IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

                                     
     Solutions to the technological challenges facing the University lie in the ability of
     the University community to better articulate the options and resource requirements for
     academic computing and technology.  The logical assignment of responsibilities for
     meeting needs and the establishment of a well-defined balance of effort between central
     and distributed information systems and services must be determined and implemented. 
     Much work will be required before the next century to meet the particular computing needs
     of each discipline.  This will necessitate a major realignment of allocations across all
     sectors of the University to achieve noticeable progress and positive change in the
     instructional processes.

          The following table states the estimated costs of implementing the more important
     recommendations proposed by the team over a five-year period.  There are many
     recommendations which do not have a cost that can be estimated, as they involve either
     shifting priorities, changing job duties, or simply investigating areas in more depth.  In
     addition, many of the recommendations will require very different expenditures in each of
     the next five years, with some items costing more in the beginning, while others will
     require more resources in later years.  Further, it should be recognized that many of the
     costs in this plan may be part of current academic operating budgets or may be met through
     external funding, such as grants and house bill monies. 
 
          The single most complicated area involves classrooms. Currently, the Kent Campus
     comprises seventeen lecture halls, 172 general purpose classrooms, thirty-two general
     seminar rooms and numerous teaching labs. (See Current Environment - Kent Campus
     Classroom Facilities section, page 11).  The Regional Campuses have a combined count of
     124 general purpose classrooms.  Problems arise when trying to decide on a standard
     classroom design while recognizing disciplinary differences.  In the final analysis the team
     believes each general purpose standard classroom, lecture hall, and seminar room should
     be assessed to ensure that they meet minimum standards.  Further, 10 percent of the
     classrooms should be upgraded to accommodate selected technological applications and 5
     percent should be upgraded to serve as computer-based classrooms.  Thus, all classrooms
     should be designed and maintained to enhance current and evolving teaching methods. 
     While some of these teaching facilities would become equipment intensive in the near
     term, once the campus network is in place, multimedia applications may be implemented
     more efficiently from a central distribution system, a potential function of the mainframe. 
     The projected expenditures for classrooms reflect many of these concerns.

          Although it is fairly straightforward to calculate approximate costs for items to be
     placed in classrooms, it is more difficult to estimate the cost of connecting all rooms to the
     campus backbone, or the cost of obtaining and maintaining adequate computing facilities. 
     Therefore, some cost figures are predictable while others, of necessity, are simply
     estimates.
       Finally, it should be noted that the figures in the table represent the best estimates
     available at this time.  There are many factors that could cause the figures to be
     altered at some future date, including changing academic programs, needs, costs, and
     products.