Journalism Technology Program

1
Journalism Technology Program

• From Innovation
• To
• Obsolesce

2
Origination of Laptop Program

• Chancellor Funds UMD Technology Program 2002
• The Journalism laptop program began in Fall 2002
  with 70 laptops going to Journalism minors.
• The original proposal was Journalism would be a
  logical place to pilot a laptop requirement.
• This was the extent of the planning

3
Laptops Drive ClassroomTechnology Needs

• Journalism Students got laptops first
• Almost immediately wanted to be networked in the
  classroom
• Tried wireless for a year
• Cina 224 wireless classroom failed
• SynchronEyes remote viewer
• Lack of adequate network access
• Most Journalism classes taught in wireless
  classrooom

4
What was the plan?

• To use laptops to teach Journalism
• Writing Revising
• Note taking in the field
• Email
• Library research
• Layout
• There was not a clear plan of how to use them in
  class

5
What actually happened

• When students got laptops for Journalism classes
• The Obvious
• Faculty assigned stories
• Students wrote stories in MS Word
• Students printed and turned in stories
• Graded papers and returned the papers
• The Not So Obvious
• Students used the laptops for all their classes
• Students used the laptops for work
• Faculty used the laptops for all classes
• Faculty became advocates for the laptop program

6
The Problems

• Wireless networking limits prevented teaching
  goal of sharing work in class.
• PageMaker was gradually used for layout by
  Journalism classes because it was cheap.
• Quark was expensive and required physical dongel
• CLA had Publisher and wanted to use it.
• New versions of software had to be purchased and
  distributed
• ProTools for audio editing only ran on Mac

7
UMD Technology Fee

• 2002 All students charged technology fee
• To support teaching and learning
• Not for departmental hardware or software
• Each of five college had different fee
• Five plans for using money
• CLA supported laptops and Journalism
• Others supported Ipaqs, Mac labs, CAD, and lots
  of graphics software
• Fee generated more money than we could plan for.
• Associate Dean was handed task of planning

8
We Built a Laptop Lab

• 25 workstations
• Each had a laptop cabled to a table
• Tables in neat rows facing the front
• Dual projectors from an earlier plan
• Software
• Microsoft Office with Publisher
• PageMaker
• Adobe suite added for web, image, layout editing
• Usual UMD build
• Most Journalism classes scheduled in lab
• Some used all of the software
• Some used word
• Was typical rows of laptops dual projector,
  facing front, lectern

9
Problems with laband Student laptops

• Students did work on their laptops
• Students worked on lab laptops in class
• Students did not have to carry laptops to class
  and did not
• Students needed access to lab strictly for
  specific software PageMaker, InDesign
• Students really wanted their laptops
• May have taken Journalism classes for the laptop

10
As the Lab Ages

• Have to replace hardware and software
• Begin to question why we need it when all CLA
  students will have laptops
• Dual projectors have not been used
• Should never have been a lab
• Actually first used as open lab for CLA
  students
• Journalism classes encroached
• It had networking infrastructure needed for both
• Realized that lab not ideal teaching space

11
Current State

• All students in Journalism Writing classes have
  laptops
• All Journalism Writing Classes meet in Laptop Lab
• Software differences lab vs. Laptop
• Macromedia Adobe suites
• Office Suite versions
• Network security, antiviral, etc.
• No audio or video editing

12
How we got into such a mess

• Little or no plan
• No clear goals for laptops or Lab
• UMD Technology Fee
• We had lots of money
• We had a growing successful program
• 2002 CLA Laptop requirement
• Faculty were cautious
• CLA Hired Technology Director
• Associate Dean left (unhappy)
• Department Head went on leave
• Few or no records

13
The Plan

• Hired more/new faculty
• Formed working group
• Faculty
• Technology director
• Department Head
• Develop functional/learning objectives
  Requirement
• For Lab
• For laptops
• For Journalism Minor and related programs

14
Results of Planning

• Flexible Learning Spaces
• Movable room contents
• All students have access to projector(s)
• Transition from hardware lab to software
  management
• Reduces overhead of large numbers of computers
• License management complex

15
Broadcast Class Problem

• Broadcast class was popular
• Software (Pro Edit)only ran Mac or Windows
  desktop
• We eventually bought Mac laptops and desktops
• Still have separate Audio editing
• Need details