June 5, 1997

Pat Wrobel, Administrator,
Office of Undergraduate Education
340 Gerberding Hall
Box 351209 / wrobel@u

Re.: Friends of Access Fund

This application responds to Dean Campbell's letter of May 13, 1997. I would like to ask for and justify a small grant in support of my ongoing effort to integrate Internet technologies into undergraduate programs and instruction. This effort is an integral part of my participation in the 1996 NSF-funded Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement grant which permitted the Geography Department to create its Collaboratory.

• Name of Department and individual:
  • Geography Department, Box 353550
  • Günter Krumme, Professor, email: krumme@u.washington.edu

• Amount of Request: U.S.$670.80

• Purpose/Use of Funds:
  1. Hiring one or two appropriately skilled undergraduate students for 12 weeks for (together) 5 hours per week @ $7.75 + 12% = $8.68 x 60 = $520.80 Details: The hourly rate is the highest compensation allowed for undergraduate students starting in September 1997. This rate is deemed justified on the basis of the required skills. The student(s) would be employed for:
     1. 2 hours/week helping with conducting Undergraduate HTML clinics / and creating undergraduate student Web sites in support of geography instruction in the Geography Collaboratory
     2. 1 hour/week helping with introducing Access Program participants to the Internet on an individual or group basis
     3. 1 hour/week helping me to develop the Service-Learning component of my own educational Internet effort (see below).
     4. 1 hour/week helping me to prepare and/or conduct non-credit workshops in the Geography Collaboratory targeting specific needs or skills needed to utilize Internet capabilities into the undergraduate program and curriculum (Example: WWW Resume Workshop)

  2. Purchase of Internet-related instructional books: $150.00 (These books would become property of the Geography Department and would be handled similarly to those already purchased in support of the Geography Collaboratory)

• Primary Beneficiaries: Undergraduates in Geography and those taking Geography classes, as well as participants in the Access Program.

• Why Access Funds? Over the past two years, I have experimented with a variety of ways of integrating the Internet into my instructional programs. This effort culminated during Winter Quarter when all 50 students in one class presented at least part of their class projects on their own Web sites. In addition, some students were involved in Website activities as part of their Service Learning activities. However, I came to the conclusion that it would be desirable if a higher percentage of the students would come with prior Internet skills (i.e. resource, communications and Website construction skills) into my classes. Thus, during this past quarter, I have begun (with the help of student volunteers, the UWired Program and Anne Zald, our Geography librarian) to conduct HTML clinics and provide other Internet-use related support (through individual instructions and workshops) for all undergraduate students who were willing to participate. I would like to continue and expand this effort in order to increase the number of skilled undergraduate students who would be available in the future to help others, both in collaborative class contexts and to develop my long-term plans. These plans include explicitly the idea to expand the Internet dimension of my Service Learning involvement and get our Internet and computer-savvy undergraduates to "adopt" (not just active faculty members as I am presently trying to do) but interested and interesting retired faculty and senior citizens in retirement homes to enrich both their lives and the students' educational experiences.

  Financial support for these planned activities from previous or alternative sources is either too uncertain or simply not available at the present time.

• Time frame: The request is for Fall 1997 (Starting one week before classes begin and lasting through the 11th week of the quarter).