Many of the collaborative learning experiences we are planning will be facilitated through the use of modern videoconferencing systems we propose to install at both campuses. Recent technological developments have made it possible for audiences and speakers to engage in unencumbered, fully-interactive conversations at different locations. Videoconferencing systems such as the Picturetel Concorde allow speakers to address audiences both in their local setting as well as remotely and to field questions and reply to remote audiences with nearly equal ease as to local participants. Video and audio quality is as high as broadcast television. Cameras track speakers eliminating the need for constant support staff while minimizing the artificial nature of video interactions. The establishment of industry standards for videoconferencing systems has opened up many new possibilities for such sessions. Our opportunities will expand as all campuses of the Five Colleges of Ohio consortium engage with these technologies, along with those who are now pioneering curricular and administrative uses of videoconferencing in the northeast (Colgate, Hamilton, Skidmore, Lafayette, Lehigh, Bates, Bowdoin, Colby and others).
Our colleagues at these institutions are using videoconferencing to conduct joint classes in computer science, less commonly taught foreign languages, and classics. Hamilton faculty on conference travel have maintained class meetings and brought international authorities to their classes using the technology. Kinkos Inc. has set up such compatible systems in more than 150 locations worldwide. One can imagine a broad array of interactions with speakers and other classes with these technologies.
Many as yet unimagined collaborative activities will be facilitated as well. For example, our colleagues at Colgate and Hamilton have begun a series of monthly, informal videoconferences in which faculty exchange ideas and plan joint programs. This is precisely the level of inter-institutional collaboration we seek to foster between Kenyon and Denison. Our colleagues have noted a great deal of enthusiasm for videoconferencing among faculty who have used it, characterizing the experience as "lots of fun" which encourages further use. Videoconferencing will enhance our collaborative efforts but will not replace face-to-face interchanges among faculty and students in this program. As a result, in our final assessments, we will be able to compare and contrast the value of "same time, same place" with "same time, different place" approaches.
Our plan is to equip one classroom on each campus with the videoconferencing features we select from site visits and conversations with our colleagues at the northeastern colleges noted above. Capital costs for the systems ($65,000 for each campus, exclusive of any costs of renovation) are included in the proposed budget as are operational budgets ($3,000 per year for each campus) for the tenure of the grant.