Marietta College has received Title III funding for what amounts to a single activity: strengthening the academic environment by infusing the teaching/learning process with instructional technology methodologies. All sub-activities and tasks relate to this activity. Further, all parts of this activity are dependent on each other; i.e., we will be developing academic programs which make greater use of technologies as teaching aids, and, in order to do this, we must strengthen our network infrastructure as well as our information technology infrastructure, and then help our faculty acquire the skills necessary to make full use of this infrastructure.

The goals of this activity are also interrelated: By integrating emerging instructional technologies into the teaching/learning process, we will:

1. provide for our students an education that is more contemporary, more efficient, and more effective in its delivery;

2. through these improvements, attract and retain larger numbers of students through their graduations.

As a consequence of grant activity, the College expects to see an increased number of students matriculating as well as an increased freshman to sophomore retention rate. Stabilizing enrollment will allow the institution to conduct sustainable planning and implementation. Finally, by integrating technology into the teaching/learning process, we will provide students with a more contemporary, more efficient, more effective education, leading to greater student satisfaction through increased student success.

Specifically, through the course of the grant, Marietta College will:

1. improve the College’s network infrastructure so that it can support the increased use of information technology teaching/learning aids (wire all dorms for direct Internet access, increase the College’s fiber backbone and T1 Oarnet connections, move to a partial T3 line in Year 5);

2. increase the instructional technology infrastructure so that both faculty and students can utilize the potential of increased technology use for teaching/learning (add multi-media classrooms, wireless classrooms, and instructional server; put fixed computer labs and classroom on a regular replacement basis);

3. create an enlarged IT staff to serve both faculty and student users;

4. enhance library on-line data bases;

5. provide the faculty development opportunities necessary to make faculty effective users of instructional technology as a teaching aid; and

6. regularly evaluate the effectiveness of this project and utilize the data produced to make informed management decisions regarding the future nature and extent of instructional technology on our campus.

Additional Technology Support Personnel will include an Instructional Technologist to work with faculty, an Instructional Technician to oversee equipment upkeep, Student Technology Assistants to work in each major building, and an Internet Manager who will focus on all aspects of installation and maintenance of Internet-related functions. Library data resources will be increased. Faculty development opportunities will include group workshops, release time for curricular development, stipends for the creation of new curricular elements, funds for supplies, and annual faculty forums to dispense successful innovations. New arenas for faculty/students use of technology will be created (multimedia classrooms, wireless classrooms, wired residence hall rooms). Throughout the grant period, evaluations by both internal and external evaluators will occur.