Subject:  EDUCOM Proposal Submission
Date:     Fri, 13 Jan 1995 11:22:05

1. Title: Catching Professors in the Web

2. Primary Presenter:
     Hugh Blackmer, Ph.D.
     Reference Librarian
     Washington and Lee University
     Leyburn Library
     Lexington VA 24450

     Phone: 703-463-8647
     E-Mail: blackmer.h@WLU.edu

3. Other presenters:
     (none)

4. Proposal Categories:
     A: Track: 3, 4, 1
     B: Format: Single Presentation
     C: Audience: General

5. Abstract:

How can librarians and computing staff encourage and support faculty 
experimentation with networked multimedia?  What works?  A year of 
World Wide Web evolution at Washington and Lee University offers some 
answers.

6. Summary:
 
Partnership of librarians, professors and computing staff is necessary
in the much-touted electronic revolution in teaching; the most 
challenging link is often to the faculty.  Librarians are often 
enthusiasts for electronic information access, while faculty members 
tend to embrace a new technology that seems likely to make a 
difference in their specialties.

The empirical question addressed in this presentation is: what works 
to encourage and support faculty experimentation with electronic 
information tools?   The presentation examines a dramatic year (1994-
5) in the development and ramification into pedagogy of improved 
electronic access at Washington and Lee University, known for 
innovation in this arena.  The technological changes described began 
with the introduction of a WWW-based campus information system 
(http://liberty.uc.wlu.edu) and center upon the spread of networked 
multimedia (images, sound, video) in the curriculum.  As the 
avalanche of new Internet sites and novel presentations, searching 
tools and applications accelerated, librarians acted as proactive 
electronic facilitators, intermediaries between new information 
technologies and the efforts of faculty to explore, assimilate and 
implement new teaching and communication strategies.

Research on appropriate support for the integration of new media into 
teaching is in its infancy, and case studies with online 
illustrations are effective means to address such questions as:  How 
to identify necessary structural changes in roles and activities? 
What practical steps can library and computer support staff take to 
support the evolution of new approaches to teaching?  What are 
reasonable measurements of success?  What recurrent problems arise in 
the areas of hardware, software, pedagogy and support, and how can 
they be resolved?  

7. Outcomes which might result:
     
     Post-conference networking; establishment of a WWW site 
     clearinghouse on facilitating partnerships for new technology in 
     teaching

8. Have you presented on this topic previously/do you plan to do so 
this year?

     No

9. Audio-Visual Requirements

     Mac or PC with telnet connection, LCD or other projection device