5.2.2 Technical Resources
At the beginning of a project was where the software functionality,
if not the software itself, was selected, it is important that there
was an appropriate match between the goals the faculty tried to achieve
and the goals that were supported by the available software. It was early
in the project that even if the particular software package was not selected,
the functionality that the courseware would require was determined.
It was determined by the types of discipline and learner oriented goals
the faculty member wished to support, and the degree to which these were
well supported by the available tools. If there are no available tools,
then conceptualization also included the design of the tools needed to
achieve the goals. When appropriate tools to support the desired goals
were not available, it was necessary to acquire the much greater resources
required to develop the needed software (or even hardware), to settle upon
less appropriate tools that were available, or to disengage in the project at
some point during the conceptualization process before courseware creation began.
If appropriate software was not available, then it was absolutely critical
that there were resources available to create the needed software to insure
the success of the project.
There were also other technical resources that contributed to the success of projects.
While it was clear that projects needed development equipment and appropriate software
to begin with, due to their implementation driven structure, it was also key to have
appropriate computing facilities and electronic classrooms. Over the course of this
research it became clear that they were absolutely needed, and were key factors in
the success of projects.
The ESCAPE project had access to a number of different PUCC PC Labs with public
Macintosh and DOS computers on a semester by semester basis. During administration
of the materials, it was clear that the facilities within the computing labs became
a key factor in the success of the overall implementation. A number of participants
in this research consistently remarked about the impact of conditions during the
first semester, and the variability of atmosphere that appeared to be the result
of different conditions in different labs during different implementations.
(J. Rehwinkel, personal interview, June 22, 1992)
Hopper: I came in the first semester the ENGR. 195C was taught,
and we were running it in Engineering Administration Lab. What is your impression
of that time period?
Rehwinkel : Very frustrating. The lab downstairs was not conducive to teaching,
because it was an open lab.
The project also depended upon of the situation arranged by the PUCC that allowed
all Macintoshes on campus to access a single central file server, and the materials
for the SUN were also stored in a single location.
At Brown, students made use of Context32 in the Electronic Classroom in the
Rhode Island Hall. Athena also supported special electronic classrooms with
Athena workstations that allowed small classes or recitation sections to use
the computer during class hours by reservation. Several lecture halls
(35-225 and 34-101) each had an Athena workstation attached to a projection
display for lecture demonstrations.