The Senate, like many other units on campus, is beginning to plan for Cybersemester '97. Our hope is to generate more enthusiasm and reflection, among the widest possible spectrum of faculty, about the potential for integrating modern technology into the way we teach. This will encourage the use of pedagogical tools which were still unimaginable when most of us were students.

It is anticipated that, by fall 1998, approximately one-third of all classrooms on campus will have the minimum configuration to use new electronic teaching methods ‚‚ meaning that these classrooms will be "wired" with Internet access and equipped with window shades and screens.

The time to develop the requisite courseware to make use of these new resources is now. A select number of faculty on campus have already begun, and have been innovators in adopting advanced instructional technologies. These faculty span a wide range of departments from French to integrative biology in the College of Letters and Science to the schools of education and public policy among the professional schools.

These colleagues are important resources for advancing the dialogue with faculty who have just begun, or have just been contemplating, the use of advanced technology in the classroom.

As part of Cybersemester, the Berkeley Multimedia Research Center, UC Extension and the Senate will sponsor a conference to bring together UC faculty and publishers who are developing and using multimedia titles in research and education.

Speakers will be drawn from diverse departments at Berkeley and from companies which produce and market multimedia titles. A hands-on workshop for faculty will be included. The conference is currently scheduled for Jan. 15 and 16.

Very soon the Senate will be announcing details of several half-day sessions, during the spring semester, when all faculty will be invited to share their interests and expertise in projects that use new technologies for teaching.

To encourage participation in these forums, and to encourage faculty to initiate instructional technology projects, The Vice Chancellor and Provost, Carol T. Christ has already agreed to augment our existing Classroom Technologies Grant Program.

This program is administered by the Senate's Committee on Teaching and the Office of Media Services. This program will provide enhanced funding specifically for the introduction of new instructional technologies into the classroom.

Projects that involve large lecture classes which have multiple sections, and/or classes that are heavily subscribed are especially welcome. Details will be announced soon.

Finally, an all-university conference on teaching and learning technology will be held on March 25 and 26, at UCLA to explore the possibilities and challenges of integrating new information and communications technologies at throughout the university.

In anticipation of this conference ‚‚ which will also be broadcast hereăthe Senate hopes, through its sponsorship of these events, to ignite the interest of many more faculty.