their "back-to-school" supply list. "While most students don't pay nearly what it costs to educate them [due to scholarships and other financial aid], we still recognize that it's significant what they're paying to come to ORU," Fagin said. "The more we can help them, the better."
As an additional help with the cost, both Dell Computers and Apple Computers are offering students a discount on their computers--both desktop and laptop versions. "We want to give students as many options as we can," Sowell said. "If they choose to purchase through Dell or Apple using this agreement, they can, but if they want to buy from a different retailer, as long as they meet the system requirements, that's okay."
What's next: from recommendation to expectation
Like the overall technology plan at ORU, the rollout of student computers is both steady and thought-out. This year, while computers are "recommended" for the pilot departments, next year the recommendation will become an expectation for classroom success.
Other departments will follow the same path, making recommendations the first year, then communicating their expectations the next. All in all, Sowell and Fagin expect a fairly smooth transition, particularly given early reactions from both faculty and students.
"I have been pleasantly surprised at how fully faculty and students have embraced technology," Fagin said. "In particular, our faculty members have really taken this on with a positive attitude that has been so refreshing."
Students also appear to be on board, seeing the recommendation as helping, not hurting, them, despite the added cost.
"It's been great," said David Rivera, a theology major from Pismo Beach, Calif. "I use my computer to do all kinds of things--reports, projects, papers. It even wakes me up in the morning with an alarm!"
Melissa Ramirez, a music arts major from West Columbia, Tex., has found her computer especially helpful in the area of research. She found out the hard way how important having her own system really was. "I tried to make it in this major last year without a computer, and it was so hard," she said. "I was constantly borrowing other students' computers!"
It's a wired, wired world (but not for long)
Of course, the future is anything but fixed, despite all of the long-range planning. ORU administrators are well aware that technology changes rapidly, and the newest new thing can become ancient history overnight.
That's why they are still future-focused, looking for and implementing new technologies that will best improve teaching and learning.
In fact, the new "wireless" trend--where students and faculty members can use their laptops to get onto the Internet without being tethered to an outlet ---is already in the early stages of development at ORU. One classroom is fully equipped to handle wireless technology, and plans are in the works to add more classes if the pilot program is successful.
The important point, Fagin and Sowell both agree, has less to do with the exact technologies that may emerge than with ORU's desire to introduce them wisely.
"We're committed to doing whatever is necessary in the technology realm to give our students the best possible education," Fagin concluded. "That's the least they deserve."
Curious about the exact requirements for the personal computers students are being asked to bring? See Computer requirements [http://compspecs.oru.edu/] for more information.
