| PROGRAM METHOD AND DESIGN | ||
| HOMEPAGE
PROGRAM
METHODS AND DESIGN
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 The Look of Your College Connection The money obtained from this grant would be used to build and equip three Technology Centers. Three specific cities have been chosen for the building sites of these Centers because of their equal accessibility by the residents of Region X. The Land for the construction of these Technology Centers has been generously donated by each of the three cities (total appraised value: $300,000). Each building site has been zoned for commercial use, and are located on the outskirts of the respective cities. Water, sewer, electricity, natural gas, telephone, and cable are easily accessible at each site. In addition, all three cities have agreed to maintain the grounds of the Technology Centers. The blueprint for each Center will be identical, and the proposed design has been drafted by a state board certified architect. His work thus far has been donated at not cost to this project (appraised value: $35,000). In order to maintain consistency and uniformity, the Board of Directors has voted to hire this architect to oversee the construction of the Technology Centers (see Budget). He has agreed to this request and will only charge the project half his normal rate. Each Technology Center is to be equipped with state-of-the-art computers with high-speed Internet access (T1 or better). The entire facility will be wired with single-mode fiber optic lines in order to accommodate future technological advances. Each computer will have a 4-year maintenance contract with the manufacturer. Based on surveys performed by a local independent CPA, the number of expected students to use each facility will number approximately 150 per center (450 total) per year. Once the success of the Technology Centers becomes an external reality for the graduating students, this number is expected to increase. Based on survey responses provided by technical coordinators from several online universities, it has been estimated that each student will average four-hours per day on a computer. Allowing room for growth as well as opening the door for other community technological services (training, CE courses, handicapped, disability, senior citizens), the following equipment has been recommended for purchase by the local technology coordinators on the Board of Directors. These numbers are per Technology Center (X 3 total):
It is proposed that each facility will employ four full-time staff (12 total) for a 15-hour per day operation (9 A.M. to midnight). Two of the staff at each facility must be experienced and certified network technicians, while the other two must be experienced and certified in the software which will be used by the facility. The job of the staff will be to instruct users on the goals of the center, promote the center to the public, teach users to use the equipment, and keep equipment and software maintained and working. Staff will be advocates of the center and will be employees of the Board of Directors, who are also the grant recipients. Built into the collective donors would be money to maintain the Centers for a period of eight-years after construction. In addition to the wiring/maintenance closets, each facility will contain three large rooms, two of which will house all the PC’s—divided equally. The third room will be custom built in order to accommodate teleconferences for live synchronous learning opportunities. This room will be built with a semi-circular design such as is found in lecture halls (slanted down from top to bottom). High-tech desks with internal microphones will be built-in by the contractor. The primary purpose for this Teleconference Room will be for synchronous real-time, two-way communication with university professors. However, other uses for this room will accommodate live on-site events, such as cooperative geographic and archeological discoveries, links to live space program events, and significant business oriented events—announcements of technological breakthroughs in computing, medicine, mathematics, and science. Justification for Technology Centers versus Distance Learning at Home One of the main issues which the Board wrestled with early on was why build Technology Centers when virtually the same distance education programs were accessible in the home? Why not just provide computers for worthy and financially needy students wishing to attend cyber college at home? There were several reasons the Board unanimously voted in favor of public Technology Centers:
By providing public high-tech Centers such as what is being proposed, students living in this heavily rural area can have the best of all worlds. They won’t have far to travel to class; parking is curbside; the latest updated technology is provided and maintained at no cost to them; technology training and support is constantly available; and classmates will always be available for discussions and clarifications regarding class issues. Accordingly, the prospect for success for these students will be remarkably high. Partnership with the State University One of the Board of Directors is a business professor at the University of Nebraska, but he heralds from Region X. With his help along with the cooperation of the University Board of Regents, the University of Nebraska has agreed to supply a variety of distance education courses for Your College Connection. The following major course of studies represents what will be available for the Fall semester of 2000: Business, Computer Science, Computer Information Systems, English, History, Social Science, and Biology. Other distance education courses will be added as the demand increases. Many of these distance education courses were already in operation before this agreement was made. In fact, realizing the advances in technology and the fast rise in distance education courses in most major higher educational institutions, the University of Nebraska Board of Regents had already planned on expanding the courses they offer online. Consequently, they welcomed this proposal from Your College Connection's Board of Directors. It is important to point out that, although the University of Nebraska is providing an abundance of new online courses, not all of the required courses on the college degree track will be offered online. To compensate for this deficiency, the University has agreed to accept any online course which is successfully completed from any accredited higher educational institution, and which fulfills the degree course requirements. Tuition and Books Even though the Technology Centers will be offered at no cost to the residents of Region X, the students still must find their own funding source to pay for college tuition and books. In order to meet this obligation, the Financial Assistance Office at the University of Nebraska will work hand-in-hand with the high-school counselors from Region X in helping each enrolling student at Your College Connection obtain the financial assistance they will need. |