Date: Sat, 24 Feb 1996 12:03:00 -0500
To: John.Moore@vt.edu
From: fox@vt.edu (Edward A. Fox)
Subject: idea for CS FDI, CAC, ...
Cc: carroll@vtopus.cs.vt.edu, abrams@vtopus.cs.vt.edu, janlee@vtopus.cs.vt.edu,
        williams@vt.edu, Tom.Head@vt.edu, kriz@wave.esm.vt.edu,
        ribbens@vtopus.cs.vt.edu

John,

I have an unorthodox idea.  If it is crazy, just say so.  But I thought it
might be worth mentioning.

This summer a number of CS faculty will participate in FDI.  I just read
over the survey form that is designed to help pinpoint what we would like
to have covered.  Frankly, not much on the list seems to be in the (large)
set of things I am not reasonably knowledgeable about.  This makes me feel
uncomfortable regarding participating, wasting resources, etc.

At the same time, there has been a moderate amount of discussion in
conjunction with the Computing and Communication Resources Committee, and
inside CS, where we have advocated having CCRC and CS work with your group
and CEUT on a "Computing Across the Curriculum" (CAC) initiative (modeled
after the Writing Across the Curriculum effort).

I think it would be of great value for Virginia Tech to have a CAC
initiative.  JAN Lee in CS is willing to play a lead role in this.  Jack
Carroll has indicated that CS would be interested in this too.

One problem is getting started.  Part of that deals with having funding.  I
spoke with Terry Wildman informally once and he was interested in further
discussion, indicating CEUT might be able to help.  But more time and
resources will be needed.  I think a proposal to some outside group
(Annenburg? SCHEV? NSF?) might eventually help with this.  But it would be
better to have some initial progress toward the idea before submitting a
proposal.

Given all the above, please consider the following idea:
  * Some of the CS people slated for FDI spend our 4 days in a different
    fashion from normal.  This could still count as FDI if that is desired.
    However, we carry out our training in a different manner.  This would
    likely be in a different place (maybe the new Sun lab that will soon
    go into McBryde?).
  * In particular, our 4 days becomes the first CAC meeting.  The CS folks
    mentioned above would coordinate development of the agenda with your
    group, as usual, but also with CEUT.  We spend our time launching the
    CAC initiative.  This might involve adding in another 10-15 people who are
    leaders regarding the use of computing and educational technologies in
    departments around campus.  It could be viewed as an advanced FDI
    session if you like.  We might talk about how to share courseware
    around campus, how to develop the "minor in graphics" that Ron Kriz
    is suggesting (and maybe learn some about advanced visualization,
    Java programming, ...), figure how departments can collaborate to ensure
    "information literacy" as well as computer literacy in all Virginia Tech
    undergraduates, etc.

I believe this is enough to convey the general idea.  If you think it
merits pursuing, please advise.  If not, please just say so and I'll look
into accomplishing the aims of CAC in a different fashion.

Many thanks for your time and attention. Regards, Ed

Edward A. Fox, fox@vt.edu, http://fox.cs.vt.edu/
Professor, Dept. of Computer Science +1-540-231-5113, FAX -6075
  660 McBryde Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0106 USA
Associate Director for Research, Computing Center +1-540-231-3046, FAX -7413
  1700 Pratt Drive, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060-6361 USA