Universitywide Projects for 2000-01 and 2001-02

Collaborative College Projects for 2000-01 and 2001-02

College/Unit Projects for 2000-01 and 2001-02

Asynchronous Delivery of Summer Session Courses

Project Director: Harold Hellenbrand, College of Liberal Arts

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $28,000 and 2001-02 $28,000

This past summer, CLA and ITS collaborated to offer six asynchronous online classes, using Blackboard. Training of faculty occurred in Winter and Spring '00-01 (provided by ITS). Additionally, faculty received WTU's in the summer (2 each) to account for the labor-intensiveness of the offerings, as well as a technology stipend.

Participating faculty were Charles Slem (PSY 201: Intro), Michael Orth (ENGL 251: Great Books), Matthew Novak (ENGL 148: Technical Writing: 2 sections), Diana Bernstein (HUM 250: Computer Apps in the Liberal Arts), Inui Choi (ANTH 251: Human Cultural Adaptation), and Brian Tietje (BUS 346: Principles of Marketing).

We focused largely on GE courses (excepting BUS 346) to guarantee enrollment floors and sample an array of students. We purposefully encouraged faculty to adapt, rather than invent anew, "traditional" offerings for this format: asynchronous delivery via Blackboard. All faculty used the information posting, virtual classroom, comment posting, and testing features of Blackboard with varying degrees of satisfaction and success.

The Learning-Leadership Connection: A Leadership Conference

Project Directors: Patricia Harris and Martin Shibata, Student Affairs

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $4,300 and 2001-02 $1,000

Cal Poly LEADS (Leadership Education and Development for Students) was a collaborative effort between Student Life and Leadership and Career Services. It served as an introduction of Student Affairs' new leadership program (Cal Poly Leadership and Education Development for Students - Cal Poly LEADS) and it linked this new training offered by many major corporations as part of their employee training. The Leadership Conference was held early in Fall quarter 2000.

The conference was structured to give student leaders, both new and seasoned, the opportunity to gain new skills and to see how leadership is practiced in the business world. The workshops were designed to be highly interactive so that students would have a chance to practice new skills. It also served as a training session for a number of student groups, including Interhall Councils, WOW, Greek Leadership, and Student Community Services.

Registration for the conference was nearly 300, and with 128 of the attendees submitting evaluations, the response to the conference was overwhelmingly positive. The skills that students learned at the conference are valued by employers and "needed for life and work in the twenty-first century." Leadership competencies and the ability to work in functional teams is a prime training need of today's workforce and this conference was designed to deliver the training to help our graduates excel in the workplace. Our plan for sustainability is to seek large-scale corporate sponsorship for future years, based on the success of last year and what we anticipate to be a successful conference this year.

The Algebra Connection

Project Directors: Armando Pezo-Silva, Student Affairs, and Philip Bailey, College of Science and Mathematics

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $11,000 and 2001-02 $8,400

The Mathematics Department and Student Academic Services collaborated to offer Algebra Connection math labs, which enhanced the math learning of students in MATH 100 (Beginning Algebra) and MATH 104 (Intermediate Algebra) and collaborative interactive/discussion math experience rather than on-line courseware.

Undergraduate students facilitated Algebra Connection Program labs, providing invaluable teaching/learning experience for student staff members. Labs focused on:
1) problem-solving practice which would underscore concept understanding and,
2) understanding of foundational topics essential for successful transition from algebra and pre-calculus topics to calculus, physics and other higher-level math coursework required of some majors.

Extended practice, review, discussion and conceptual focus on specific topics enhanced the current computer-learning environment offered in MATH 100/104 at Cal Poly. Program goals focused on:
· Targeting remedial mathematics courses in algebra that incoming students must complete during their first year at Cal Poly.
· Hiring and training facilitators who were selected at the end of spring quarter after completing an internship and a student academic leader training course, PSY 204; additional training is required prior to fall and throughout the academic year.
· Enhancing student satisfaction/self-perceived confidence levels with learning in Math 100/104 courses. Key program objectives and facilitation techniques focused on the enhancement of student satisfaction and self-perceived confidence with learning in math.

Vista Host Program

Project Directors: Donna Davis, Armando Pezo-Silva, and Preston Allen, Student Affairs

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $3,000 and 2001-02 $2,000

The Vista Host Program was established as a Partnership between the Retention and Outreach Program and Housing Department to provide students participating in the Partners Pre-Collegiate Program with an opportunity to visit Cal Poly and interact with current students, faculty and staff. The Partners Pre-Collegiate Program is an outreach program for recruiting economically and educationally disadvantaged students to Cal Poly. Since a campus visit is amongst the most effective recruitment tools and our campus housing is generally at full capacity, the Vista Host Program has made it possible to provide a campus visit for students who would not other wise be able to do so. Current students living in the residence halls were recruited to serve as host for prospective students participating in campus events sponsored by the Partners Program.

The Cal Poly Plan funds awarded to this project were used to develop a marketing and recruiting campaign which included designing a logo, printing brochures, posters and training manuals and other materials, and Student Assistant support. We recruited a total of 82 students to serve as hosts and hosted a total of 127 visiting students using 68 of these 82 hosts. The Vista Host Program is a critical component of our outreach efforts due to Cal Poly's current housing situation. It also allows current students to increase their learning about the campus, articulate their academic and career goals, and encounter other cultures while providing prospective students with an opportunity to experience life on a college campus.

Library 101: First Year Resource Link

Project Director: Paul Adalian, Kennedy Library

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $7,000 and 2001-02 $0

Student Affairs and that Library developed a course for first-year students and offered three sections of Library 101 during Fall 2000. All three classes met in a traditional mode.

Library 101 was also offered Fall 2001 in a completely Web-based mode. Modules were created through a Library-Student Affairs collaboration over the summer. More interactive modules and a comprehensive assessment of the course with changes to expand and enhance course content are planned for the next academic year.

Electronic Reserve

Project Director: Navjit Brar, Kennedy Library

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $3,000 and 2001-02 $0

Electronic Reserve will digitize many of the course materials on reserve, providing 24-hour access for any number of students at one time and from any computer with an internet connection.

Implementing Electronic Reserve is an important part of a larger simultaneous project, the Millennium upgrade for PolyCAT, which shares hardware, software, and training components with Electronic Reserve. The size and collaborative nature of this project have put this project from its inception on a timeline of over 2 years. When Electronic Reserve goes online in Fall 2001, students will automatically benefit from the increased access to materials required for their successful completion of coursework at Cal Poly. Part of this increased access is 1) the ability to support access for a greater number of people at the same time, which anticipates expected enrollment growth and 2) providing electronic access online, strengthening the University's distance learning programs by providing an additional method for disseminating class materials.

Inter-Disciplinary Bio Tech Lab Resources

Project Directors: Peter Jankay, College of Science and Mathematics, and Jonathon Beckett, College of Agriculture

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $24,000 and 2001-02 $0

Augmentation to previous awards to purchase additional equipment to make it easier to integrate several important state-of-the-art biotechnical applications and development in College of Agriculture and College of Science and Mathematics.

During Winter 2001 quarter, a new course entitled "Domestic Animal Embryology" was offered by the Animal Science Department. A critical need of this course was a programmable tissue freezer to freeze viable embryos and other tissues, and special tissue tweezers to handle these tissues. A spectroflurometer was also purchased. The spectroflurometer serves to support laboratory exercises for courses like Phycology, and Plant Biotechnology, and to support undergraduate research on projects where analysis of reporter gene activity makes use of fluorescent compounds. As demand for UBL services increased, it became necessary to purchase additional sets of equipment like pipetors, gel boxes, and microfuges.

With the recent augmentations, UBL is able to serve a greater number of students, and help more faculty incorporate important biotechnology applications into undergraduate courses.

Anytime, Anywhere Access to GIS/CAD Software

Project Directors: Walt Bremmer, College of Architecture and Environmental Design; Sariya Clay and Paul Adalian, Kennedy Library; V.L. Holland and Rose Bowker, College of Science and Mathematics; and Max Moritz, College of Liberal Arts

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $12,500 and 2001-02 $0

By the end of Winter 2001, we had the CITRIX™ Server installed, tested, and operational. The CAED technical staff performed the installation, setup, and testing. Students were able to access GIS and CAD software throughout campus and from home via DSL and cable modems, allowing anytime, anywhere access.

Students in LA 451 (Regional Landscape Assessment), GEOG x318 (Intro to Geographic InfoSystems), LIB 302 (Library Resources), and several Biology Department courses used the GIS software through the CITRIX™ server.

Immersive Collaboratory

Project Directors: Tom Fowler, College of Architecture & Environmental Design; Erika Rogers, College of Engineering; and Lew Hichner, College of Engineering

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $4,500 and 2001-02 $7,500

The purpose of this project was to establish a virtual reality learning environment, which would directly support an ongoing collaboration across two departments (architecture and computer science) and across three different course categories (Introduction to Virtual Environments, Human-Computer Interaction, and third year Architecture Design Studio/Professional Practice).

This learning environment, as proposed, would establish a more formal hardware and software environment to study virtual environments in working with these three course categories, by providing the resources for students to study this technology firsthand. A physically able person can control the 3D view using mouse and keyboard inputs. However, for a physically disabled person, the voice inputs replace all the possible mouse and keyboard inputs.

This project was able to accomplish the following:
· begin development on a voice activated virtual reality (VR) interface prototype, and
· purchase peripheral device (Pinch Glove System) for new virtual reality equipment.

MBAS Wireless Technology

Project Directors: Earl Keller, College of Business, and Information Technology Services

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $9,612 and 2001-02 $0

This project will afford Cal Poly MBA students the same access to using laptop computers in their classes that students have in many other top rated MBA programs around the country.

Academic Java Campus

Project Directors: James Sena, College of Business; College of Engineering; and Information Technology Services

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $0 and 2001-02 $9,612

This project will provide students a unique opportunity to acquire expertise in the Java programming language and hands on experience with Java projects.

Improved Retention of Females in Computer Science

Project Directors: Sigurd Meldal, College of Engineering, and Carl Brown and Carol Scheftic, University Center for Teacher Education

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $7,000 and 2001-02 $7,000

The Computer Science Department, with the support of the University Center for Teacher Education, investigated methods for improving retention of female students, especially focusing on the first year and core courses.

CSC 101, the first course in computer science and computer engineering majors, is in very high demand. Additionally, the core sequence for computer science and computer engineering majors (CSC 101/CSC 102/CSC 103 Fundamentals of Computer Science) is in high demand from students universitywide.

CPE 316 Computer Architecture, a critical course for progress in both the computer science and computer engineering majors, is severely impacted. We have only been able to offer the course once since Spring 1998. It is a required course for computer engineering and a key technical elective course for computer science. In the last two years, recruitments for new computer engineering faculty did not result in any new hires which can fill this critical gap.The project proposed funding a lecturer to cover this course.

We were able to offer 4 sections of CPE 316 in 2000-2001, compared to two in 1999-2000 and none in 1998-1999. One additional section of CSC/CPE 101 was offered in the fall, combining funds from this project and a collaborative project with UCTE for retention of women students in computer science.

Course Staffing for Team Taught Bioengineering Experience

Project Directors: Dan Walsh, College of Engineering, and Ken Solomon, College of Agriculture

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $8,200 and 2001-02 $12,000

Cal Poly Plan Funds were used to develop and present a new, team taught bioengineering experience for undergraduates. Funds were used to help offset the costs of providing this course, now offered as an alternative to satisfy the life science exposure required by the General Education and Breadth Program. This effort was undertaken to fill the need for a more meaningful life science experience for Engineering majors at the university. The course takes advantage of the special knowledge possessed by students who have already taken Chem 124 and Math 142 to provide a deeper understanding of life science principles, and provide an excellent grounding for students interested in all aspects of biotechnology.

With the aid of Cal Poly Plan support, we were able to offer three sections of ENGR 213 during AY 2000-01 and two sections in Fall 2001 and Winter 2002. So far, over 370 students have enrolled in the course. Two more sections are offered in Spring 2002. Nine different faculty from the College of Engineering and five different faculty from the college of Agriculture have participated in offering these classes to this point.

Basic Area "A" Speech Bottleneck

Project Directors: James Conway, College of Liberal Arts, and Universitywide

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $16,320 and 2001-02 $17,520

This proposal would provide six additional sections of General Education Area A3 courses in Speech Communications, thus substantially reducing this bottleneck.

We were able to offer five additional sections of the three-unit basic oral communication course, SPC 201and 202, during the remainder of the academic year, 2000-01, thereby accommodating an additional one hundred twenty students.

During academic year 2001-2002, we will be able to offer an additional four sections of the new four-unit basic oral communication course, SCOM 101 and 102. This will assist us in meeting the demand for these courses by serving an additional one hundred and four students.

College of Liberal Arts Career Connections

Project Directors: Susan Currier, College of Liberal Arts, and Jill Hayden, Career Services

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $6,100 and 2001-02 $6,000

The first year of the CLA Career Exploration and Preparation program concluded last June. Meetings last year consisted of orientation, self-assessment (interests, skills, and values), guest speakers from different career fields, information interviewing, and a workshop on writing resumes and letters of application. At the individual meetings we worked with students on how to search the web for information about a career field of potential interest and how to prepare for an information interview with a practitioner in that field. We also sponsored a speaker on careers in technical communication, brought in CLA alumni speakers on news writing, public relations, public administration, psychological research, and product management, for our annual Careers Forum at Open House, and we worked with the CLA student council to publish a CLA newsletter about careers for liberal arts students.

This year we are starting with a new core group of students but will also plan our sessions so that they can function as one-time drop in events for other students who can come to one or two sessions but not all of them.

Expand and Diversify the Polylingual International Resource Center

Project Directors: William Little, John Thompson, and William Martinez, College of Liberal Arts, and Information Technology Services

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $37,532 and 2001-02 $15,000

The funds for the Polylingual International Resource Center will purchase computers and software that will provide Cal Poly students with a state-of-the-art multimedia lab as well as a modern language laboratory.

Part 1: 2000-2001 Advanced Multimedia Authoring Classroom (12-105C)
The facility, a multi-media learning lab was installed and networked during the school year 2000-2001 and was available for student and faculty use beginning Fall quarter 2001. The lab contains 11 Macintosh G4s which have all the multimedia authoring software currently available through the Cal Poly key server, as well as photo/text and film/slide scanners, and a high-end digital video camera available for checkout. Apple studio display screens were purchased for the showing of in-progress and completed student projects and for facilitated teaching. The lab is designed to be used on a walk-in basis by CLA faculty. It is a crucial new resource for students as well, since until recently there has been only one computer on campus currently available for student multimedia development projects on a walk-in basis (the other computers available only in closed specialty labs).

Part 2: 2001-2002 Diversification of the Polylingual International Resource Center (PIRC)
We have also been granted Cal Poly Plan funding in order to diversify the international offerings the main PIRC multimedia classroom and language laboratory (12-105A), mainly in the area of Asian languages and cultures. The project directors are currently in the process of acquiring the following:

• SCOLA International Educational Television (copyright-free news and other programming from all major and many smaller countries)
• self-tutoring language software packages for language courses not taught at Cal Poly
  
  • level-one Thai, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Indonesian, Hebrew, and Swahili
    
  • level-two Russian, Chinese, and Japanese
    
  • specialized software packages allowing students to word process and browse in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean

Part 3: Cal Poly Pan Goals and Priorities
The creation of the Multimedia Authoring lab and the Diversification of the PIRC has reconfigured academic space for maximum flexibility for use as student drop-in labs and as multimedia classrooms. The two rooms are the core of CLA's resources for research and development of multimedia senior projects with an international focus, thereby facilitating degree completion. The facilities are ideal for summer language programs and multimedia development workshops for students, faculty, and members of the local community. A Multimedia Authoring Classroom (00-01) and Diversified PIRC (01-02) enable our CLA majors to research and create collaborative, cross-discipline projects, using video, sound, text, and image. The facilities also enable students to showcase their state-of-the-art competencies, and their ability to work in non-traditional media. This directly addresses the Cal Poly Plan's expressed goals of outcome-based education, practical skills, computer literacy, and broadened cultural exploration and discovery needed for life and work in the twenty-first century.

After the completion of both parts of this Cal Poly Plan grant (00-01 and 01-02) the two labs which make up the Polylingual International Resource Center (main PIRC lab and CLA Advanced Multimedia Authoring Classroom) will constitute an advanced multimedia learning and development facility. These walk-in labs have been designed to enhance learning outside of class, but the facility also functions as two separate multimedia classrooms, one with an advanced presentation system and the other with a full range of input devices and authoring stations to provide students with the latest technology-mediated instruction and thereby improved teaching effectiveness by providing presentation-quality access to the Web and other multimedia material. Finally, in the Summer Quarter 2000, Dr. William Little gave the first Intensive Spanish Course 104 entirely in the lab, thereby initiating a tradition of accelerated summer multimedia language instruction.

Augmenting Teaching and Learning with Course Appropriate Technology

Project Directors: Diana Bernstein and Sky Bergman, College of Liberal Arts, and Carol Scheftic, University Center for Teacher Education

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $0 and 2001-02 $31,192

The purpose of this project is to assist instructors in determining what, if any, instructional technology would facilitate the flow of course materials to and from their students, and will it help them incorporate those technologies into their courses.

Calculus Studio Classroom

Project Directors: Kent Morrison, College of Science and Mathematics, and Universitywide

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $23,000 and 2001-02 $0

Funds from the Cal Poly Plan were matched by funds from the Department of Mathematics in order to replace the five-year-old computers in the Calculus Studio Classroom with new iMacs. This allowed us to run the current versions of mathematical software compatible with the software currently purchased by many students. Each quarter about 450 students use the computer classroom as part of regular class hours in selected sections of Calculus III, Calculus IV, Differential Equations, Advanced Engineering Mathematics, and some upper division courses within the mathematics.

The studio classroom enables us to provide a more diverse education allowing many students the opportunity to visualize abstract concepts and to use modern computer algebra systems. Without the Plan funds we would have faced a difficult decision about continuing to operate the studio.

Engineering Chemistry Studio Classroom

Project Directors: John Maxwell, College of Science and Mathematics, and Universitywide

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $0 and 2001-02 $20,000

This project will replace all 33 computers in the Studio Classroom.

UCTE Advising Center (TEACH Services)

Project Directors: Robert Cichowski, College of Liberal Arts and Carl Brown, University Center for Teacher Education

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $10,500 and 2001-02 $10,500

Cal Poly Plan funds will be used to create a counseling and advising center (TEACH Services) to assist students in Liberal Studies and the University Center for Teacher Education.

Anytime, Anywhere GIS Datasets

Project Directors: Sariya Clay, Kennedy Library; Richard Lee, College of Architecture and Environmental Design; and V.L. Holland, College of Science and Mathematics

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $13,000 and 2001-02 $10,800

The goals of this proposal are to share limited resources and maximize use; identify and purchase relevant data for GIS projects on campus; mount data on the existing GIS server for "anytime, anywhere" access for Cal Poly students, faculty and staff; expand capacity of the existing GIS server; and provide metadata and easy access to datasets (web interface and downloading mechanisms).

Activities completed in 2000-2001 included working with faculty, students, and city and county agencies to identify data needs of the GIS community, identify datasets already on campus GIS server, identify gaps that exist, and identify commercial datasets available for purchase. We also worked with a student assistant to find documentation on existing datasets and add documentation to existing datasets.

The SLO County Planning Department has the most current datasets with complete metadata which will be mounted on Cal Poly's GIS server. A student assistant was hired to develop a web-based database that will allow for browsing, searching, and downloading datasets. It is hoped that this project will gain momentum in the second year and that the objectives of the proposal will be met by the end of the second year.

Teaching Teamwork Skills to Independent Thinkers

Project Directors: Patricia Harris, Student Affairs and Linda Vanasupa, College of Engineering

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $3,500 and 2001-02 $0

Many courses are dependent on students learning in a team situation and producing a project as part of a team; however, teamwork skills were never taught as part of the course. By teaching students the essentials of working in a group, we expected them to do better in this class (MATE 435: Microelectronics Processing Lab, an existing laboratory course), as well as apply it to other classes in which they were part of groups.

This is an opportunity to utilize engineering students' problem-solving skills to teach team building skills, such as giving feedback, conflict management and continual assessment. Two undergraduate Psychology majors worked throughout the quarter, meeting with the students, coaching them and leading them through exercises designed to improve their listening and communication skills.

Cal Poly Library of Online Media Resources for Students and Faculty

Project Directors: Paul Adalian and Judy Swanson, Kennedy Library

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $3,476 and 2001-02 $0

Funding will provide support for faculty members by providing an electronic learning environment to enhance their teaching and student access to relevant course information. Students will participate in the creation of the collection and the development of digital collections.

Last year the library assisted five faculty members by creating digital objects used within a PowerPoint presentation and/or an instructional Web page utilizing the multimedia program Flash. We developed the following projects this past year:

• Reproduction Cycle of a Cow for Jon Beckett in Animal Science
• The Digital Warehouse for Hal Johnston in Construction Management
• Expanded features for the Central Coast Online Dictionary for John Battenburg in English
• Art 101 Flash Slide Show for Mike Miller in the Art and Design
• The Future Truck Flash project for John Coates in Art and Design

Follow the links below to each College or Unit Project Year End Report:

College of Agriculture
College of Architecture and Environmental Design
Orfalea College of Business
College of Engineering
College of Liberal Arts
College of Science and Mathematics
Student Affairs Division

Inter-Department Bio Tech Teaching Lab

Project Directors: Jonathon Beckett, Animal Science, and Andrew Thulin, Animal Science

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $37,500 and 2001-02 $47,500

The proposal calls for the purchase of equipment to augment existing equipment and program resources promoting a concerted effort toward a successful interdepartmental Biotechnology teaching program.

Print Room Support

Project Directors: Morgan Steenhagen, Political Science, and Ector Mojica and Bart Alford, College of Architecture and Environmental Design

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $5,000 and 2001-02 $0

With the grant of $5,000 from the Cal Poly Plan, the College of Architecture and Environmental Design's SCARAB Printroom was able to purchase a Minolta QMS Color Laser Printer. The printer prints pages up to 13"x19" with a resolution as high as 1200 dpi and on varying types of paper, including photo gloss paper. The Printroom provided services mainly to students in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design but is also available to students from all majors at Cal Poly. The ability to produce high quality color laser prints of a size larger than 8.5"x11" is of great benefit.

As soon as the printer was available for students' use, it was in high demand. The first quarter the printer was available, one class made six 11"x17" prints for their final project, and two students used the printer for their senior projects. In addition, we have had students use the laser printer for 12"x18" prints instead of using the large format plotter. This enables us to accommodate even more students because the plotter is available to print larger projects.

Integrated Services Simulation Model

Project Director: Barbara Jackson, Construction Management

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $0 and 2001-02 $18,000

This project will fund the creation of a central "Integrated Services Simulation Model" that encourages interdisciplinary collaboration in the development of innovative solutions. The model would replicate a professional office environment designed to develop cutting edge solutions to real life problems.

Professional Digital Presentation

Project Directors: Gary Dwyer, Landscape Architecture, and Josef Kasperovich, College of Architecture and Environmental Design

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $20,000 and 2001-02 $0

The funds were used to improve the quality of professional presentations made by students in the CAED. The primary vehicle for this activity is the course titled EDES (Environmental Design) X333: Professional Presentation, and it has produced numerous examples of portfolios and promotional materials of the very highest caliber.

Equipment is located within our existing Architectural Presentation Facility (05-115) in the 'Film and Digital Imaging Center' or 'FDIC', a corner of the existing Photo Studio packed with a variety of imaging and production tools. This workstation is open to all members of the CAED and has greatly increased both the speed and quality of the images our students will produce while here at the University, as well as the work they produce in their professional careers.

Service Learning Through Community Design

Project Director: Lise Burcher, Landscape Architecture

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $5,000 and 2001-02 $0

The intent of this project is to (through a start-up/pilot program) explore and establish a framework and method for "Service Learning Through Community Design" as a pedagogical approach to teaching and learning.

The City of Santa Maria serves as the setting within which the service learning based community design initiative takes place. The project involves a portion of the older area of Santa Maria, primarily a residential community, that presents significant challenges because of its transient history of residency due to the temporary nature of its employment base within the agricultural industry.

The project provides opportunities for Landscape Architecture, Architecture and City and Regional Planning students to develop design strategies and interventions that will address both the social and cultural fabric challenges as the basis for design recommendations. The community of Santa Maria is committed to supporting our educational initiatives through extensive community resource support.

The project will be presented through the Landscape Architecture Studio Course, LA 461, in Spring 2002, taught jointly by Lise Burcher and Maurice Nelischer. It is anticipated that the project will be completed by the end of the spring quarter.

Inclusive Beginnings Program

Project Directors: Dan Panetta and Will Benedict, Architecture Department

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $0 and 2001-02 $12,000

Proposal will fund a new multimedia teaching station and upgrade the existing multimedia teaching station in the Inclusive Beginnings Studio.

Supplemental Instruction for Microeconomics Series

Project Director: Alden Shiers, Economics

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $4,560 and 2001-02 $4,560

Supplemental instruction was offered for the intermediate microeconomics series ECON 310, 311 and 312 (Quantitative Methods in Economics and Intermediate Economics) that is required of all economics majors. It was hoped that meeting regularly with a student tutor would improve their understanding of microeconomics and improve their class performance. It was also hoped that students would be better able to apply economics to solving economics-related problems facing society.

The abstract ideas taught in the ECON 311 and 312 courses were made concrete by working problems in the supplemental instructions classes. This helped fill in the gap students had between theory and applying the theory. Students felt that the theoretical concepts learned in the class would stay with them longer because they had used the theory to solve problems. Students also felt more confident about their ability to apply economics in the workplace after they graduate.

Lansmont Controller

Project Director: Fred Abitia, Industrial Technology

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $5,000 and 2001-02 $5,000

Lansmont vibration test equipment used in the Industrial Technology and Packaging programs will be updated with a new touch screen computer controller unit. This will enable students to control the vibration machine with greater accuracy.

The funding purchased a $50,000 Lansmont Vibration Controller at a discounted price. The Vibration Controller is now located in Engineering West (21-013) and is being utilized in IT 330 Fundamentals of Packaging, IT 375 Packaging Material and Product Testing, and IT 408 Corrugated Protective Packaging.

High Demand Course Staffing for Computer Science

Project Director: Sigurd Meldal, Computer Science

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $15,000 and 2001-02 $15,000

CSC 101, the first course in computer science and computer engineering majors, is in very high demand. Additionally, the core sequence for computer science and computer engineering majors (CSC 101/CSC 102/CSC 103 Fundamentals of Computer Science) is in high demand from students universitywide.

CPE 316 Computer Architecture, a critical course for progress in both the computer science and computer engineering majors, is severely impacted. We have only been able to offer the course once since Spring 1998. It is a required course for computer engineering and a key technical elective course for computer science. In the last two years, recruitments for new computer engineering faculty did not result in any new hires which can fill this critical gap.The project proposed funding a lecturer to cover this course.

We were able to offer 4 sections of CPE 316 in 2000-2001, compared to two in 1999-2000 and none in 1998-1999. One additional section of CSC/CPE 101 was offered in the fall, combining funds from this project and a collaborative project with UCTE for retention of women students in computer science.

High Demand Course Staffing for Materials Engineering

Project Director: Bob Heidersbach, Materials Engineering

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $11,500 and 2001-02 $11,500

This proposal would improve and expand course scheduling in two introductory courses, MATE 210: Materials Engineering and MATE 215: Materials Engineering Lab thus meeting student needs and improving progress in the major.

In Fall 2001 the number of MATE 215 sections offered increased from five to seven resulting in a 40% increase in enrollment. All seven sections were fully enrolled at the start of the quarter, as were all sections of this course during the previous academic year. The increased enrollment was necessary to meet demand. We hope to continue to meet demand for this course, which is normally the first engineering laboratory course that most engineering students take beyond their freshman orientation courses.

High Demand Course Staffing for Mechanical Engineering

Project Director: Safwat Moustafa, Mechanical Engineering

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $15,000 and 2001-02 $15,000

The intended use of the 2000-2001 academic year Cal Poly Plan funds in the Mechanical Engineering Department was to offset the cost of offering additional sections of ME 211, Engineering Statistics. This is a fundamental engineering course required by all programs in the College of Engineering with the exception of computer science. Also, it is a prerequisite for many upper division courses. Offering additional sections of this key course allows students more flexibility in their scheduling and expedites their graduation.

Summer Staffing for High Demand Courses

Project Director: Robert Lang, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $15,000 and 2001-02 $15,000

Cal Poly Plan Funds were used by the CE/ENVE Department to help offset the costs of teaching a series of service courses, CE 204, 205 and 206 (Strength of Materials I, II, and Lab), which are required in the curricula of most engineering programs at Cal Poly. For a number of years during the 1990's, many students were disappointed that these key courses were not offered during Summer quarter. The department's reason for not offering these courses was primarily financial.

With the aid of the $15,000 Cal Poly Plan funds, we were able to offer two sections of CE 204, one section of CE 205, and two sections of CE 206. Our hope is that next Summer Quarter, enrollments will be high enough to maintain two sections of each of the CE 204-205-206 sequence of courses.

Musicians in Residence

Project Director: Clifton Swanson, Music

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $7,500 and 2001-02 $0

The intent of the Visiting Artist-in-Residency Program was to enrich the music program through artist residencies in which an individual or group was present on campus for two or more days, and reached the broadest audience possible through master classes, individual lessons, classroom presentations, seminars, and performances. This was our third year of funding with Cal Poly Plan money, and the program continues to be a success. This year's allocation allowed us to present the following individuals:

1. Benno Schollum: Mr. Schollum performed a vocal recital in the Cohan Center's Performance Pavilion on November 12. On November 14, he conducted a master class with some of our voice students. Both events were open to the general public and university community, as well as students.

2. Kevin Stewart: In collaboration with William Johnson, director of the Cal Poly Wind Orchestra, Mr. Stewart conducted a series of master class/workshops and served as saxophone clinician for the various members of the Wind Orchestra. Additionally, as a member of the group "Nuclear Whales", he performed on the Wind Orchestra's Pops Concert on March 17.

3. Claudio Tupinamba, guitar: Mr. Tupinamba, a citizen of Spain and Brazil, conducted a series of guitar master classes, lectures and a guitar recital. Additionally, he worked with individual guitar students. All events were free and open to the public and all students.

4. Fred Lau, Visiting Flutist: Dr. Lau presented a flute master class, which was open to the public, in which he worked with several Cal Poly music students. He also gave a lecture/demonstration to MU 121 - Introduction to Non-Western Music, and worked with the Non-Western Music Ensemble/Gamelan group, under the direction of Dr. Henry Spiller. He was also a featured guest performance at the Annual Baroque Concert, a Cal Poly Arts event.

5. Gary Storm: Gary Storm, gave guest lectures for MU 120 - Music Appreciation and MU 329 - Music of the 60's (both large section General Education classes). He also presented a lecture for the general public, student and University community, entitled: "Nude on the Airwaves".

6. Kevin Robison: Mr. Robison, the vocal director of PCPA, presented a vocal master class/lecture for students (majors and non-majors (who are members of the choral/vocal program

7. Terry Kirkman: A former member of "The Association" one of the major bands in the 1960's, presented a guest lecture for Craig Russell's MU 329 - Music of the 60's class (a large GE C4 class).

Visual Arts Guest Lecture Series

Project Director: Michael Miller, Art and Design

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $7,500 and 2001-02 $0

Artists were invited based on international reputation, interdisciplinary or multi-cultural focus, an ability to lecture and/or demonstrate artistic methods in a public format, and budget feasibility.

We introduced nine internationally known artists to our campus and created a format for sharing knowledge between the speakers, students, and local members of the community. Students benefited from the range of ideas and technical skills of each speaker through slide lectures, video projections, individual critiques, workshops conducted by the speakers, and informal meetings. By bringing in new perspectives about art and culture, students were intellectually challenged and given concrete examples of innovative pathways in art and design, which they can apply in their artistic praxis and in their future careers.

Several of the speakers introduced ideas and technologies that demonstrated the centrality of visual art and design in the field of communication in the 21st century, and discussed social issues involving multi-cultural representation, identity, and gender politics. The value of the speakers can be seen in the heightened level of innovative work appearing in art classrooms and in the annual student exhibition. More students are showing an awareness of contemporary issues as a result of the visiting artists. The program infused students with advanced knowledge and enthusiasm in their field. The presence of professional role models in art brought to our campus by the VAGLS has enhanced the quality of academic achievement in our university.

The question and answer periods, workshops, and critiques provided a second more intimate point of contact for our students with some of the speakers. This created a good format for discussion of ideas and opportunities for students to ask for individual solutions to problems in their work. Many of the speaker's innovative ideas and techniques challenged the students to think outside of the box.

Speakers like George Lagrady, Christopher Brown, John Roloff, and Rirkrit Tiravanija presented a clear cross disciplinary perspective in works that combined history, cultural studies, and earth science with installation art, photography, ceramics, and painting. Students can check out videotapes of each speaker for individual viewing, and instructors have them available to show in the classroom. The program continues to inform and introduce students to new ideas and methods the quickly evolving field of visual computer technology. This year, George Legrady showed our students many new tools and aesthetic ways to use computer-generated imagery in design and communications technologies.

Peer Advising, Psychology and Human Development

Project Director: Linden Nelson, Psychology and Human Development

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $1,950 and 2001-02 $0

The Psychology and Human Development Department used the Cal Poly Plan funding to continue restructuring the department's student advising process and to engage their majors in planning their academic programs at an earlier stage of their academic career.

When students obtain peer and faculty advising prior to selecting concentrations and enrolling in elective courses, they can be encouraged to make wise decisions about how to effectively pursue their educational goals, enhance their opportunities for future employment, and prepare for admission to graduate programs.

The first step involves a visit to the Peer Advising Center where a peer advisor follows a structured procedure for informing students about various curricular requirements and for assessing students' academic progress. The Advising Checklist was created to guide the peer advisor and student through the steps of the peer advising process. The procedure also informs students about departmental organizations and events. Students are instructed to bring the completed checklist to a meeting with a faculty advisor. The information collected about students' academic progress that is summarized on the checklist also serves to increase the efficiency of faculty advising.

In the second step of the advising sequence, faculty advisors review the completed checklist and ask the student whether s/he has further questions about curriculum requirements. The major purpose of faculty advising is to discuss approved electives. We now monitor and record in a database each student's completion of peer advising, participation in faculty advising, and completion of faculty advising.

By the time they are seniors nearly half of out students have completed a structured peer advising process that introduces them to departmental policies, requirements, and opportunities. The department's peer advising program has been strengthened with increased opportunities for peer advisors to practice their helping skills. The efficiency of faculty advising has been improved because peer advisors now discuss with students some of the mundane issues that were previously part of faculty advising.

Advising Political Science and Social Science Students

Project Director: Dianne Long, Political Science

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $4,150 and 2001-02 $4,150

The project focused on staffing an academic advisor position for Political Science and Social Sciences. The two departments have a combined enrollment of over 500 majors each year. Additionally, both departments have minors and General Education responsibilities that require matriculation advising and paperwork. The advisor, Bonnie McKim, prepared all paperwork associated with students' matriculation toward degree, including concentration forms, substitutions, and requests for graduation evaluation. The department chairs continued to review and sign off all forms. The "one-stop" advisor housed within the department space provided optimal matriculation advising in association with other department staff and the CLA advising office.

Computer Controlled Lighting

Project Director: Tim Dugan, Theatre and Dance

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $1,300 and 2001-02 $0

The Department of Theatre and Dance purchased and installed Dove Systems' Starport computer control lighting system in the newly remodeled Classroom/Laboratory Theatre (Building 45, Room 212). Students are using a state of the art lighting system that is safe and easier to operate. Their design experiences, as well as the productions, are enhanced by the increased control the system provides. When these students enter the job market they are better prepared to work on the equipment found in modern state of the art theatre facilities. Audiences are seeing shows with more sophisticated lighting designs.

Student designers and directors had use of the equipment for a senior project, a play directed by a recent graduate, 13 performances of "Smile and Nod" (the student improvisational theatre group sponsored by the department drama club, Alpha Psi Omega), and ten student-directed one-act plays produced as a part of TH 342 Directing. Students acted as directors, designers, actors, stage managers, and production crew in all of these productions.

3-D Design Tool Crib Operation

Project Directors: Clarissa Hewitt and Chuck Jennings, Art and Design

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $8,000 and 2001-02 $8,500

The newly formed Department Tool Crib located in Dexter Room 128A houses the hand tools used by many classes in the Art and Design Department. The system is managed through a computer program the student assistants operate. Each tool has been catalogued allowing for check out during and outside of class time. This year the Sculpture/3D lab and adjacent tool crib were open 50-60 hours per week. This increased availability of open labs has resulted in better quality work created by the students. Students are making better use of lab time and thus getting more out of the class experience.

Last summer the Tool Crib Student Assistant worked on a manual for student workers so that training will be easier in the future. Faculty will be able to include information in their syllabi regarding the use of the Tool Crib.

A third check out window needs to be built so that the 2D Studio and Graphic Design students will have a logical access to the Crib from the other hallway. Students have increased access to tools and facilities that they need and the department will be able to spend its limited resources on increasing the size and variety of the tool inventory as opposed to spending 75-85% each year replacing what was lost.

Graphic Communication Guest Lecturer Series

Project Director: Harvey Levenson, Graphic Communication

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $0 and 2001-02 $7,000

This proposal requests funding to bring to campus three distinguished media and technology scholars and scientists and three artists and fiction writers over the next two years.

College of Liberal Arts Multimedia Database

Project Director: Ned Schultz, Psychology and Human Development

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $0 and 2001-02 $10,000

This project will develop an interdisciplinary multimedia database of learning resources for use in courses across the College of Liberal Arts. Accessible via the web, the database will help students and faculty in courses and scholarship.

Biological Sciences Equipment Purchases

Project Director: V.L. Holland, Biological Sciences

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $15,000 and 2001-02 $27,000

Funds were used to purchase new and replacement equipment for the Biological Sciences Department. A Flourescence Microscope was set up in Science North, and it is being used regularly by the students in Cell Biology as well as other upper division biology courses. We demonstrate its use to students in our introductory Biology courses as well.

Chemistry and Biochemistry Equipment Purchases

Project Director: John Maxwell, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $0 and 2001-02 $19,000

Funds will be used to purchase new and replacement equipment for the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department.

Physical Education and Kinesiology Equipment Purchases

Project Director: Gerald DeMers, Physical Education and Kinesiology

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $11,000 and 2001-02 $10,000

The Kinesiology Department used Cal Poly Plan funds to purchase a Bagnoli-8 Electromyography system and a nitrogen gas analyzer. The Bagnoli-8 EMG supports the collection and analysis of biomechanical and physiological data to study concepts in motor control, biomechanics, and exercise physiology. The equipment is being used in KINE 302 Biomechanics; KINE 303 Exercise Physiology; KINE 522 Advanced Biomechanics; KINE 530 Advanced Physiology of Exercise; Senior Projects; and Masters Theses.

The nitrogen gas analyzer supports the collection and analysis of data relating to exercise physiology. Courses within the Kinesiology curriculum that benefit from this piece of equipment include: KINE 303 Exercise Physiology; KINE 445 Electrocardiography; KINE 446 Echocardiography; KINE 452 Testing and Exercise Prescription for Fitness Specialists; KINE 530 Advanced Exercise Physiology; Senior Projects; and Masters Theses.

This equipment assists in maintaining a lab facility that allows hands-on learning for all Kinesiology majors. It provides Kinesiology majors with an opportunity to apply the use of technologically advanced equipment in a controlled laboratory setting. The courses in which the equipment is utilized provide a knowledge base that is necessary in a variety of careers Kinesiology students pursue.

Physics Equipment Purchases

Project Director: Richard Saenz, Physics

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $19,000 and 2001-02 $4,000

Funds will be used to purchase new and replacement equipment for the Physics Department.

Student Information Connection

Project Directors: Armando Pezo-Silva and Susan Stewart, Student Affairs and Jerry Hanley, Information Technology Services

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $11,500 and 2001-02 $15,500

The student Information Connection will focus on creating a web site to consolidate and present electronically-accessible resources from the separate departments in the Division of Student Affairs via web pages that are organized to reflect student needs rather than organizational structure.

The Student Information Connection will:

• provide electronically-accessible information for students on the web regarding Student Affairs partnerships;
• provide an information connection for students on the web that goes beyond departmental structure; and
• allow students to customize their pages (i.e. Push technology)

The first year of the Student Information Connection has been devoted to training, the initial conceptual design phase of the project and early mock-up panels of the new site. Institutional information portals are applications that provide a single, intuitive, and personalized gateway to access and to integrate campus-specific information and applications with data from both on and off campus.

The second year implementation of the Student Information Connection will focus on product delivery. The goal is to improve access to Student Affairs information on the Web and push content out to students based on their needs and customized options selected.

Off Campus Student Success

Project Director: Ken Barclay, Student Life

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $5,400 and 2001-02 $6,100

The Off-Campus Student Success Program (initially created in 1999) is a collaborative effort that seeks to integrate students living off-campus into the mainstream of University life by offering a series of structured events designed to enhance academic success and co-curricular involvement.

Expanding and Upgrading Student Multimedia Development in the Library

Project Directors: Mary Lou Brady and Tommy DeMoville, Kennedy Library

Recommended Budget: 2000-01 $7,024 and 2001-02 $15,700

This project proposes to expand and enhance the multimedia authoring capabilities of the computer lab in the Learning Resources and Curriculum Department of the Kennedy Library.

On October 31, 2001, the last of the planned hardware upgrades arrived. The last of the software upgrades were installed the last week in November so we have the most recent version. The availability of Cal Poly Plan funds have made it possible to upgrade all the PCs in the lab to at least 800 MHz, 20 GB hard drives, DVD players, and CD-RW drives. ATI All-in-Wonder cards were installed in six of the machines, providing users with the ability to do video capture from any attached NTSC video (TV) source and the means to save them in various video formats for use in class projects.

A new scanner with the ability to scan transparencies was added to the lab. This scanner allows students to scan 35-mm slides and other transparent material for use in their projects. Students will be able to develop graphic, video, and sound files that can be added to Word, Power Point, Excel, Publisher and Dream Weaver projects.