Reaffirmation of Accreditation


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2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.7.1 | 2.7.2 | 2.7.3 | 2.7.4 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 2.10 | 2.11

Quality Enhancement Plan
2.12

Comprehensive Standards
3.1.1 (Mission)

3.2.1 | 3.2.2 | 3.2.3 | 3.2.4 | 3.2.5 | 3.2.6 | 3.2.7 | 3.2.8 | 3.2.9 | 3.2.10 | 3.2.11 | 3.2.12 | 3.2.13 | 3.2.14 (Admin.)

3.3.1 (Effectiveness)

3.4.1 | 3.4.2 | 3.4.3 | 3.4.4 | 3.4.5 | 3.4.6 | 3.4.7 | 3.4.8 | 3.4.9 | 3.4.10 | 3.4.11 | 3.4.12 | 3.4.13 | 3.4.14 (Educational Program)

3.5.1 | 3.5.2 (Undergraduate Program)

3.7.1 | 3.7.2 | 3.7.3 | 3.7.4 | 3.7.5 (Faculty)

3.8.1 | 3.8.2 | 3.8.3 (Library)

3.9.1 | 3.9.2 | 3.9.3 (Students)

3.10.1 | 3.10.2 | 3.10.3 | 3.10.4 | 3.10.5 | 3.10.6 | 3.10.7 (Resources)

Federal Requirements
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Compliance Certification Report

Comprehensive Standard 3.4.14 - Use of technology for student learning

The institution's use of technology enhances student learning, is appropriate for meeting the objectives of its programs, and ensures that students have access to and training in the use of technology.

Judgment of Compliance

Davidson College is in compliance with Comprehensive Standard 3.4.14.

Rationale for Judgment of Compliance

Davidson College’s umbrella organization for information technology is Information Technology Services (ITS). According to its mission statement, ITS creates and maintains technology infrastructure, facilities, and services so that students, faculty, and staff can effectively apply networking, computing, and telecommunications technologies to accomplish the educational mission and business objectives of Davidson College.

Approximately 95-98% of Davidson students bring computers to campus. ITS employs and trains a group of tech-savvy students to provide support to students in the residence halls.  The residential computer services they provide are colloquially known as ResNet. ITS’s ResNet students are active in providing a series of Hall Programs to their fellow students throughout the semester. This past fall, one of the ResNet students offered three such programs and covered topics that included how to avoid common problems when connecting to the campus network, how to keep your computer free from viruses, and how to connect to the wireless campus network.

Information Technology Services provides computing labs and classrooms to assist the instructional programs of the College. These facilities are usually available to all Davidson faculty and currently enrolled students. First, there is a 24-hour lab, the Student Computing Center, in Belk Residence Hall. This lab contains nine Dell SX280s, 35 SX270s, 11 Macintosh PowerMac G5s, scanners, and laser printers. This facility also houses the ResNet office. ResNet Student Consultants are available to provide technical assistance from 7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. Second, there is a Genomics, Applied Mathematics and Computer Science Classroom which contains 17 Macintosh PowerMac G5s and a laser printer. Third, there is a Windows Computer Classroom available to students when classes are not being taught. This room contains 17 Dell SX280s and a laser printer. Fourth, there is a public lab for the students in the Library that contains eight Dell SX270s and two Macintosh Power Mac G5s. Fifth, we offer computers in the College Union, the Knobloch Campus Center. This facility houses seven Dell SX270s, five Dell GX260s, two Macintosh PowerMac G5s, and a laser printer. Lastly, the Tomlinson Residence Hall contains six Dell GX260s, two Macintosh PowerMac G4s, and a laser printer. These facilities are staffed at various hours to provide help to students. Students may also call the ITS Help Desk during regular working hours for assistance.

Davidson has converted most classrooms and laboratories into multimedia rooms. There are 65 classrooms and laboratories equipped with computers, projectors and document cameras. Many also have DVD players, CD players and other technologies available. All of Watson, Dana, Cunningham, Martin, Knobloch, and Chambers buildings are so equipped.

The Instructional Technology Group (ITG), under the umbrella of ITS, supports and encourages faculty in enhancing teaching, learning, and research through the use of technology. As part of Information Technology Services, ITG seeks to meet the evolving information technology needs of Davidson's academic departments through exploration, development, promotion, and use of next-generation technologies to support and enrich instruction. This development work takes place in the labs maintained and supported by the department. ITG also hosts faculty-led seminars, ITG-led workshops and one-on-one consultation in support of faculty integrating technology into teaching and learning. There is a Director of Instructional Technology who is also the Instructional Technologist for the Humanities and Social Sciences, an Instructional Technologist for the Languages, an Instructional Technologist for the Sciences, and an Assistant Instructional Technologist. ITG runs the Center for Instructional Technology, the Language Resource Center, the Connolly Digital Media Lab, and the Faculty Development Lab. They are also responsible for the computers in all science labs. The mission statement, structure, resources, and evidence of Academic Development work for this group can be found here.

The Instructional Technology Group underwent an external review performed by Dr. Bryan Alexander of the Center for Educational Technology at Middlebury College in May-June 2003.

The Joint Committee on Information Technology (JCIT) was formed in the summer of 1997 from its predecessor, the Committee for Administrative Information Technology (formed in 1994), in order to insure the College’s appropriate focus and progress in the area of information technology. The membership was broadened in 1999 to include representatives from all areas of the College. Its mission statement reads: “Information technology supports the primary mission of the College to ‘maintain itself as a residential community of scholars, to emphasize the teaching responsibility of all professors, and to ensure the opportunity for personal relationships between students and teachers’.”

The Academic Computing Committee (ACC) was originally established in 1980 as the Faculty Committee on Academic Uses of the Computer. It was renamed the ACC in 1986. The committee’s purpose is to offer advice and counsel to the executive Director of Information Technology and to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty in order to enhance the value of the Information Technology Services for the academic program.  See the Faculty Handbook for more information on this committee.

The Academic Departments use information technology in a variety of ways to enhance the quality of their teaching.  Students are also instructed in the proper use of these technologies and use them in a number of ways in their academic careers.  The following listing is a representative sample of how the academic departments use technology in their teaching based on an informal survey of academic department chairs.

The Science Departments at Davidson College also use technology in forms other than computers.  They use state-of-the-art science laboratory equipment, some of which is interfaced to the computer.  These are necessary to train future scientists and are appropriate for students at this level.  Each student is trained in equipment appropriate to a course, an independent research project, or independent study. A representative list for each department can be found here and in the College Catalog.

The Library of Davidson College uses technology to support teaching in a variety of ways.  These are appropriate to specific courses as well as to general educational goals.  They include student training, electronic course reserves, research guides containing links to electronic reserves, databases and other electronic resources.  A more complete list can be found here.

Davidson College participates in CLAC—Consortium of Liberal Arts Colleges—whose charter states that it is “an organization comprising many of the top liberal arts colleges in the United States, chartered to explore and promote the use of technology in the service of our liberal arts educational missions.” CLAC is an information resource sharing group that also does surveys, posts job openings, and produces reports relevant to their members. See http://www.liberalarts.org for more information about this organization.

Davidson College is a member of the Associated Colleges of the South.  Part of that organization has focused on Information Technology initiatives, as well as awarding faculty grants and student fellowships. Fellows receive a $2500 stipend, in return for creating technology-based teaching or research materials that can be shared with colleagues both at the home campus and across the consortium.  Davidson faculty have received 23 grants for a variety of technology initiatives that have benefited their classes and their faculty colleagues, including interactive Web exercises, genomics tools, quantum mechanics exercises, ecological studies, immunology visualization, and video editing in the classroom A list of Associated Colleges of the South programs at Davidson can be found here.  See http://www.colleges.org for more information about this organization.

Davidson College actively participates in the National Institute for Liberal Education (NITLE). Part of the NITLE organization is focused on transforming the educational process through emerging technologies. Davidson’s faculty is active in NITLE’s speakers’ bureau. The bureau encourages and promotes inter-campus collaboration by bringing faculty and staff from participating colleges together to build online curricular resources. The organization also fosters ongoing professional development of faculty.

Supporting Documentation

 

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