CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FRESNO
ACADEMIC INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

Statement of Policy on Student 24-Hour Access to Computing Resources and to the Network

I. The policy of California State University, Fresno is to provide a communications and information technology infrastructure to enable and facilitate state-of-the-art education, research, and service opportunities for its students. The purpose of this st atement is to describe the general framework of this commitment.

II. For decades California State University, Fresno has had a clear focus on the utilization of computers and other technologies in its curriculum and mission. Not only has the University historically provided workstations to its faculty and state-of-the- art laboratories for instruction, but its student body is increasingly computer literate with over half of the students having their own computers. The University has a long-standing commitment to providing training to faculty in state-of-the-art technolo gies, evidenced in part by the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching &;Learning and the Academic Innovation Center. The present policy statement identifies the next steps needed to build upon this foundation and provide cutting-edge student educational e xperiences for the 21st Century. It is axiomatic that change in hardware and software in communications and information technologies is continuous and dynamic; for example, during at least the past five decades each year the computational power of compute rs has tripled while the cost has halved. This Universitys policy and planning envisions continuing and accelerated growth and change not only in the nature of the communications and information technologies infrastructure, but also in the use of these te chnologies in instruction, in research, and in service. There will be an on-going need to survey the faculty on what communications and information technology specifications are required to enable the curriculum, even as it is being developed, changed, and revised.

III. At California State University, Fresno, students will be assured 24-hour access to the Universitys communications and computing systems, including access to the Internet. This access will be provided through the following measures:

A. Students will be required to have their own or to have other personal access to a personal computer workstation (including a printer) and compatible basic software. This provision will be phased-in over a four year period. In the first year, 1997-98, t his provision will be required for all new freshmen and first-year graduate students; in the second year, 1998-99, the provision will extend to include all new sophomores; in the third year, 1998-99, the provision will extend to include all new juniors; a nd in the fourth year, 2000-2001, the provision will extend to include all new seniors. Annually a recommended minimal configuration will be developed and communicated by the University to ensure that students can effectively participate in the educationa l programs and curriculum which will more and more assume the access to a personal computer; students must have an understanding of the applications of technologies in the learning process and the competency to use basic software (e.g., telecommunications , word processing, graphics, and spreadsheet) used in the various disciplines. The recommended standards for this workstation should strike a balance between hardware and software available and useful at the time a student begins their degree program and foreseeable upgrades and new developments that may occur before the degree is completed. The standards, to be reviewed by the Academic Information Technology Committee, will be designed as illustrative compatibility standards rather than based on particul ar hardware.

B. Students currently and will have 24-hour access via off-campus modem connections to the University network, including an e-mail account on Lennon (e.g., Pine), a text access to the Internet (e.g., Gopher and Lynx), and access to the University librarys ALIS and periodical databases. Within memory space allocations for student accounts and in accord with guidelines for appropriate use, this resource includes the capability for each student to establish and maintain homepages on the Internet in their Len non accounts.

C. Students currently and will have opportunity to have high-speed (up to 28.8 standards) graphics access to the network and the Internet through the Universitys Central Valley Internet Project (CVIP,) now provides several programs (e.g., Eudora for e-mai l and Netscape for Internet, as well as Telnet and FTP.) The University will endeavor to provide these resources at a cost below that of commercial services; the cost for individual subscriptions is currently offered at $9.95 a month [28 September 1999].

D. Students have and will continue to have access through the Universitys computer laboratories to the Internet, including Netscape, and to Lennon through Telnet. The University will continue to provide a mix of laboratories, including a reasonable number of open-access labs (including printing) and docking stations for students to use at various locations while on campus, including at least one lab on campus to provide open access that will be open 24-hours a day, possibly including advanced labs in spec ific areas depending on assessment of need and usage.

E. Through their professors for specialized courses, students may be given special accounts by the University for using or developing advanced computer programs and/or hardware.

IV. This policy assumes that providing a current and dynamic communications and information technology infrastructure will be a high university priority, including providing faculty with workstations and ethernet connections to the network to enable devel opment and delivery of state-of-the-art curriculum, as deemed appropriate and effective by the faculty within the various disciplines. This policy envisions a natural evolution of the use of information technologies in instruction and does not prescribe a ny particular utilizations. For example, faculty may devise assignments using word processors to facilitate students writing, revision, and editing papers; they may devise assignments in which students use the Internet to search document archives in the L ibrary of Congress; they may mount interactive lessons via homepages on the Internet; they may devise assignments in which students access and analyze data from the Census; etc. Such assignments can be seen now at the University and illustrate some of the applications of information technologies in instruction; as the infrastructure improves, including general student access to computers meeting a minimal standard, the role of computers, television, and other information technologies to facilitate instruc tion can be expected to increase in importance in the years ahead.

V. The University will facilitate the provisions of this policy in several ways:

A. The University will maintain the infrastructure to provide for the 24-hour access to the network (as described above).

B. The University needs a dependable and adequate resource to fund the maintenance and upgrading of hardware and software in the various computer laboratories, which have been neither consistently nor adequately funded by the State in the past. The realit y is that the hardware and software costs to establish a maintain a computer laboratory are enormous. The University will need to utilize a Technology Fee; a specific plan will need to be developed during 1996-97 academic year to determine the size of thi s fee and the specific uses to which it will be put. The intent of this fee is to enhance technological resources of direct benefit to students. The technology fee revenue will be kept in a separate fund, and a full accounting of the money will be availab le to the public on an annual basis. Expenditure of the funds will be overseen by the Information and Educational Technology Coordinating Committee in consultation with Academic Information Technology Committee; the Technology Fee Committee should be desi gned to assure a composition of not less than a voting majority of students appointed by the Associated Students with appropriate qualifications. System policy calls for an advisory student referendum on the issue. This fee must be approved by the Preside nt.

C. The University will offer training to students on the basic use of the recommended computer software and in information competency. Specialized training as deemed appropriate and needed will be built into the curriculum by the various disciplines.

D. The University shall use its offices and auxiliaries vigorously to negotiate and offer computer hardware and software at special volume pricing and licensing (for use on and off-campus), arranging for installment or lease purchase programs, arranging a low-cost lease or hardware loan program, and similar means of facilitating student acquisition of computers.

E. With particular reference to the affordability of computers, the University shall consider the requirement for a computer system as an important part of determining a students need as part of its financial aid program.

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