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Four departments in the College of Arts and Sciences will get the first
computers distributed through the Carolina Computer Initiative by participating
in a grand test drive.
The four departments--economics, English, psychology and statistics--will
participate in a pilot program for the Carolina Computer Initiative (CCI). This
pilot program means the four departments will be like subjects of an
experiment, allowing organizers to find out what problems occur when installing
computers for entire departments.
The pilot program will be planned by groups that include members of the CCI
Steering Committee and the CCI Implementation Team as well as representatives
of the four departments, said John Oberlin, co-chair of the Carolina Computer
Initiative and executive director of Academic Technology and Networks.
Oberlin said those planning groups should be in place by the end of July and
should have a schedule for the pilot program completed a month later.
"I'd like for us to start delivering equipment in the late fall," Oberlin
said.
The pilot program will not only provide new computers to the four departments,
but will give CCI leaders a chance to test their methods for all aspects of
getting computers to University faculty and staff, Oberlin said.
The pilot program means seeing how well the CCI Implementation teams deliver
and configure new computers, solve problems that crop up and provide support
services, Oberlin said. The pilot also will be a test of the training and
professional development programs for faculty and staff who are part of CCI.
The Carolina Computing Initiative is best known for requiring that all
freshmen entering in Fall 2000 purchase a laptop computer. The same initiative
also aims to provide University faculty and staff an efficient,
service-oriented system for upgrading computers every four years and for
providing training and support services campuswide.
The University will commit $19.3 million over the next four years to complete
wiring, purchase the desktop computers needed by all faculty and academic
support staff in the College of Arts and Sciences and help students who qualify
for need-based financial aid acquire laptop computers.
The money will come from academic enhancement funds appropriated by the state
legislature and designated by Chancellor Michael Hooker to promote the use of
technology on campus, as well as overhead receipts from contract research
grants.
Already more than 150 people on nine different teams are working to create and
implement a plan for delivering computers and support systems to the University
faculty and staff. Those nine teams all report to the CCI Steering Committee, a
23-member team in charge of making the drive to computerize Carolina work.
The pilot program is the first step in delivering computers to the faculty and
staff, Oberlin said.
Approximately 420 people in these departments will get computers through the
pilot program, said Linwood Futrelle, director of Distributed Support for
Academic Technology Networks and co-chair of CCI's effort to distribute
computers. Those people include faculty, academic support staff and graduate
teaching assistants of record.
The four departments selected provide CCI leaders with a representative sample
of the types of needs and problems to be expected University-wide, Oberlin
said.
That sampling includes departments that are large and small, various levels of
computer support already in place, a mix of disciplines and both research-grant
oriented departments as well as ones serving numerous undergraduates and
freshmen.
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