"Academic computing resources on the campuses must be expanded and updated to meet student demand. Students need more computer laboratory workstations, better technical support from staff, longer hours of access and higher speed connectivity. Faculty should have the hardware, software and support to incorporate technology into lesson plans and class discussions. ... Colleges and universities across the country have addressed the constantly changing and growing need for computer access by assessing a technology fee." Memorandum to CUNY students from the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Student Development & Enrollment Management, March 20, 2002 Memorandum to CUNY students from the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Student Development & Enrollment Management, March 20, 2002
The University's Board of Trustees adopted a technology fee of $75 per semester for full-time students and $37.50 for part-time students, effective fall 2002. (For Brooklyn College, this meant approximately $1,400,000 in new funding.) Each College was required to establish an implementation committee (which included student representation) and submit a plan showing how Tech Fee funds would be used. At Brooklyn College, our Tech Fee spending plan was crafted squarely within the context of our Information Technology Master Plan.
The College has now completed three rounds of Tech Fee planning, spring 2002, 2003, and 2004. The College and the Library/Academic IT have benefitted in many ways from Tech Fee monies--indeed, students' academic lives have been vastly improved. These are the ways in which Student Technology Fee funds benefit students using the services of the Library and Academic IT:
New E-resources (for more information, see Theme 3: Electronic Information Resources, below)
AV equipment for the individual academic departments, enabling more efficient use of audiovisual tools for teaching and learning
A DSI Specialistwho concentrates her efforts on building course super-sites that provide Digital Supplemental Instruction (DSI)
Student workers whostaff the New Media Center and the student lab (fall 2004) on the building's lower level, while also assisting in the maintenance of the new Library's student-access PCs
Blade servers, enabling us to attach more student-access PCs to the Library's network
Membership in the New Media Consortium http://www.newmediacenter.org, which increases our purchasing power for hardware and software through steep discounts
Plasma screens for Library and Academic IT program announcements
Smartboard for the Library's multipurpose room
Film projector for the Library's Woody Tanger Auditorium
Wireless connectivity throughout the Library building, providing students and faculty with much greater computing mobility and enabling the start-up of our handhelds project
Handhelds and/or tablet/laptop pilot project, enabling students to borrow handheld devices with wireless network cards for use throughout the Library and permitting staff to experiment with wireless/handheld applications for library and higher education uses
Software upgrades for the New Media Center and the Library Café
Equipment to allow the creation and packaging of CDs for students
Large-scale monitors for the digitization project, equipment which speeds the activity and increases its accuracy
CUNY fees for use of the Enterprise version of Blackboard