Monday, 7/14/97 Technology fee will add Web pages, virtual
office hours FEES: Despite veto by advisory committee, student
costs will rise
By Stefanie Wong Daily Bruin Staff UCLA has launched a new
program designed to enhance the quality of education through the
use of technology, but against the wishes of a student advisory
group. In order to fund this initiative, a new fee will be
implemented starting Fall Quarter. Developed by a committee of
administrators and students, the Course Materials Fee for
Instructional Technology Enhancements will charge undergraduates
$2.50 per unit in humanities and social science classes, while life
and physical science courses will cost $3.50 per unit – adding
between $10 and $14 per course. In Fall Quarter, the Instructional
Enhancement Initiative will make websites and virtual office hours
standard for the approximately 3,000 courses that are taught each
year in the College of Letters and Sciences. It will also work to
improve student computer labs across the campus. "This isn’t
something that UCLA is creating," said Brian Copenhaver, provost of
the College of Letters and Science. "This is the way the world is
educationally in 1997." The initiative was designed over the past
three years to use multimedia to increase the exchange of
information between students and faculty. "The most intense and
expert users of (the Internet) are students," Copenhaver said. UCLA
should change its communication systems to correspond to that, he
added. There is no set design for the websites, but they will
include basic course information. The Course Materials Fee was
rejected by the Student Fee Advisory Committee (SFAC) in early June
because of policy and implementation issues. However, because SFAC
is only an advisory group, Chancellor Charles E. Young overrode
their veto and approved the fee before he retired. Some students
wonder if the upgrade in technology is necessary. "I have serious
concerns about whether the websites and virtual office hours are
truly needed, and if this a fee that students should assume," said
undergraduate President Kandea Mosley. "If this is needed, why is
this burden placed on students when it’s up to the university to
keep up with the latest technology?" she added. "It is unfortunate
that the chancellor made this decision without taking into
consideration SFAC’s position." Originally, funding for such
technology projects came from grants, gifts and temporary funding.
However, these limited budgets never allowed the university to
create programs on such a large scale, university officials argue.
The revenues will only be used to support the initiative, and the
fee will remain frozen for the next three years, after which the
program’s effectiveness will be evaluated. Administrators emphasize
that the focus of this issue should not be the fee, but the
educational enhancement. "What we’ve always wanted is not a fee,
but to be able to make better use of computer delivered
instruction," said David Wilson, assistant dean of humanities.
Another concern that has surfaced is the workload of teaching
assistants. "Who will be responding to students through virtual
office hours?" said Academic Affairs Commissioner Max Espinoza. "If
it is just another burden on the teaching assistants, we should be
concerned," he added. Administrators agree that the possible
increase in teaching assistants’ workload is a concern, but one
that has been addressed. "It’s very important that the deans
address whether it is going to be extra work for the TAs," Wilson
said. Also, the issue of decreased face-to-face communication
between students and professors is a concern. "Virtual office hours
should not replace personal contact between students and faculty,"
Espinoza said. However, administrators believe differently. "This
isn’t meant to replace but enhance teacher-student communication,"
through a new medium, Copenhaver said. Some students see this
initiative as positive. "The new fee doesn’t seem like too much
right now and it could be worth the convenience of virtual office
hours and class materials on the Internet," said Andrea Dong, an
undeclared second-year student. "But I just hope the fee doesn’t go
up." Previous Daily Bruin Stories: Administration considers per fee
courses
Chancellor Young supports mandatory fee increases