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Occasional Paper No. 70Latino Studies Series

Agile Learning, New Media, and TechnologicalInfusement at a New University:

Serving Underrepresented Students

by Armando A. Arias, Jr.California State University, Monterey Bay

Occasional Paper No. 70Spring 2000

Agile Learning, New Media, and TechnologicalInfusement at a New University:

Serving Underrepresented Students

by Armando A. Arias, Jr.California State University, Monterey Bay

Occasional Paper No. 70Spring 2000

AbstractThe author suggests how one acdemic institution, California State University, Monterey Bay

(CSUMB) is planning for a distributed learning and distance education program, utilizing the lat-est technologies and innovative pedagogy to meet the needs of all underrepresented and under-served students. This need is especially high for the Latino/a population of the Salinas Valley,where some of the poorest Latino populations in the nation can be found.

The university’s students, faculty, and staff represent a geographically and culturally diversegroup of people, whose richness is mirrored in CSUMB’s commitment to the establishment of amultilingual, multicultural, and intellectual community.

About the Author: Armando A. Arias, Jr., Ph.D.Armando Arias is the Associate Vice President for Academic Planning, Instruction, and A s s e s s-

ment, as well as a tenured professor and Dean of the Center of Social and Behavioral Sciences, atCalifornia State University, Monterey Bay. He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology, with emphasis inCommunication, at the University of California at San Diego, La Jolla; he also earned his Master’sand Bachelor’s degrees there. Dr. Arias is the founding director of Binational English and SpanishTelecommunications Network (BESTNET), an international consortium that promotes the use ofworldwide electronic communication tools to enhance teaching, learning, scholarship, research, andcommunity service.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Arias, Armando A., Jr. (Dr.) “Agile Learning, New Media, and Technological Infusement at a NewUniversity: Serving Underrepresented Students,” JSRI Occasional Paper #70, The Julian SamoraResearch Institute, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 2000.

The Julian Samora Research Institute is committed to the generation, transmission, and appli-cation of knowledge to serve the needs of Latino communities in the Midwest. To this end, it has orga-nized a number of publication initiatives to facilitate the timely dissemination of current research andinformation relevant to Latinos.

• Research Reports: JSRI’s flagship publications for scholars who want a quality publication with more detail thanusually allowed in mainstream journals. These are edited and reviewed in-house. Research Reports are selected fortheir significant contribution to the knowledge base of Latinos.

• Working Papers: for scholars who want to share their preliminary findings and obtain feedback from others inLatino studies. Some editing provided by JSRI.

• Statistical Briefs/CIFRAS: for the Institute’s dissemination of “facts and figures” on Latino issues and conditions.Also designed to address policy questions and to highlight important topics.

• Occasional Papers: for the dissemination of speeches and papers of value to the Latino community which are notnecessarily based on a research project. Examples include historical accounts of people or events, “oral histories,”motivational talks, poetry, speeches, and related presentations.

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East Lansing, MichiganJulian Samora Research InstituteDr. René C. Hinojosa, Interim Director

Danny Layne, Layout Editor

Agile Learning, New Media, and Technological Infusement at a NewUniversity: Serving Underrepresented Students

Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................1

History ..........................................................................................................................................1

Psychological and Geospatial Barriers to a Vibrant Service Area ........................................2

A Committment to Multiculturalism, Diversity, and Pluralism ............................................3

A New Paradigm for Designing and Implementing Distributed Learningand Distance Education ..............................................................................................................4

“Agile Learning” and the New Media ......................................................................................6

Case Studies in Technology Integration in Agile Learning and Teaching ............................9

Electronic Multimedia Portfolio Assessment ..........................................................................11

The Utilization of Computer Messaging Systems (SMS) ......................................................11

Expanding Education for Underrepresented Students Through Partnerships ..................14

Industry Collaborative Projects for Education ......................................................................15

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................16

References ..................................................................................................................................18

This paper was presented at the “Latinos, the Internet, and the Telecommunications Revolution”Conference held at the Julian Samora Research Institute, Michigan State University, in 1999.

Introduction

This paper suggests how California State Univer-sity, Monterey Bay (CSUMB), a new institution, isplanning for its mandated distributed learning anddistance education program, utilizing the latest, mostappropriate, and most cost efficient distributed tech-nologies and innovative pedagogy to meet the needsof all underrepresented (and, under-served) students,and the high need for serving especially the Latino/apopulation of the Salinas Valley (where we find someof the poorest Latino populations in the nation in a 20by 100-mile stretch of agricultural land, located adja-cent to the campus).

An important part of CSUMB’s identity and anenriched learning experience is reflected in the diver-sity of its learners. The university’s students, faculty,and staff represent a geographically and culturallydiverse group of people, whose richness is mirroredin CSUMB’s commitment (albeit, struggle) to theestablishment of a multilingual, multicultural, andintellectual community; a model, pluralistic acade-mic community (Arias, 1996).

Located on the historic site of Fort Ord, thelargest U.S.military base in the world, it first openedits doors to students during the fall semester of 1995.Due to severe limitations in the amount of advanceplanning time that was available to initiate the cam-pus, the first cohort of students arrived at a universitythat was still deeply immersed in the developmentalprocess. Thus, over the past four years, faculty, staff,and students have worked vigorously to design,develop, and engage in an innovative academic pro-gram (Arias, 1999a; 1999b).

History

The new California State University MontereyBay (CSUMB) was created after an extensivestatewide study as well as tremendous regional/com-munity public support. A major part of the reason forthis support is that the future of the California StateUniversity System (CSU) is at risk of losing publicsupport. California citizens are clamoring for an“improved educational system” one that will prepare

students better, and at the same time meet the skillsset of the work force for the 21st Century. Addition-ally, the mission of this long standing institution(CSU) of providing access to a growing and diversepopulation needing higher education in Californiawill not be met unless dramatic steps are taken nowto meet it. To meet its responsibility to provide con-tinuing access to the top one-third of high schoolgraduates, the CSU must plan to serve thousandsmore students. The CSU System faces an increase of100,000 full-time-equivalent students by 2010; themajority of those will be Latino. This enrollmentgrowth has been characterized as “Tidal Wave II.”

Accommodating the enrollment growth, whilesimultaneously providing quality education withinthis context, will require a new paradigm for lookingat how we utilize our public resources and applythem creatively. In the case of physical space alone,the CSU will need to accommodate a roughly 26%overall increase in students. If all available existingphysical plant space on all the CSU campuses wereused to maximum capacity, CSU would still be shortof space.

The magnitude of change that is necessaryrequires fundamental restructuring. The problem isthat the CSU System presently has no model fortransforming its existing institutions (Consortium forEducational Technology for University Systems,1997). The “case” of the new CSUMB gives hope tothe State that a possible model for both incrementaland fundamental change is in the works. This excerptdemonstrates the vibrancy of the vision:

California State University Monterey Bay’sVision Statement defines CSUMB as “servingthe diverse people of California, especially theworking class and historically under-educatedand low-income populations. The identity ofthe University will be framed by… coopera-tive agreements which enable students, fac-ulty, and staff to cross institutional boundariesfor innovative instruction… broadly definedscholarly and creative activity, and coordi-

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Agile Learning, New Media, and Technological Infusement at aNew University: Serving Underrepresented Students

nated community service… the curricula ofCSUMB will be student and society-centeredand of sufficient breadth and depth to meet thestatewide and regional needs, specificallythose involving both inner city and isolatedrural populations (Monterey, Santa Cruz, andSan Benito).” Partial statement.

Psychological and Geospatial Barriers toa Vibrant Service Area

For the past 70 years the land mass (55 squaremiles in all) where the campus is presently locatedserved the nation as a military base known to many asFort Ord. It is located on the upper rim of the Mon-terey Bay peninsula on one side, and similarly situ-ated on the opposite side, overlooking the SalinasValley. For many years, non-military personnel hadto literally drive around this area in order to get fromone side of the peninsula to the other. Even though,today, people may drive through the campus, withoutany sort of guard post or military permission, theycontinue to go around “the Fort.” There continues tobe a psychological barrier; many view “the Fort” as abarrier to life’s ambiguities and oppressions. The mil-itary records show that Latinos were trained for mil-itary battle by the thousands on this site; many wentto battle and did not return. The records indicate thatmany more Latinos “per capita” enlisted and dieddefending the United States than any other group;war after war after war. There are even records ofthousands of Latino soldiers who were trained at FortOrd, were born in the United States, lived their livesin Mexico, were drafted into the army, went to war,fought and sometimes died for our rights, returnedfrom war (with wounds and honor), and went back toMexico to live out their lives. Hence, they showedtremendous allegiance to the United States and nevertook advantage of their military benefits (a la Veter-ans Hospitals). Some of these Latinos are now stu-dents at CSU Monterey Bay and are at the vanguardof transforming the base under the crusade “fromswords to plow shares.”

Over the years Fort Ord gained a worldwide rep-utation for having an atmosphere of racial diversity;many soldiers referred to this atmosphere as a “com-fort zone.” Military personnel in “mixed racial” mar-riages were most often “encouraged” to transfer

there. As a result of retiring military personnel andthe agribusiness which attracted and exploited Japan-ese and Mexican people, the surrounding region hasone of the most ethnically diverse populations in theUnited States.

Since the base closed in 1991, some military per-sonnel remain. Thus, beyond CSUMB faculty, staff,students, and their families who live on the campusproperty, there are also approximately 900 militarypersonnel and their families. To the north is the com-munity of Marina with a high percentage of Asian-Americans. To the south is Seaside with a highpercentage of African-Americans. To the east is theSalinas Valley with a very high percentage of His-panics. Within the Monterey peninsula there is aninternational populace, due primarily to the long-standing influence of the Defense Language Institute,the Monterey Institute of International Studies, andhistorical migrations of migrants who worked pick-ing vegetables, fishing sardines, and serving some ofthe world’s wealthiest people in Carmel and PebbleBeach. Interesting to note is the fact that persons ofHispanic origin in the Salinas Valley (just east of thecampus) are younger than non-Hispanics, indicatingthat an increasing proportion of CSUMB’s new stu-dents will come from this group. Presently the cam-pus has approximately 30% Hispanic students and, asa result, has becomes a member institution of the His-panic Association of Colleges and Universities).(Note: The breakdown by gender of the Monterey,Santa Cruz, and San Benito County’s population issimilar to the rest of the state and nation with 49%male and 51% female.)

When authorization to establish CSUMB wasinitially granted, growth projections called on theuniversity to grow gradually to a full time equivalentpopulation in excess of 20,000 by the year 2030.However, subsequent restrictions on the water alloca-tion that will be available to the campus now indicatethat the university will be able to serve a traditionalresident/commuter student population (i.e., waterusers) of no more than 12,000 students. Furthermore,because of limited available local water resources,the aspiration that CSUMB will serve 25,000 stu-dents as part of a mandate from the California Post-secondary Education Commission, and as an effort ofCSU to respond to burgeoning enrollment pressures

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resulting from Tidal Wave II, will not be realizedunless approximately half of those students can beserved in off-campus settings (Consortium for Edu-cational Technology for University Systems, 1997).Thus, approximately one-half of the university’sFTES will need to be generated through a variety ofdistributed and low-residency programs. Needless tosay, this presents a great challenge. This becomes anopportunity for transforming the traditional “deficitparadigm for looking” at Latino/a populations as “theproblem,” and for beginning to focus on how it isthat, once recruited into institutions of higher educa-tion, Latinos/as are part of the solution. Hence,CSUMB must recruit and retain Latinos/as at nearby(within 100 miles), yet rural, San Benito Countycommunities, such as Gonzales, Chualar, King City,Greenfield, Paso Robles, Santa Rosa, and SantaMaria, all of which have high Latinos/as populations.

A Commitment to Multiculturalism,Diversity, and Pluralism: Student andFaculty Characteristics

The growth of the campus community has beenrapid, since opening day in the fall 1995 through thespring of 1999; the campus grew from approximately450 people to over 2,000. The range and variety ofbackground, experience, and demographics ofCSUMB’s students, faculty, and staff offers the uni-versity a sound base from which to honor its com-mitment to multiculturalism, diversity and pluralism(Arias, 1999b). Interesting to note is that an estimated90% of the faculty, staff, and students live on cam-pus, making for a diverse living setting as well.

Enrollment History and Trends

The current snapshot of the student members ofthe campus community reveals a culturally diversegroup of enrollees. To date, the total student popula-tion is over 2,000 and reflected in the following eth-nic/racial composition (rounded figures):

White 45.0%Latino/Latina/Hispanic 30.0%Asian/Filipino 9.0%African-American 4.0%American Indian 2.0%All Other 4.0%Unknown 6.0%

The data show that in each ethnic group, exceptWhite, there was an increase from the first to the sec-ond year (see data sets from the California State Uni-versity, Monterey Bay’s Office of Contracts andGrants). However, enrollment of White studentsdropped over 6%. Indicators tell us that, historically,other colleges have done a tremendous job at recruit-ing students from the region; nearby San Jose StateUniversity is a favorite place for local studentsbecause it allows them the opportunity to move awayfrom home and live an hour away.

The gender make-up of the student body for thesame time period reflects a majority enrollment offemales that is consistent with national trend data for4-year public institutions. Of the estimated 1,800 stu-dents enrolled in the spring 1999, 62.8% werewomen and 37.2% were men.

Recruitment efforts continue to generate culturaldiversity. Projections for fall 2000 suggest an incom-ing group of ethnically diverse students similar to theexisting student body (as above), but with a slightincrease in the number of Latinos/as and women.

Faculty Characteristics

Interesting to note is that CSUMB faculty alsocomprises a multicultural and diverse group. Of thetenure/tenure track faculty members at CSUMB theethnic breakout is as follows:

White 47.0%Asian 22.0%Latino/a/Hispanic 17.0%African-American 11.0%American Indian 1.5%Unknown 1.5%

In an unweighted comparison to the CSU facultyas a whole, the CSUMB faculty tends to be morediverse. The following data represent the CSU ratios:

White 79.3%Asian 10.3%Latino/a/Hispanic 6.0%African-American 3.9%American Indian 0.6%

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A New Paradigm for Designing andImplementing Distributed Learningand Distance Education

While CSUMB has been working hard todevelop the structures, programs, and servicesrequired to meet the immediate needs of its approxi-mately 2,000 matriculated students, the prominentrole that distributed learning services are expected toplay in the life of this university has always beenacknowledged (Arias, 1999b).

A major goal of CSUMB is to develop the capac-ity to deliver high quality distributed learning pro-grams utilizing innovative pedagogies. Beyond themore traditional and localized extended educationservice, there is a particular need for CSUMB todevelop model distributed learning and low-resi-dency education programs.

CSUMB has invested heavily in faculty and tech-nology with the intention of becoming a major playerin distributed learning. CSUMB has established theDistance and On-Line Learning program and havehired highly experienced individuals to further ourdistance education goals (Arias, 1996).

The “cyberworld” of the year 2000 and beyondrequires individuals who have a unique blend of cre-ativity and the technical understanding of computersand networks (Senge, 1990). The CSUMB faculty istaking its cues not only from traditional academicprograms, but also from the Open University of theUnited Kingdom, the Instituto Tecnologico de Mon-terrey,and the highly innovative Monterrey Institutefor Graduate Studies, the world’s first multilingualvirtual doctoral graduate school (see www.degee.com) and from relationships with industry. Thesecompanies provide advice annually in the directionswe need to pursue to evolve our technologicallyenhanced on and off-campus programs. Their MediaLearning Complex, a state-of-the-art facility contain-ing a variety of workstations and peripheral devicesas well as functional space for creative design anddevelopment, their Teledramatic Arts and Technol-ogy studio for video production, plus, the electronicpedagogical research being applied in the Social andBehavioral Sciences Centers, provide unique oppor-tunities for supporting distributed learning delivery.

Concepts such as “cyberworld,” “the technologi-cal society,” “the information age,” and “the globalcommunity” are often used to characterize the accel-erating complexity of modern life (Lipnack andStamps, 1997). And the dramatic changes implied bythese types of characterizations are challenging allcontemporary institutions to reexamine both theirgoals and their modes of operation. In the case ofhigher education, this analysis suggests that its tradi-tional goal of exposing students to, and assistingthem in the comprehension or understanding of, theorganized bodies of knowledge and skills containedwithin the discrete disciplines can no longer be con-sidered adequate preparation for either professionalwork or responsible citizenship (Senge, 1990).

For this reason, the overriding educational goal atCSUMB is to develop in its students the capacity tomove beyond information recall and comprehensionto the higher-order cognitive processes of informa-tion analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and application.In its broadest terms, CSUMB is committed to assist-ing all students, particularly historically under-edu-cated, technologically underserved, and low-incomepopulations, to develop the capacity to apply a broadrange of knowledge and skills. These traits areacquired from multiple sources, applied to the reso-lution of complex, real-life problems, and developthe knowledge, skills, and dispositions required foractive and responsible membership in a multilingual,culturally pluralistic, technologically sophisticated,and democratic society.

To achieve this higher level of education, the uni-versity recognizes that it also will be necessary todevelop non-traditional approaches to the design ofcurriculum and instruction (Arias, 1997).

It is within this context that much of the experi-mental foci, such as “other ways of knowing anddiversity,” the discovering of multiple intelligencesand more, are emerging and in some cases becomingcentral to the developmental agenda of higher educa-tion nationally, and indeed globally, and their experi-ences are beginning to position us to contribute tothat agenda. Additionally, the creative energies of thefounding Latino/a faculty, staff, and administrators,who were selected to launch this university, are start-ing to generate a wide range of ideas and plans which

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need a distributed learning and distance educationmechanism to be operationalized and optimized.Realizing that this “intersection of opportunity” mayoccur only once in an academic lifetime, theyembarked to identify (among literally several thou-sand curriculum vitae) the best minds in the industry.To name just a few, they attracted Luis Valdez,founder of the Teatro Campesino, movie producer,and teledramatist, who became a founding professorand served as the university’s first chair of the Acad-emic Senate. Under his leadership innovative acade-mic programs were designed, such as TeledramaticArts and Technologies, or “TAT.” The TAT programcreates a learning environment whereby studentslearn and practice the integration of a multiple ofmedia (CD-ROM, digital data manipulation, web-based designs, etc.) for the purpose of managingknowledge in virtual environments.

Manuel Carlos, a long-standing member of thefaculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara,left his post to join CSUMB as the first faculty hireand began making early contributions not only interms of how the new curriculum ought to be inte-grated and cross-disciplinary, but also in terms ofhow student field research experiences may beenhanced through virtual simulators; his work is thefirst technological application of its kind. JudithBaca, a professor at the University of California, LosAngeles and director of a community based art col-laborative, came to the university and introduced dig-ital imagery as a new method for creating murals.Her methods have contributed heavily to the “state ofdigital art” especially as it relates to social action.Amalia Mesa-Baines, recipient of the covetedMacArthur Award (known as the “genius award”)joined the faculty and became a leader in the crusadefor interdisciplinary pedagogies while incorporatingon-line methodologies; recently her images ofDolores del Rio were added to the permanent collec-tion of the Smithsonian Institution. Ruben Mendozais “breaking new ground” in the field of archaeologythrough applications of GIS (Geospatial InformationSystems) methods combined with server-based logicvirtual h). He also leads a team in the examination ofobject-oriented model design, knowledge manage-ment, and distributed cognition for the purposes offurther expanding the university within the context ofits core values and founding principles (Arias, 1999b;1998). In his capacity as global educator Dr. Ariasand his colleagues have since founded The MonterreyInstitute for Graduate Studies which is the world’s

first multilingual doctoral level virtual graduateschool in conjuction with the Centro De EstudiosUniversitarios in Monterrey, a prestigious thrity yearold institution located in Nuevo Leon, Mexico (seethe internet domain www.degree.com).

Many other second and third phase Latino/a fac-ulty hires, like Juan Gutierrez who is providing cut-ting edge insight to the areas of assessment, aremaking significant creative contributions. His on-lineassessment tools are timely and are gaining nationalattention. As a pioneer in the “New Media Project,”Rina Benmayor is combining critical thinking to her“bench work” as an oral historian when applyingweb-based techniques for teaching and learning. Thework of the Social and Behavioral Sciences as awhole, with its Latino/a focus, received commenda-tion from the California Postsecondary EducationCommission for having designed “one of the mosttechnologically innovative academic programs theState of California had ever seen.” The university,too, in its recent accreditation visit from the WesternAssociation of Schools and Colleges, was hailed ashaving created a “highly creative and innovativeenvironment for the infusion of technology.”

In short, CSUMB has an emerging “technologi-cal brain trust” of Latinos/as who have made signifi-cant inroads to the applications of new technologiesand new “ways of knowing and diversity,” thusly,viewing the contributions of Latinos/as as a tremen-dous asset – by curricular design. Although this maybe the case, it is a constant struggle becoming a uni-versity of its vision. While the opportunities for suc-cess have not diminished, it is important tocontinually renew the coordination and control ofevents that will shape the character of the institution.Significant political and technological challenges liebefore this young university. From a political stand-point, the university is presently at a crossroads withits leadership. Latinos/as are clamoring for leader-ship that will not veer from the original Vision State-ment. There is an apparent need to “back fill”positions vacated by those Latinos/as who, for what-ever reasons, have left the institution. But, from atechnological standpoint, one of those challenges isestablishing an educational program that will serveboth on- and off-campus students; again, especiallythe under-served and underrepresented students liv-ing in the heavily populated Latino/a communities.This service may be provided through a multiple ofmedia (cable TV, computer mediated, telecommuni-

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cations, etc.) and a highly flexible course schedule.At the same time, requests from the off-campus com-munity for educational programs and services (espe-cially those that serve Latino/a students anduncertified teachers) are accelerating each month.

M o r e o v e r, California, with its ever- e x p a n d i n gpopulation and unruly new laws against A ff i r m a t i v eAction and bilingual education, is in dire need ofe m e rgency credentials for new teachers who are bi-lit-erate and multicultural. CSUMB’s distributed/dis-tance education plan could provide a modelDistributed Teacher Credential for teachers on theE m e rgency Licenses program. Relatedly, the NationalHispanic University recognizes this and is planning toaddresses this phenomenon as well; especiallythrough the use of distance and distributed education.

“Agile Learning” and the New Media

Faculty and staff at CSUMB are well aware ofthe applications of communication technologies inhigher education across this nation. This understand-ing of how the “new media” are being applied haveprompted faculty and staff alike to re-evaluate thefunctions of learning and teaching in terms of effec-tively serving underrepresented/Latino/a students. Ithas also caused the reexamination of electronic ped-agogy and the social processes which support thatform of pedagogy (Arias and Bellman, 1991,1994a/b, 1995,1996a, 1997; Arias, 1999a). Facultyfully realize that introducing electronic technologyinto pre-established learning and teaching modelsdoes not necessarily create new paradigms that willcapitalize on the potential of the medium to transformthe educational process. Rather, faculty fully realizesthe distinction between how distance learning andnetworked learning is important. While distancelearning attempts to replicate the classroom ambianceacross geographic space, networked learninginvolves the acceleration of interactions betweenteachers, researchers and students through electronicnetworks (Arias and Bellman, 1995; Arias, 1997).The acceleration between teachers, researchers andstudents is causing an atmosphere of “agile learning.”

At CSUMB, a radical shift toward a new modelof learning and teaching is developing; students havereferred to it as an “electronic pedagogy of theoppressed” (as described above). Based on the inte-gration of networked capabilities into instruction,

there is emerging a Freirian reinterpretation of therelationship between teacher and student, the elimi-nation of the temporal and spatial restrictions on theinstructional process, and a blurring of the distinc-tions between “distance” and “campus-based” educa-tion. The idea is that learning and teachingincorporate “appropriate levels of technology” andintense interaction, both face-to-face, and “on-line.”Learning remains an intensely human and socialexperience, based on group dynamics developedacross a spectrum of networked-mediated, as well asclassroom, residential, and community activities(Arias and Bellman, 1995).

While taking into account especially the needs ofunderrepresented students, CSUMB was among thefirst to develop a technological infrastructure todeliver an educational program using an “intranet”design in conjunction with the Internet for collabora-tive learning and teaching. During the past five years,faculty have explored how to utilize fully the “WorldWide Web” as a distributed method for course deliv-ery using advanced multimedia technologies as bothinterface and program management systems. “Con-tact hours,” “seat time,” and “virtual or networkededucation” are being re-evaluated as CSUMB devel-ops an approach to education which emphasizes out-comes and competencies and replaces a credit-basedsystem with the assessment (including on-line elec-tronic assessment) of demonstrated learning.

At CSUMB learning and teaching are consideredto be complex adaptive systems that allow individu-als to explore alternative structures and model theirpotential for increasing the effectiveness of highereducation. The objective at CSUMB is to create a“smart campus.” The campus has an informationinfrastructure that supports widespread integration oftechnology into the educational process, but thattechnology alone is insufficient to assure majorchanges in teaching and learning (Gunneson, 1997).Thus, other important variables, such as the curricu-lar approach, must be taken into account while at thesame time “transforming” technology. As more andmore “learning communities” are formed, studentsand faculty come to a new understanding of how theelectronic environment, by virtue of its ubiquitousnature, can have an impact on distributed cognitionor how people learn “together” while they are apart(Grenier and Metes, 1992).

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The outcomes based education (OBE) approachused at CSUMB, together with the information tech-nology infrastructure, and electronic pedagogicalbehavior, is what produces a transforming educa-tional effect (Broad, 1997). As the faculty in theSocial and Behavioral Sciences Center has experi-enced, outcomes-based education separates coursecompletion from satisfaction of educational require-ments. Emphasis is placed on the students’ demon-stration of what they know and are able to do, not oncompleting a pre-determined set of courses. Facultyexplicates in advance of instruction the learning out-comes students are expected to achieve, and studentsunderstand that they must demonstrate proficienciesassociated with those outcomes in order to satisfygraduation requirements.

Under faculty’s guidance and supervision, stu-dents are allowed and encouraged to develop theirown individual pathways to achieve learning out-comes (Cornerstones Workgroup, 1997). This placesgreater emphasis on the learning process, which is ashift in pedagogical focus that serves all studentswell. Faculty attention is focused on planning andevaluating the effects of teaching rather than ondeveloping course content. Students discover theycan learn on their own, and with others, and in multi-lingual learning communities, hence, through manydifferent learning experiences both on- and off-line.They become less dependent on the information andlearning assignments provided by faculty and moredependent on their own initiative and judgment as acommunity of learners. As Uri Triesman found in hisresearch on Asian student’s success in mathematicscourses at the University of California, Berkeley, stu-dents who study in groups performed better on teststhan those who did not. Likewise, Latino/a studentsusing electronic technology in a “high tech” environ-ment learn to share learning experiences with eachother and discover unexpected sources of instructivesupport. This enables students to become “agilelearners,” hence, learning and teaching one anotherwhile they are apart (Arias and Bellman, 1995). Thearray of educational alternatives which emerge moti-vates underrepresented students to utilize technologyeven more to take advantage of available educationalopportunities. Faculties are equally motivated to usethe technology to expand the learning options pro-vided students. An “electronic pedagogy of theoppressed” is emerging that will transform bothlearning and teaching for underrepresented studentsfor the 21st Century.

Research that supports the fact that Latino/a stu-dents do well in “high tech” environments is emerg-ing (Arias, 1999a and 1999b). For the purposes ofthis paper, “high tech” environments include settingswhere faculty and staff have integrated workstationsand each student was assured access to a computer.As part of CSUMB’s assured access policy, approxi-mately 90% of students bring a computer to campuswith them, or buy one through one of CSUMB’sattractive purchase/lease plans. Many of the remain-ing 10% received computer awards. Computer labsare available in the library, and computers are avail-able on a 24-hour basis; the Media Learning Centerand dorms also provide computer access for studentswithout their own computers. Classrooms, labs,offices, many apartments, and residence halls are net-worked. People living off-campus most often sub-scribe to an Internet provider, such as Redshift. Eachstudent has an e-mail account, at least 15Mb of pri-vate server storage and nearly every student hashis/her own web page. When students becomeseniors and work on Capstone projects, their serverstorage space is expanded to 25Mb. In short, it isroutine for students to access the Internet severaltimes a day, and they are quite accustomed to pub-lishing electronically on WorldWide Web. Electronicmail serves as the primary communication, schedul-ing, and document distribution mechanism. The FirstClass server (computer-mediated conferencing soft-ware) links students to each other via e-mail and chatrooms to faculty, and to drop boxes for submission ofcourse materials. The goal at CSUMB is to providea flexible and well-defined interchange frameworkand suite of applications. As a social form, the net-worked environment provides for the formation ofnew learning communities and more opportunities toencourage multiculturalism and multilingualism.

In addition, CSUMB’s library has regional andnational access to on-line reference materials. Learn-ers have access to more than 7,000 full text on-linejournals through Lexis-Nexis, EBSCO, Masterfile,Expanded Academic ASAP, Business and CompanyA S A P, Academic Press IDEAL, Project MUSE,Novosoft, and World Wide Web publications. Stu-dents may also order journals and books from inter-library loan electronically. Linkages to partnerlibraries permit shared materials.

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The majority of both instructional and adminis-trative activities (e.g., correspondence and organizedactivity-specific dialogues) takes place via electronicmail, computer mediated conferences (often utilizingorganized learning groups) and meetings are sched-uled electronically, and documents are created bycomputer and shipped over the network. The impli-cations for creating efficiencies in instruction andother related educational functions, such as assess-ment, record keeping, and a wide array of adminis-trative and instructional support services, areenormous. Social and Behavioral Sciences Centermembers also create GIS digital maps that demon-strate a variety of campus-related phenomena fromthe distribution of students or where they came fromin the state, to space availability and more.

Relatedly, students in the Social and BehavoruialScienced Center (SBSC) are designing enterpriseobject-oriented models to link existing on-line mate-rials to visually process one’s activities (i.e., fulfill-ment of learning requirements, IT design, or budget,etc.) in relation to other activities and the impactdecisions may have on stakeholders. Enterprise-based object-oriented (OO) and Unified ModelingLanguage (UML) modeling makes it possible for fac-ulty to direct student-based projects to build theneeded visual environments to organize people, tech-nologies and activities (Arias, 1999a, 1999b, and1998). In the SBSC’s modeling approach, the focus ison “things and relationships between things”described in commonly used terms. The modelingsoftware bridges the so-called “semantic gap”between the people and the computer language. Oncea “map” of objects has been produced, users can nav-igate and visualize very complex relationships.Objects can hold data, such as how students areassessed for university learning requirements andmajor learning outcomes, course schedule data, soft-ware availability, scanned images, weight, and otherrelevant information. Another important property ofan Object is its ability to perform work scripted in“methods.” Thus an Object can be given the capabil-ity to perform functions, such as performing compu-tations, gathering data from other computers,showing video of servicing a part, or accessing a 3D-CAD drawing for viewing. This “active model” ismuch more than a GIS map for navigation in anabstract process model (Arias, 1999a). It becomes theactual work environment for individuals and teams.

It creates an occasioned environment for learning,assessing issues and impacts, communication, andexpanding personal electronic pedagogies.

In his keynote address to the U.S.-MexicoChambers of Commerace and the Association ofAmerican States, the author of this paper unveiled afuturistic object-oriented model of a design for envi-sioning and to some extent operationalizing a bina-tional agenda for higher education. The model waspresented to Seretaries of State from both countriesas a tool for planning in order to develop “what if”scenarios, like “what if” the U.S. and Mexico were tocollaborate on a truly binationally located institutionof higher education. Or, “what if” they were to builda technological infrastructure for creating a trulybinational virtual university. To a large extent TheMonterrey Institute for Graduate Studies is well onits’ way to achieving this goal with private support.The Monterrey Institute with its’ goal to become theprimary U.S. institution to educate and train thegreatest number of people of color receiving Ph.D.degrees each year, will utlilize object-oriented mod-els for its’ virtual or distance education “facilities,”student electronic portfolios, and for organizing its’full breadth of teaching, learning and assessment, aswell as administrative activities, all on a global basis.

Latino/a students are beginning to apply enter-prise object-oriented models for incorporating every-thing in their academic experiential universe, fromtheir Individual Learning Plan to their Senior Cap-stone Project and much more. Many are beginning tosee this as a tool for examination of self, whole lifeplanning, and as a new form of electronic resume.They see it as a personal empowerment tool that cantransform the processes of discovery, learning,research, and communication through emerg i n gforms of distributed cognition (Arias, 1999a).

The intense electronic culture at CSU MonterreyBay is transforming the social and learning environ-ments on campus, especially for Latino/a students; asthey communicate bilingually (Spanish/English) withagility via an open electronic forum and collaborateon course work via electronic conferences (Metes,Gundry and Bradish, 1998). Course syllabi andassignments appear on the World Wide Web. Work isdistributed electronically via campus servers andhanded in automatically into write-only drop folders

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via electronic mail. It is routine for underrepresentedstudents to produce artwork, do research, submitassignments, make appointments, and create and per-form class presentations, all by computer. Latino/astudents communicate in Spanish and English amongthemselves and discuss work with their instructorson-line in either language. The bicultural character-istic of both students and faculty is certainly an addeddimension. Students use collaborative documenttechniques to work together, use spreadsheets andcharts to portray numerical information, and makemulti-media portfolios of their work. They are skilledat using scanners, digital cameras, and projectionequipment, and most can make Web pages. Team-taught courses (both on-campus and between univer-sities, especially with Mexico) utilize the sameelectronic pathways. These examples leave us withthe indelible impression that when underrepresentedstudents are given the opportunity to engage the newtechnologies, they do so with agility and, often, innew unique ways.

Case Studies in Technology Integrationin Agile Learning and Teaching

Within each major at CSUMB, students mustlearn discipline-specific technological skills throughclassroom, lab, and field experiences that incorporateboth the outcome-based education approach andtechnology into the curriculum. One of the mostinnovative Centers on campus that is providing insti-tutional leadership in this way is the Social andBehavioral Sciences Center (SBSC).

Social and Behavioral Sciences Center

Multimediated applications to the social andbehavioral sciences have altered the way studentslearn and approach their studies. It has also alteredthe way faculty members teach and relate to the stu-dent (both on- and off-line). Prof. G. Baldwin (per-sonal communication, Spring, 1998) said that facultylectures are available in multimedia formats thatvastly increase learning opportunities and changelearning formats for students, as well as offeringthem alternative “pathways for learning” (a liveclassroom performance, a video-tape of that lecture,computer mediated conferences of the same, a livesatellite/microwave broadcast, etc.). These multi-mediated applications and diverse electronic formats

accommodate both on- and off-campus students witha range of learning styles (e.g., distributed, distance,etc.) and flexible scheduling needs.

In the Social and Behavioral Sciences Center(SBSC), students work in peer groups on selectedprojects, using computer-mediated technology in theresearch, writing, and presentation phases. Latino/aand other students often create multilingual peergroups. Faculty engage students through project-based learning; the projects interpolate theoreticallearnings into applied learning within the frameworkof real-world simulations or experiences.

For example, National Science Foundation fund-ing has supported the SBSC in development of apath-breaking multimedia interactive learning simu-lator (which contains the entire curriculum andinstructional materials) for teaching students how toconduct field research in an electronic (computer)environment, known as the Ethnographic ResearchMultimedia Project (ERMP).

Prof. Manuel Carlos (personal communication,Summer, 1999) reports that the ERMP has alreadydeveloped and is continuing to create various levelsof multimedia interactive learning simulators, whichcontain the entire curriculum and instructional mate-rials for teaching students how to conduct virtualfield research in an electronic environment. Studentstrain as ethnographers in class and laboratory settingsby working on ethnographically authentic interactivetextual, visual, and aural medium mediated by com-puter technology. The electronic filed site approxi-mates “real life” situations to train students inscientific principles and protocols. The coursewares(text, curriculum, and CD-ROM) are currently in betatesting at CSUMB, the University of California,Santa Barbara, and the Universidad de Queretaro.The materials have multimedia elements that includetext, slides, video clips, and audio, maps, text, andstatistics that pertain to research conducted in Mexi-can peasant communities. The simulators allow stu-dents to test hypotheses for the communities and forglobal impact studies. Feedback permits students tomonitor their observations against control elementsthat test for apparent contradictions, reliability, etc.Latino/a students are attracted to not only the on-linesimulators, but also to the summer field trip require-ment to Queretaro, Mexico.

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Another fascinating area that has captured theimagination of Latino/a students for the purposes ofcausing social action is one of the most rapidly grow-ing modern technologies or GIS. Although you typi-cally find GIS in engineering, natural science, andgeography departments, and even business schools,SBSC embraces the relevance of GIS as a tool tostudy human social forms. GIS is, therefore, incorpo-rated as an equal partner to the blend of social andbehavioral sciences; faculty, staff and students learn tomanage georeferenced information. Faculty membersare directing students vis-à-vis project based learningto design GIS digital maps with any kind of attributedata that have important spatial significance. Latino/astudents have been focusing (by their own accord) onsuch topics as vegetation land use as compared to thedevelopment of low-income housing for local farm-worker families, pesticide utilization in different areasof the county, road networks and their proximity tocommunities of people of color, gang territories, drugrates, and diseases. Similarly, from a proactive stand-point SBSC students have already conducted exten-sive research on the region to determine how to targ e trecruitment of underrepresented students for a possi-ble satellite campus. Students are now planning astudy that would map regions in the SouthwesternUnited States where Latinos/as have been displacedor relocated as a direct result of urban renewal. T h e yare particularly concerned with mapping areas whereinstitutions of higher education have been establishedand Latino/a communities were displaced (i.e.,Auraria Higher Education Complex in Denver, SanAntonio College, San Diego State University, Te x a sA&M University-Kingsville, San Diego City College,new extensions to San Jose State University, etc.).

Similarly, the SBSC Institute for CommunityNetworking (ICN) promotes the academic study ofcivic networking: the use of telecommunications bythe general public for local community and economicdevelopment, non-profit service delivery, and civicparticipation in government. Various names havebeen used to describe such systems: community com-puter networks, civic networks, public access net-works, free-nets, public information utilities,electronic town halls, telecommunities, communitycommunication centers, and telecottages. Othershave defined public access networks as “an electronicsystem of information bases and/or person-to-personcommunications, structured around defined publicinterest goals in a particular geographical area orjurisdiction” (Baldwin, 1997).

Using a Silicon Graphics Indy computer andNetscape server software, the ICN is dedicated to thestudy of “virtual communities,” “virtual identities,”and the Internet’s emerging global community. Thesocial psychology of on-line behavior and how it isshaped by telecommunication policy is exploredthrough project-based learning labs, simulations, andreal-life activities on the Internet. Students areencouraged to work closely with their own commu-nity to develop such systems, then publish and pre-sent their findings at regional and nationalcommunity networking conferences (Baldwin,1997). It is projects such as these that underrepre-sented students are drawn to: social action-based pro-ject learning.

The following annotated list highlights the elec-tronic pedagogical techniques utilized by faculty tos y n e rgistically blend technology and competencybased education into an advanced model for educat-ing students in the social and behavioral sciences inthe 21st Century. Again, we have no evidence thatunderrepresented students have “trouble” adapting tothe new technologies.

Web Based Technology: H T M L ( H y p e r Te x tMarkup Language) technology has enhanced all fac-ulty courses. All SBSC course syllabi are availablevia the Internet as well as the Intranet. The Center’shome page is linked to course material on facultycomputers or campus servers, which work with “con-nected-CD-ROM” technology that seamlessly inte-grates the full motion and stereo experience of theCD-ROM with the interactivity (on-line grading, on-line assessment, chat, etc.) capable with the Internet.Syllabi are located on the World Wide Web and arebeing utilized in team-taught on-line classes by pro-fessors at other institutions.

Competency-based education and web-based syl-labi allow faculty to design curricula that address therequired (and operationalized) learning outcomes. Inthe event students lack a skill necessary to achievethe learning outcomes they are pursuing, the HTML-linked syllabi enable students to learn in a non-linearfashion - not bound strictly to the path for learningestablished by any professor. Non-linear access ofcurriculum content allows SBSC majors to draw oncurriculum content engineered by other faculty. Mul-tiple syllabi that interact with the learner in this man-ner are not possible with course-based curriculum.

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The web-based curriculum, in some instances,reaches out into the community for course content.For example, the Institute for Community Network-ing has parallel course content about communityinformation systems. Students work with non-profitsand government agencies to construct web sites thatdistribute those organizations’ public information.

Collaborative Writing as Pedagogy: E-mail andelectronic documents are incorporated into all learn-ing activities. This is a highly interactive method forimproving writing skills and has been embraced byall faculty in the Center as part of our pedagogy. Stu-dents are required to rework documents, individuallyor as part of small research teams, several timesbefore they are accepted. Collaborative writing andpeer editing, combined with electronic disseminationof the product, is a powerful teaching tool (Hiltz,1988; Johnson-Laired, 1988). The electronic distrib-ution of these documents via e-mail allows studentsto overcome the scheduling problems usually facedby nontraditional students who have less time tospend on campus due to family or career obligations.

From the student’s perspective, the use of newtechnologies to deliver the curriculum is just as dra-matic as the competency-based system of electronicassessment presently under construction. Faculty,staff, and students have found that the innovative useof multiple mediated applications provides a qualita-tively more thorough, efficient and more independentmeans of engaging students, as Paolo Freire wouldrecommend, whether the engagement occurs syn-chronously or asynchronously. The social aspects ofthe Internet are used as a fertile ground for social sci-ence research, allowing students to demonstrate com-petency in various technologies as well as traditionalsocial science research methodologies and theories.

Electronic Multimedia Portfolio Assessment

Students exhibit, in the form of multimedia port-folios, the basis for meeting All University LearningRequirements (ULRs), Major Learning Outcomes(MLOs), and state requirements. The multimediaportfolio incorporates the use of digital text, digitaldata, digital art, HTML, and object-oriented model-ing technology for a comprehensive and formal mul-timediated presentation. The portfolios exhibit howstudents have met all graduation requirements over

the course of university attendance. The purpose of amultimedia portfolio is not only to create a newmethod of learning/teaching communication (deliv-erable presentation and outcome assessment). It alsoaffords the student permanent digital records (i.e.,electronic resume that can be designed into an activeobject-oriented model) of accrued university work, aswell as a student’s assessed learning experiences. Inaddition, the academic work (during final assess-ment) can be provided to the faculty member, assess-ment specialist, and/or the senior assessmentcommittee in an easily accessible format. The multi-media portfolio is based on Netscape Gold, MicrosoftWord, the CSUMB Seal Server, as well as other cam-pus computer hardware.

The Utilization of ComputerMessaging Systems (CMS)

The use of computer messaging systems, or CMSin particular (from e-mail and synchronous multilin-gual “chat rooms” to computer mediated andf o c u s e d / o rganized dialogs), is but one powerfulexample of how basic technology (readily accessibleand low cost) has greatly impacted teaching andlearning, especially with underrepresented students.It has, and will continue, to provide new opportuni-ties to reach Latinos/as. This has been clearly demon-strated in our computer networking pedagogicalapproaches involving culturally and linguisticallydiverse groups of students from the region (Baldwin,1997). In the course of experimenting with new ped-agogies, professors have been able to both cause andevaluate various features of computer networkedlearning offered via the Internet that is truly bilingual,bicultural, and sometimes global in focus. They haveshown that computer-messaging systems that aredesigned for bilingual (Spanish/English) settingsgreatly augment regular classroom instruction. Wehave also learned that CMS is a viable technology forLatinos/as taking courses on- and off-campus, dis-tance learning, and/or through distributed educationalmodes that are “intra-netted.” CMS provides individ-ualized and group attention to bilingual/biculturalstudents that can not be obtained using traditionalmethods of monolingual, majority dominant culturalclassroom feedback. It supports a Freirian method ofinstruction, whereby students are much more activelyinvolved in the teaching and learning process ratherthan being passive recipients. Latinas report that the

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“playing field” is leveled as well. Latino/a studentsutilizing CMS also report that the anonymity of thetechnology promotes bilingual discussions wherebystudents prefer to converse in both Spanish and inEnglish. Latinos/as report that this is the sort of dis-cussion that otherwise would be inhibited in tradi-tional classroom formats. Examples of this are thesuccess of on-line courses that incorporate a multipleof computer messaging systems (synchronous/asyn-chronous communications, computer mediated con-ferences that are conducted over time and byinvitation only about a specified topic, etc.).

L e t ’s say, for example, that two professors chooseto add forms of computer messaging systems to aug-ment their existing syllabi to accommodate numerouson-line (computer mediated) teaching, learning, andassessment experiences. They incorporate CMS, as aviable instructional form for team-teaching, smallgroup study, bilingual chat rooms, and conference dia-loguing modes. They also decide on a textbook that isprinted in Spanish and English. Utilizing CMS, oneprofessor may be physically located at an institutionin the U.S. while the other is in a Spanish-speakingc o u n t r y. Both professors should be bilingual/bicul-tural. In U.S. classrooms serving primarily Latino/astudents, we have found that it also helps if the pro-fessors in the Spanish-speaking country are recipientsof advanced degrees from a U.S. institution; most arewilling to experiment with CMS in their personalelectronic pedagogy.

Other personal electronic pedagogies may beadapted, like encouraging students in a math class todetermine the answer to an equation through detaileddescription or text in Spanish or in English, or in bothlanguages, thus allowing students to work in virtualgroups they form (with students of either dominantlanguage). In this sort of learning environment, bilin-gual students have the option to approach problemsolving through text, in both languages, as a group,and also attempt the numerical approach with moreconfidence. Concomitantly, students and professorsexperience a learning behavioral paradigm shift, asthey simultaneously become learners and teachers.Students and professors alike come to a new under-standing about multiple ways of knowing (classicFreirian learning), and soon begin to view their sub-ject matter from a multiple of perspectives anddimensions, as well. Contrary to traditional mythsabout on-line teaching and learning, CMS greatlyaccelerates and facilitates the ability to unify knowl-

edge, hence, an “agile learning” style. In this setting,we have learned that all approaches to problem solv-ing are viable. This approach sends a powerful mes-sage about the nature of learning to faculty andstudents, especially would-be teachers. In short,CMS encourages other ways of knowing and diver-sity, by design.

The application of computer messaging systems(CMS) in the classroom in this way is but an analogfor how that many multilingual-global group settingsmay be formed for the purposes of conducting every-thing from classes, to assessment, to group research(working together while apart) and how these may besuccessfully and qualitatively conducted over anIntranet or over the Internet. Again, it is relativelylow-cost and has had a dramatic positive impact onteaching, learning, and access.

Computer messaging systems promote student-to-student interaction and collaborative work. Under-represented students who may not have experiencedthe new media and, as those more sophisticated intechnology, learn with equal facility. As a conse-quence of having this experience and familiarity withnew technologies, many Latino/a students who tradi-tionally are not “heard” have switched to becomingindividuals with emerging voices both on- and off-line. This attributes to a new dimension to the devel-opmental of self (in the social psychological sense).The “self-efficacy effect” on Latinos/as alone issomething we look forward to as it empowers under-represented students early in the 21st Century.

What we have is an emerging electronic peda-gogy being formed as a direct result of new forms ofengagement. As the new media develop, underrepre-sented people must leverage its “broadcast” facilityto learn from each other in new ways, become thelearners and the teachers, and at once design peda-gogical breakthroughs to advance the unheard voices,as the focus must be muti-fold:

• CMS, and new media itself, involves emergingpedagogical factors that, once realized, unveilnew “ways of knowing” for diverse populationswhich must be applied in virtual environments;

• by empowering underrepresented people throughelectronic tools, such as computer messagingsystems and other new media, new social forms(social networks) will be created and make posi-tive changes to the existing virtual landscape;

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• we must continually renew new media (CMS,etc.) and subsequently re-examine new tools forexpanding the paradigm in support of “otherways of knowing and diversity”;

• we must understand the integration of the CMStools, within the context of multiple cultures andlanguages, and at the same time strive to buildvirtual environments that embrace diversity.

Much more strategic thinking surrounding accessto, and use of, the new technologies is needed. Toomany administrators focus only on the acquisition ofcomputer hardware as the cure-all to their technolog-ical deprivation. By comparison, the availability oftechnology may be measurably higher at CSUMB,but it is these sorts of experiences that have left fac-ulty with the indelible impression that the quantity(or lack thereof) of computers in an institution is notthe primary obstacle. The obstacle lies in the limitedvision and direct experience people have about whatcomputer communications systems can provide.Most particularly when people get creative aboutsharing resources within and between institutions,electronic bartering may vary from sharing files, toservers, to materials located on the servers, to lever-aging software purchases with major corporations.There presently exists unlimited access to endlessamounts of technological opportunity (e.g., data-bases, software, and networks) if only people learnedto distribute the costs. Rooms full of computers arenot necessary; rather, new behavioral approaches totechnological utilization are absolutely necessary.

Presently, CSUMB is grappling with the idea ofhow to share the vast amounts of on-line materialswith other like institutions. They are beginning toview knowledge as “social capital.” In this way, theyare exploring expansion of their on-line materialswith the National Hispanic University (NHU) in sucha way that would encourage on-line team-taughtcourses. This would allow the NHU to leap forwardinto on-line teaching and not have to make costlymistakes, and at the same time concentrate theirresources to similarly related support.

What faculty and administration want throughoutelementary, secondary, and post secondary educationis to readily assemble the hardware needed to providestudents and teachers a new pathway for accessinginformation throughout their region, nationally, andinternationally. CSUMB’s underrepresented studentsare beginning to realize that one computer, readily

available and connected to a server, can take theplace of a room full of computers. Once the student,teacher, and/or administrator develops the strategicthinking that directs them to seek beyond their insti-tution to gain access to sorely needed software andother relevant materials, cam we develop a “lastmile” perspective on technology. Perhaps CésarChávez would depict this as a “si se puede con tec-nologia” perspective, as researchers (Arias and Bell-man, 1990; 1991; 1993b; and, 1994b) have found:

A. Underrepresented students in a “high tech”environment experience

1. How “base” and advanced technology greatlyaugments regular classroom instruction and is aviable technology for multilingual and multicul-tural teaching and learning;

2. How new media are viable technology for off-campus or distant education especially in under-represented communities;

3. How computer messaging systems serve asviable interactive components to video or liveinstructional television courses by providingindividualized attention to underrepresented stu-dent needs and requirements that cannot beobtained using traditional methods of audio andvideo feedback. Likewise, video lectures that arepurchased by the institution often have facultythat represent the dominant culture and do holdsimilar values and beliefs as underrepresentedstudents – CMS can bring a new “balance” to thatomnipresent variable;

4. How computer messaging systems technologyfacilitates writing across the curriculum andgreatly improves student writing, editorial, andlogical skills in multiple languages and, at thesame time, promotes group support for the valueof multilingual on-line communications regard-less of the level of competency in a language;

5. How computer messaging systems are importantfor developing “open” attitudes or connectivitywith users’ diversified electronic groups;

6. How when used with video presentations of lec-tures, computer messaging systems permits stu-dents to learn more deeply than with the televisedsegments alone. Where computer communica-tions were first used to augment and supplementvideo instruction, video now supplements com-p u t e r-communications-delivered instruction.This is a major shift learning from the individualto distributed cognition;

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7. How underrepresented students are able to mas-ter both basic and advanced computer communi-cations techniques and immediately beginlearning and communicating on-line.

B. Pedagogical Benefits

1. Computer messaging systems support a Freirianmethod of instruction, whereby students aremuch more actively involved in the learningprocess rather than passive recipients.

2. This technology is particularly useful for facili-tating group discussion and constructive criti-cism in virtually all areas of the curriculum.

3. The medium is viable for reaching culturally andlinguistically diverse learners, and has been pos-itively received by students.

4. Computer-naive students learn with agility equalto those more sophisticated with the technology.

5. Social science and humanities students havingsome word-processing skills learn and accept thetechnology at a level equivalent to students tak-ing computer sciences courses.

6. Students adapt particularly well to the technol-ogy when interacting with students from distantlocations and campuses.

7. Group reading of computer-mediated conferencenotes in a class promotes discussion with stu-dents on distant campuses and international sites.

8. Coupled with visual materials, thinking textuallyis sufficient to improve literacy even when a lib-eral attitude is taken toward grammar, syntax,and spelling.

9. Writing skills in more than one language improvewith active participation in computer confer-ences. (Arias & Bellman, 1994; 1995; 1997.)

C. Social Psychological Impact

1. Computer-mediated conferencing and supportivetechnologies (e-mail, chat rooms, videoconfer-encing systems, etc.) promote participation andlearning in traditionally communicative appre-hensive learners. This is especially the case withshy students, whose first language is not English,and women who are not apt to verbally confrontmen. In each of the latter three categories; indi-viduals willingly express themselves when inter-acting on-line.

2. This technology greatly augments student inter-action and promotes attitudes that such learning

is a legitimate and necessary part of the pedagog-ical process. In traditional classroom situations,students are often reluctant or denied the oppor-tunity to interact with others except the instruc-tors; computer communications as discussed herepromote student-to-student interaction.

3. The anonymity of the technology promotes dis-cussion that might otherwise be inhibited out ofconcern for student face-to-face negative feed-back.

4. The anonymity of the medium is sufficient topromote critical discussion and is as effective asanonymity of identity in conferences.

5. The connectivity of the medium promotesfriendly attitudes toward those engaged in dis-cussion, and promotes more critical than hostilecompetitive discussion.

6. A combination of computer conferencing andtelecommunications technology (a la VTEL) pro-motes stronger group attitudes and participationthan E-mail distribution-list-organized confer-ences (Arias & Bellman, 1994; Arias, 1997,1999a, and 1999c.)

Expanding Education for UnderrepresentedStudents Through Partnerships

As a start-up institution, CSUMB planners foundthemselves in the fortunate position of being able tomake the best possible choices in technological andinformation-technology infrastructure, and as a directresult made major investments in technology. To theircredit, planners collaborated with over 20 majorresearch institutions that rim the Monterey Bay,school districts in the region, corporations in the Sil-icon Valley, as well as the State and Federal Govern-ment (Naval Postgraduate School and DefenseLanguage Institute), and provided the leadership towork together to develop further advanced infrastruc-ture for especially interconnected-technologies. Onehigh profile example of this is CSUMB’s collabora-tions with Pacific Bell, AT&T/Lucent Technologies,and other corporations to develop an ATM networkconnected through a Lucent Switch, via CSU-NET,to provide access to the Internet. This helps facilitateinteraction between the ATM and ISDN networks forthe schools, the community, and the relatively iso-lated region. This positioned CSUMB as a leader inhigh-speed ATM capabilities, giving full connectivityto entities such as BayNet for live underwater videofrom Monterey Bay and statewide distance education

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multimedia using near-broadcasting quality videoand high speed multimedia as well as access to scan-ning electron microscopes. Collaborative efforts arealso under development for off-campus extension ofthe high-speed network with local cable TV and Eth-ernet to campus residences.

Examples of how students are engaging opportu-nities and at the same time leveraging technologypartnerships include:

• AT&T Signature Schools Project: In a partner-ship which includes the non-profit, community-based Greenlining Institute, the Latino IssuesForum, the Detwiler “Computers For Schools”Program, and other non-governmental organiza-tions like AT&T, CSUMB is designing a “Signa-ture School” teacher training curriculum for usein an “at-risk” San Francisco elementary schoolpopulation. The project places Internet-readycomputers into the school classrooms, and thehomes of teachers and students, (40% of the stu-dents live in the Bay View and Hunters Pointhousing projects, a disadvantaged African-Amer-ican neighborhood) in order to improve academicsuccess of these students. Results from this ini-tiative will be shared systemwide within CSUand will be distributed nationally.

• California Academic Partnership Pro g r a m(CAPP): CSUMB is also a partner along withGavilan College, San Benito High School, theFree Lance Newspaper, Radio KMPG, Hollister,the Office of Emergency Services, CupertinoElectric, the City of Hollister, and others, in aninnovative, technology-focused “School-to-Career” Program designed to raise the Englishscores of Latino students to meet collegeentrance requirements, increase the number ofLatino students entering 4-year colleges, andincrease the number of Latino instructors at SanBenito High School. As co-director of this CSU-funded program, CSUMB is providing supportthrough the university academic and student sup-port systems, telecommunications and Interna-tional Entrepreneurship and Education Studiesdegree programs, teacher training programs, cur-riculum and articulation guidance, service learn-ing and talent search services.

• Monterey Bay National Resource Center: As partof a Title VI grant application, CSUMB has pro-posed to establish a National Resource Centercomprised of the major educational and corpo-rate players in the region. This would focus onlanguage acquisition, curriculum development,and integration of technology. One of five insti-tutes within the Monterey Bay National ResourceCenter, the Institute for the Creative Use of Tech-nology will adapt and develop indigenous, for-eign, and English language programs that will beoffered to other educational institutions, includ-ing CSU campuses, and marketed as appropriate.

• Docent Training: This project utilizes teleconfer-encing and Web Page resources to train docentsfor the Monterey Bay Aquarium usingmicrowave/satellite technologies.

• Monterey Bay Net: CSUMB and Monterey BayNet provide Internet access for 42 Monterey Bayarea schools via through the “Initiative for Infor-mation Infrastructure & Linkage Applications.”

• CSUMB Service Learning Institute: Places stu-dents as technology tutors at local public schoolsand as experts at non-profit agencies, such as inthe development, coordination, and multitude ofon-line activities created for the First AnnualInternational Salinas Valley Mariachi Conferenceand Festival.

Industry Collaborative Projectsfor Education

English as a Second Language 2000: Workingwith Granite Corporation and HRB Systems,CSUMB is currently evaluating the format and con-tent of the English as a Second Language Program(ESL2000) in order to develop a proposal to improveand enhance this computer-based, self-study pro-gram. In addition to correcting technical problemswithin the program and integrating the latest peda-gogical techniques, this project involves the repro-gramming of the software to network and Internetstandards for on-line and distance learning purposes.

• Archipelago Productions: This software devel-opment company is a subsidiary of the majoreducational publishing house, Harcourt-Brace,and has recently relocated its headquarters to

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Monterey due to the region’s language resourcesand CSUMB’s technology focus. ArchipelagoProductions has proposed a collaboration todevelop an “English as a Second Language” pro-gram. It would be a follow-up program for Arch-i p e l a g o ’s best-selling introductory Spanishcourse or “Encuentros.”

CSUMB has also crafted a number of strategicalliances with leading-edge technology companies tocreate state-of-the-art tools and learning experiencesfor applied technological innovation. Some of thesealliances include:

• Sun Microsystems: Sun Microsystems installed afull Sun site, one of fewer than a dozen such sitesin existence. The massive server capacity this siteoffers allows CSUMB to provide ‘communityserver’ resources. For example, every CSUMBstudent, staff, and faculty member is given spacefor home pages, and numerous non-profit andeducational institutions within the region are alsogiven space. Additionally, the university makesserver space and support services available forentrepreneurial web-based student activities.

• Silicon Graphics, Inc.: Silicon Graphics, Inc. hasequipped CSUMB with one of only a half dozenfull Silicon Graphics Studios. The studio is posi-tioned as a university and community learningresource. Courses are offered to CSUMB andother universities’ students and faculty, andemployees of commercial firms, all of whomwant to learn the techniques of high-end, 3-dimensional computer animation.

• Lucent Technologies: Lucent equipped CSUMBwith a Definity 3GR Switch and a switch to theexperimental telecommunication laboratory, sothat learners may explore the many dimensionsof ITC (integration of telephone and computing)technology. The way planners “design-in” bothdistance/distributed educational functions andstudent services (for students at a distance) willbe a major contribution to the applications’ engi-neering. This will prove invaluable once webegin to link, through telecommunications, tocities with large Latino/a populations (Salinas,Gonzales, Chualar, King City, Paso Robles,Santa Maria, etc.). The “switch” will allow fortelephone registration and access to multi-lingualauditory environments.

• Sony: Sony equipped the university with a fullAvid computer-based, video-editing facility anda state-of-the-art, on- and off-line customizedSony System 3000 editing and broadcast controlsystem. CSUMB now has one of the mostadvanced professional video broadcast, post pro-duction, and long distance learning sites of anyuniversity in the nation. The high-end nature ofthis hardware has contributed to the integrationof the study of theater with film, video, audio,and Cyberspace. CSUMB is furthering the devel-opment of an all-digital, postproduction center,for basic video editing to digital imaging.

These are but a few examples of the rapidlyexpanding technologically-oriented projects atCSUMB. As a whole, they demonstrate the redeem-ing features of this campus that constitute a rich mixof both residential and virtual learning. In the nearfuture, CSUMB may grow to be as high as 80% res-idential. Plans for utilizing technology can only be acatalyst for agile learning, teaching, research forovercoming distance (even on its own huge landmass), and for providing access for all students, espe-cially our historically underserved and underrepre-sented populations.

Conclusion

Historically, the State of California and the Cali-fornia State University System has not made invest-ments in trying to be responsive to a diversepopulation that is rapidly changing. Policymakershave systematically ignored the needs of the largestand fastest ethnic group – Latinos/as. The RANDCorporation and others postulate that, by the year2005, there will be 1 million students qualifying foradmittance into either the University of California orthe California State University who cannot be admit-ted because both systems will be totally impacted.The majority of these students will increasingly comefrom underrepresented populations. This is beingcalled the “Third Wave” by the California Round-table. Unless new ways of delivering quality learningare invented and unless we increase the capacities ofexisting institutions, students (especially underrepre-sented ones) will be locked out of higher education.The proper utilization of technology offers somehope — especially as partnering occurs with existinginstitutions (Daniel, 1996).

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Under the leadership of Franciso Hernandez,Vice-Chancellor at the University of California atSanta Cruz they too have come to similiar technolog-ical realizations as they embark on a steward effort tobring distance education courses to Latino highschool students headed for the University of Califor-nia. They have researched existing entities, such as,the Cisco Academy and have found that while many“off the shelve” programs are of high technologicalquality, they lack the integration of the core valuesyou embedded in the Vision Statement at CSU Mon-terrey Bay, such as, multilinguism, globalism, ethicalreflection and the like. Hence, they will most likelybegin to design their own courses that will reflectimportant core values-such as these. Relatedly, dur-ing the summer of 2000 Dr. Arias and his team ofresearches surveyed and interviewed over 200 corpo-rations in the Silicon Valley. In nearly every casecorporations experessed a “high need” for students topossess these “skills sets” as well. In addition thenumber one finding was that corporations wantedstudents that could manage projects. But this typi-cally meant in a global and multilingual context.

Private and public institutions of higher educa-tion should strap on this challenge and join to carryeducation to underrepresented students in new ways,both where they live and through distributed educa-tion centers. Innovative educators must developwell-defined visions of how computers and telecom-munications networks can improve teaching andlearning. Once a vision for serving Latino/a studentsthrough the utilization of new technologies is real-ized, cooperative ventures with institutions such asthe National Hispanic University (NHU), K-12,and/or public agencies could prove invaluable. TheNHU has an important goal in locating their campusin a Latino/a community. The idea is to improve par-ticipation among area high school graduates. Hence,when improving access for Latino/a students, a moretargeted approach will have greater impact. That isnot to be taken lightly.

For instance, last academic year San Jose StateUniversity graduated only five Latino/a sciencemajors. If the NHU targets just 20 Latino/a studentsand provides them with a science curriculum, whilesimultaneously providing them with ample academic(retention) support (a la, on-line materials, on-linepeer group learning experiences in bilingual and/orbicultural modes, access to high end hard/software,etc.), they could create class after class of Latino/ascience graduates, perhaps 20 per year within thenext five years. That is four times more Latino/a sci-ence majors than SJSU produces with a total studentpopulation of nearly 30,000. The National HispanicUniversity presently has 300 students.

In the near future, the vision of a public and pri-vate partnership will become a reality through the uti-lization of videoconferencing systems and theInternet. This will enable more institutions like CSUMonterrey Bay, The National Hispanic University,The Monterrey Institute for graduate studies, and oth-ers, to serve the more Latinos/as, to expand their cur-riculum, share resources, and collaborate on projectsthat, without the technology, would be deplete oflearning augmentation or be too labor intensive. Asmore and more universities like the CSUs and theUCs improve their on-line materials and virtuallearning experiences, we will find increased opportu-nities for Latino/a populations.

CSUMB has, as part of its Vision Statement, amandate to serve historically underserved and under-represented students, and as its founders (especiallyLatino/a faculty) are contributing to new ways ofengaging Latino/a students through the utilization ofnew technologies, the campus is positioning itself tosubstantially increase the number of underrepre-sented students. Be that as it may, it too needs toestablish well-founded partnerships with entitiessuch as the National Hispanic University. At the min-imum, CSUMB faculty from underrepresentedgroups aspire to make original contributions, whilesimultaneously building bridges between groups, eth-nic groups, racial groups, and class groups.

In short, through continuous renewal, this uni-versity must be fully responsive to the needs and con-straints of the 21st Century.

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