PROJECTIONS FOR THE YEAR 2000

STUDENT PROFILE

According to the SFSU Office of University and Budget Planning, we can expect a demographic shift in the next few years toward a broader ethnic mix, with more Chicano/Latino and Asian students. No significant shift is expected in gender or age. Approximately 75% of first-time SFSU students will be transfers from other institutions.

Approximately 70% of SFSU students will work in addition to attending the University and most (about 88%) will commute to campus (including approximately 40% with a commute of at least 30 minutes). Many will stay extra hours to use computing resources but may not find it convenient to return during off hours. (These projections are consistent with the profile and trends regarding SFSU students in the 1994 and 1989 SFSU Student Needs and Priorities Surveys).

SFSU graduates will need computing skills to be successful in the world of work. The career market for university graduates increasingly expects at least a basic level of competence in the use of electronic media. This will clearly be the norm by the year 2000.

A January 1996 survey of SFSU students through Touch Tone Registration indicates that 74% currently have access to a computer; 53% of those have access to a modem. The same survey conducted 18 months earlier indicated that 65% of SFSU students had access to a computer, and 35% of those had access to a modem. By the year 2000, we expect this trend to accelerate; we project that approximately 85% of SFSU students will already have Internet access technology at their residence and/or workplace. Therefore, approximately 15% of SFSU students will not have their own access and will not be able to afford the cost of a personal computer.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Since its inception in 1993, the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching has sponsored a variety of presentations, workshops, and a sequential training program on the use of technology in the curriculum and related applications of technology. To date, some 250 faculty have taken advantage of these events and services. During the Spring 1995 semester, 157 faculty members participated in a 10 week course of study covering the development and use of multimedia to enhance teaching. Additionally, President Corrigan has enacted a $2.4 million initiative, beginning in 1995-96, to provide Internet access equipment to all permanent faculty. Based on such evidence of institutionally supported faculty trends, we project that by the year 2000, at least 25% of the typical SFSU professor's work will be conducted electronically. As examples, much of advising, evaluation of assignments, testing and grading, and instruction can be done electronically. This entails, and faculty will require, students' ability to use computing resources as an integral part of the teaching/learning process.

To a significant extent, the curriculum will be delivered electronically using computer mediated learning on the Internet. As examples, syllabi and other course materials will be available online, and both student-teacher and student-student interactions will be electronic to some extent. The World Wide Web will increasingly be used by teachers and students.

The teaching-learning process will increasingly feature collaborative learning, a pedagogical trend that is producing impressive results. As technological applications continue to expand communication avenues, faculty and students will increasingly employ electronic media to do collaborative projects.

Access to electronically stored information will be important to student success, and electronic administrative tools such as the Degree Audit Reporting System (DARS) will be available as resources for students and their advisors.

Scholarship and research will increasingly require the ability to access information electronically. We expect that the current graduation "library requirement" will be revised to an "information competence requirement" reflecting electronic developments in information storage and retrieval. Therefore, we do not anticipate the need for an additional University-wide computer literacy requirement. Rather, we expect that each department and college will define the level of competence necessary to its students and provide the appropriate instruction.

COMPUTING RESOURCES INFRASTRUCTURE

Research indicates that the demand for computer laboratories with high-end hardware, sophisticated and specialized software, and opportunities for collaborative use of equipment will continue to grow. This demand will be greater rather than lesser as students acquire their own equipment and become more adept at using technological tools. Campus computer facilities will be both centralized and college based and will require well trained support staff. Campus laboratory computers will feature a common menu interface.

All on-campus residents will have Internet access capability via fiber optic and Ethernet cables connecting each room to the campus computer server. This capability (dubbed "ResNet") will be fully accomplished by the 1996-97 academic year.

Discounted commercial application software needed by students will be available. Highly specialized, expensive application software will be available on campus and in "collaboratories."

In addition to academic computing, staff and administrative work patterns will be affected by technological advances. The need for training and technical support will extend to those areas. Further, the development of telecommuting staff positions will increase the burden on SFSU’s modem pool.