Potsdam
College currently has three computer classrooms in operation (Dunn Hall for
MS-DOS computers, Kellas Hall for Macintosh computers, and Satterlee Hall for
Apple // computers). These classrooms provide instructional support for
hands-on individualized instruction for a variety of applications programs
(wordprocessing, statistical analysis, graphing), simulations, programming
languages, and data communications. They also serve as a general-access
student lab when not in use as an instructional facility. Each classroom is
equipped with a projection system for classroom viewing of the instructor's
computer screen, personal computers, printers and, in Kellas and Dunn, a Local
Area Network (LAN) which connects the personal computers to a file server where
class assignments, data and software is stored (see Departmentally-Based
Services for a description of a file server). Each classroom is available to
any faculty member, but must be scheduled for use.
These
classrooms have proven to be invaluable for faculty and students who are
involved with computer-based coursework and the demand for additional
facilities is growing. We anticipate establishing at least one more classroom
in the next two years with the goal of eventually having a computer classroom
in those academic buildings where instruction occurs.
Goals:
To provide each existing computer classroom with sufficient computing
and networking resources (as described above) to conduct hands-on classroom
instruction
To establish a computer classroom in each major academic building on the
Potsdam College campus
Residential computing centers provide students with safe, convenient access to
computing resources and services within their residential buildings. Students
no longer have to travel across campus, especially at night, to the Levitt
Center or other computing labs in order to find a computer to work on their
term paper or other computer-based assignments. Open on a 24-hour basis,
residential computing centers provide students with access to personal
computers networked together as a LAN with file and printing services. The
most common applications students use are available via the file server;
students need only bring a data diskette to store those personal files they are
working on. During the evening hours on Sunday through Thursday, Student
Assistants from the Academic Computing Center provide general assistance and
distribute printouts.
Established with funds from Residence Life, the first residential computing
center opened in Knowles Hall in January, 1990 and has been immensely popular
with students in that building. Additional centers are scheduled to open by
the fall semester of 1990 in Bowman and Lehman Halls. Within five years , all
residential halls will have student computing centers which provide file and
printing services and 24-hour access to personal computers.
Goals:
To open a 24-hour student computing center in each residential facility
on campus
To provide general assistance and printing services during the evening hours
(Sunday through Thursday)
James H. Levitt Memorial Computing Center
The
Levitt Center was established in 1987 to provide a centralized computing
facility for students where they would have access to personal computers,
application software and general assistance with the use of these computing
resources. The Center is supported by the Academic Computing Center and
provides access to Apple //, Macintosh and MS-DOS computers, dot-matrix and
laser printing, optical scanners and a variety of software applications used in
computer-based coursework and research on campus. All computers are networked
to a file server which provides access to the software used in the Center.
The
Levitt Center is located in the Crumb Library and is staffed by Student
Assistants during all hours of operation. It is open approximately 100
hours/week. Because the Center is staffed at all times, it has become, and
will continue to be, the primary support area for student computing. Advanced
computing resources (hardware and software) will be made available in this
facility first before they are placed in any other student computing centers on
campus.
Goals:
To
expand computing resources in the Levitt Center as necessary to meet student
needs
To
continue the current operation of the facility as currently supported
Faculty need a facility where they can become familiar with current computing
technology to determine its effectiveness and appropriateness for instruction
and research before committing the campus, or their individual departments, to
the purchase of equipment. A centralized Faculty High-Technology Workroom
would provide such a facility and it would be supported by the Computer Center.
As new technology arrives on campus, this facility would be one of the first
places it appears. Faculty would have access to powerful, current computing
tools and technology, such as interactive multimedia, audio/visual digitizing
and sampling, optical scanning and character recognition and image processing.
They would also be able to perform routine tasks such as laser printing, file
translations and network communication.
Goals:
To establish a centralized Faculty High-Technology Workroom in a
location convenient to faculty
To equip the Faculty High-Technology with the most recent campus computing
technology and tools
Many, if not most, academic departments on our campus are now expanding their
current programs of computer-based instruction, coursework and research as
increased numbers of faculty become interested in the opportunities made
available by new computing technologies and increased numbers of students
become computer literate through their initial writing course on our campus.
Our computer classrooms (see Computer Classrooms described above) are
also stimulating interest in this new dimension of education and all
indications are that this interest and growth in computing will continue. To
support these efforts, it will be necessary to provide departmentally-based
student computing resources which will be used in departmental labs and student
computing clusters. Computers will be interfaced with laboratory instruments,
musical equipment, multi-media components (laser disk players, video cameras,
CD-ROMs). The funding for these resources has been, and will undoubtedly
continue to be, through the Student Computer Access Program (SCAP).
Goals:
To support academic department computing programs activities with the
necessary computing resources and services
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Document prepared by Robert Jewett. Email: jewettrj@potsdam.edu