Shippensburg University is a comprehensive public university offering baccalaureate and master's degree programs in three colleges: Arts and Sciences, Education and Human Services, and Business. It is one of the fourteen universities in Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education. Enrollment during the 1990/91 academic year is approximately 5500 undergraduate and 1100 graduate students, and there are over 300 faculty members.
Like most institutions of higher education, Shippensburg University uses microcomputers in two different ways: (1) for educational activities and (2) for the administrative and clerical activities which support the university's mission. Educational activities include teaching students about microcomputer technology in computer science and business information systems courses which focus on programming languages and business software. Other educational applications include using computers as tools to support course activities, such as preparing a paper with word processing software or using a statistical package to analyze data. To support these activities, microcomputer labs are available for student use, and many faculty members have microcomputers in their offices. In certain departments (such as Accounting and Computer Science) students are strongly urged to purchase their own systems.
Microcomputers are also used in administrative and academic department offices. In this respect, the university is similar to other businesses which use the equipment for activities such as word processing, data storage, and spreadsheet work.
With the exception of some individual purchases by faculty members and academic departments, the earliest use of microcomputers on campus was the establishment of a student microcomputer lab in the Lehman Library in 1983. This lab had Apple IIe microcomputers with WordStar word processing software. Other software was available (including VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet), but the primary use of the lab was for word processing.
Figure 1 shows the increase in microcomputers during the ten- year period 1981 - 1991. From 1984 to early 1986, the growth of microcomputer use was sporadic. Some departments, through the initiative of individual managers, purchased systems to be used by administrative or clerical staff. A variety of systems were selected, including Apples, Zenith Z-100s (which used an early version of the MS-DOS operating system and had WordStar word processing software available), and IBM PCs and compatibles.
Support activities during this period were also sporadic. Some faculty members offered word processing workshops for clerical staff, but many of the people who attended did not have microcomputers in their offices and so were unable to develop any skills. In general, computer users were on their own, and the areas that were able to implement microcomputer use were those who had individuals who took the initiative to explore the options and learn how to use the systems.
There was limited formal support available during this period. The Computer Center provided some assistance with purchasing and setting up systems, but most of the professionals in that area had a traditional data processing background and worked exclusively on mainframes. Only one position, the Director of Microcomputer Labs, was a professional with microcomputer skills. This position, however, reported to the Director of the Library and was only responsible for supervising two student microcomputer labs (the one in the library and a second one established by the College of Business).
This changed at the beginning of 1987, when the Committee on Equipping the Academic Department Office made its recommendations. The committee proposed a standard microcomputer hardware and software configuration for all academic department offices (which was later informally adopted for all university offices). The university committed the funding to provide all offices with this equipment over a four year period.
The committee also recommended that a formal system of support services be provided to help implement microcomputer use. These services were to include setting up new systems, providing orientation for new users, answering questions from users and offering workshops and other training activities.
Shortly after the committee presented its report, the university administration took the Director of Microcomputer Labs position, renamed it Coordinator of Microcomputer Services, and placed the department under the Computer Center. The department, now called the Office of Microcomputer Services, remains responsible for the supervision of the student microcomputer labs. It also has the responsibility of providing support services to the growing number of microcomputer users on campus.
As Figure 1 shows, the number of microcomputers on campus doubled from the 1984/85 fiscal year to 1986/87. From 1984/85 to 1988/89, the number more than tripled to 464. Figure 2 shows the types of microcomputers in use as of April 30, 1991. The impact of the standard configuration is shown by the fact that nearly 60% of the computers are IBM PC-compatibles, followed by Apple II models and Apple Macintosh computers.
Types of Microcomputer Users
There are four different groups of microcomputer users on campus: students, faculty, administrative/professional, and clerical. Because of the different needs and abilities of these groups, each has to be approached differently when it comes to providing support services.
Students use microcomputers for a variety of educational activities. In some cases, they use software that functions as a learning tool, teaching them about an aspect of the course's subject matter. This type of software, generally provided by the faculty member teaching the course, can provide information in a more interactive fashion than a book. In other cases the courses are about computer use, such as computer science programming classes and business information systems courses. These courses teach students about computer technology and provide instruction in the use of programming languages, operating systems, and business software packages such as databases and spreadsheets.
Some students simply use microcomputers as tools to help them complete course work, particularly through the use of word processing software. The microcomputer labs are open for general student use, and some handouts are available with basic instructions on the use of the equipment and software (particularly word processing). With the exception of these handouts, however, support services for students are limited to providing the lab facilities. It is expected that faculty members will provide any instructions or training that students need in order to use the equipment and software for specific courses.
The second group of microcomputer users, faculty members, has a range of different needs for support services. Some faculty are intimidated by or even hostile towards the new technology. These individuals need to be convinced of the benefits of microcomputer use and encouraged to explore it. Others are interested and simply need guidance in selecting hardware and software. Some faculty members have been extremely interested in the application of microcomputer technology and have developed an expertise on their own. This is particularly true for faculty teaching computer courses, although many faculty in a variety of disciplines have introduced microcomputers to their students. The Department of Geography and Earth Science, for example, established its own microcomputer lab with special equipment and software for mapping and meteorology courses. Faculty members sometimes need assistance and guidance in using microcomputers, but as a group they have been able to take the initiative in starting to use the technology.
Administrative and professional employees, the third group of microcomputer users, generally have certain goals they want to accomplish through the use of the technology. Examples of this include a contracting officer who uses a microcomputer to maintain a database of contract information and prepare contract forms with certain standard clauses. Other users in this category included accounting staff working with spreadsheets to prepare and analyze budget information. Seeing computers as tools that can help them accomplish their goals, users in this group are usually receptive to developing computer skills.
When microcomputers began to be introduced in 1987, the group that needed the most support was the clerical employees who were just beginning to use computer technology in their jobs. These individuals tend to be task oriented and their primary responsibility is the preparation of documents such as letters, memos, exams, etc. The initial attitude seemed to be reluctance at trying something new, particularly since it required so much more time initially to prepare a document using word processing software than it did with a typewriter.
Gradually, there was a transformation in attitude as the clerical staff came to realize that computer technology could assist them and make their jobs easier. Part of the reason for this change was the support services that helped ease the transition to computer use. Eventually, there was a complete switch in attitudes. Rather than being reluctant, clerical staff who did not have microcomputers complained that their offices were not properly equipped.
Within the category of clerical employees, there is a wide range of abilities and skills. Many develop their own computer skills rapidly and then start to help other employees. They also go on to explore different types of software such as spreadsheets and databases in addition to word processing. Others, however, need support and encouragement as well as extensive training in order to use the technology effectively.
During the 1987/88 academic year, a number of activities were initiated to provide support to all categories of faculty and staff microcomputer users on campus. These included workshops in the use of software packages, assistance in installing new systems, development of configurations for the purchase of systems, and phone consultation for users with problems or questions. As the number of users grew, however, the Office of Microcomputer Services at Shippensburg faced the same challenge that many microcomputer support departments throughout the country faced: how to best assist this large group of users with the limited resources that were available.
