Context | First Year | Computer Courses
Other Courses | Applications | Resources

 

Resources

We summarize here the various resource implications noted on other pages: Hardware While the proposals made here could be implemented with current lab provision, it would spread English courses into more distant labs on campus and raise the cost of installing appropriate software. Ideally we should install a lab in the Humanities Centre under the primary control of English, able to accommodate the larger course sections envisaged under the reduced teaching load regime (possibly up to 40 students), with reliable printing facilities, and regular proctoring to resolve technical difficulties when these arise. It would also be helpful to equip more Humanities Centre classrooms with smart facilities. Demand on lab facilities can be estimated as follows: 15 first year sections, 1 hour per week each: 15 hours 1 computer course per term: 3 hours per week Other courses requiring lab time, perhaps 5 hours per week Total provision needed: 23 hours per week. (Note: this excludes the needs of graduate courses and the Proseminar in computing.) As several colleagues have emphasised, lab facilities for our work should allow for turning away from the computers to work around a table or tables; the lab should allow quiet spaces for individual writing; and we should try to foster a culture that considers a lab class a private space like a normal classroom. This might include a Writing Centre for evening use, monitored by an RA able to advise and resolve technical problems. Software Software licenses for lab installations will be required for a range of products, e.g., Dreamweaver, Concordance, Eastgate hyperfictions. Some licenses may require annual renewals. First year computing will require its own general web site, where resources will be made available to all instructors and students. In addition, to support both first year and subsequent computing components, we envisage a need for the creation of appropriate resources (etexts, web pages) where these are not yet available in satisfactory form. Personnel A GRA will be funded to produce and maintain the first year web site. Additional resources for developing instructional computer-based materials may be available from ATL. Beyond this, we foresee the need for a technical support person whose primary responsibility will lie within the English Department. Administration The Department's curriculum plans, we suggest, will need to accommodate two new technology courses per year despite the planned reduction in course load. Sharing resources for computer-based instruction (e.g., the Rutherford labs, smart classrooms) will require setting up a room booking system for rotating classes. We can expect that some instructors will seek training in computer methods: either the Department could provide short courses (on the model of the Proseminars), or ATL or TLC might be invited to arrange training. Instructors would also be able to arrange short courses for their students on specific skills.