Case for Support (August 2004)

In partnership with the faculty as content experts, the Center is committed to advancing the purposeful use of new media and digital technologies in the educational programs of Columbia University. We are committed to ongoing evaluation of the efficacy of our work within the University.

Basic Strategy I: Creating the Culture of Use

The Center is committed to extending the population of involved faculty by providing them with a broad range of points of access: workshops, forums, individual consultations, as well as ongoing and sustaining support in the development of projects. We will begin with anyone who is willing to bring us a syllabus. In developing more advanced projects, we are committed to building "visible heuristics," that is, projects in collaboration with faculty that act as demonstrations and explorations of pedagogical and curricular possibility.

Basic Strategy II: Empowering Students and Faculty with New Generic Tools

We are committed to building what we call the Columbia Educational Operating System, a suite of integrated applications that extends the capacity of students and faculty to capture, analyze, and integrate data in new ways. CEOS will also provide equally powerful communications tools to facilitate dialogue and the exchange of ideas.

Basic Strategy III: Forging Partnerships

The Center is about building partnerships and providing the motivation and venue for the integration of disparate efforts in digital development. In this capacity, the Center is presently working with not only individual faculty members but also other entities of the University committed to similar goals, such as CIESIN, CERC, ACIS, CME and others. The Center is also active in contributing to the strategic planning on the school, college and university level.