Low Cost, Low Tech, Low Brow Technology: A Plan for Campus Communication.

This paper describes Lake Erie College's (Ohio) economical solution to providing electronic communication for faculty on its campus. The college first assessed its existing computer capabilities to determine its needs. The college wanted to increase the total number of users on the local area network in order to better utilize the existing network server and college administration software package, and to provide a local, campus-wide e-mail system. By posting a notice on the "Wanted" section of the Cleveland Freenet Classifieds, Lake Erie College was able to obtain from a local business close to 40 working, out-of-date personal computers which faculty and students cleaned, reformatted, and onto which they loaded software and installed internal modems. Faculty were given a reference handbook and trained on the "new" computers, particularly for using the local campus e-mail system. Most faculty members did not have computers at home. Since the implementation, e-mail has become a popular method of communication among faculty and administration departments, and faculty who act as academic advisors are able to view student records electronically. The project was an unqualified success, with a total cost of less than 10 dollars. The college is now actively trying to plan for newer and better equipment for faculty and staff use for daily administrative activities, on-line research, and other academic purposes. (SWC)