WHEREAS the Students' Association of Algonquin College (the Association) and Algonquin College (the College) agree that competency in the various fields of Information Technology is essential to the employment and career interest of students, and WHEREAS the Association and the College agree to support the introduction and maintenance of an appropriate Information Technology infrastructure. This understanding revises the Memorandum of Understanding dated February 9, 1996, and Appendix A and the Addendum to the Understanding dated July 8, 1998 as follows:

1. All full-time post-secondary students will pay an Information Technology fee of $50 per term.

2. Part-time students registering in credit courses will pay a fee of $.50 per course hour to a maximum of $50.00 per term.

3. Access will be granted upon payment of the fee for a given term.

4. The College will improve the dial-in access by adding 644 lines to the existing 184 line to reduce the blockage rate to an estimated 10%.

5. The College undertakes to replace 25% of the open access computers on an annual basis with College-standard computers.

6. Starting in Fiscal 1999/00, the College will undertake a pilot project to test the feasibility of students having access to application software from the Access Centres and dial-in.

7. The College will enhance the service to computer labs for evenings and weekends starting in Fiscal 1999/00.

8. Cooperative Education students will retain their accounts during the work term and the fee will be deemed paid as part of the Coop Fee.

9. All program registrants will be provided with access from May 1 to August 31 provided they are returning students. Graduating students from programs will be granted one term of free access following their graduating term.

10. The increase to the fee identified above will effect commencing in the Fall 1999 term.

11. Technology fee increases require the approval of the parties to this understanding or may be submitted to a referendum by Fee Payers at the request of either party.

12. The College commits to ensure the renewal of equipment, software, networks and related requirements in accordance with general industry standards.

13. The College shall dedicate all revenue from the student technology fee to this project.

14. The Students' Association/College Collaborative Committee, appropriately augmented, will serve as the body to review expenditures and evaluate progress of the project.

15. In the event of a dispute that cannot be resolved through recourse to 13 above, either party to this understanding may submit the matter to the Dispute Resolution Process outlined in Appendix B.

16. The parties agree to review the terms of this understanding of an annual basis.
 

Information Technology Fee

Appendix A
 

STANDARDS AND SERVICES
 

1. Upon payment of the Information Technology Fee (Fee), a student will be provided with a network account, modem account, e-mail address, Internet access and 2 Megabytes of disk storage space (for individual home pages or other uses) for a six (6) month period. On receipt of the Fee in two successive semesters, the College will provide these services to the students for a continuous twelve (12) month period.

2. The limit on modem access will be sixty (60) hours per month. The limit on Internet access will be sixty (60) hours per month.

3. The College will provide access to a pool of microcomputers that are not scheduled for in-class use. These microcomputers will conform to general industry standards. The size of this pool will be established on a campus-by-campus basis. One "unscheduled" microcomputer will be provided for fifty (50) Fee-paying, full-time students enrolled at the campus. Approximately half of the microcomputer of this pool will have multimedia capability.

4. This pool will distributed in a locations that allow for unscheduled student use during all hours and days for which the College is accessible to students. The College may be required to limit student, staff and public access to the College from time-to-time for reasons of safety, weather, unforeseen conditions, or to address financial conditions.

5. A standard suite of software will be made available for each of these microcomputers. At present, this suite will include Windows, Microsoft Office, Lotus Suite, WordPerfect, DBASE and Paradox.

6. Modem access will be provided through a modem pool. The modem pool will be sized based on the number of Fee-paying, full-time students. This will be based on the 1:50 ratio as described in item 3, above (modems to be a minimum of 14,400 bps with commitment to provide 28,800 bps as the technology becomes financially viable).

7. Training and support for the basics of using e-mail and Internet will be provided through introductory orientation sessions, an electronic help-desk, and on-line tutorials.

8. Laboratory microcomputers at the Woodroffe, Rideau and Pembroke campuses will be networked to provide access to the following: a) Server based information resources such as is available through the resource Centre, b) standard suite of software as described in item 5. Above, c) student-created data files, and d) e-mail Internet. Access to these resources will be determined on a course-by course basis by the department responsible for the computer laboratory.

9. Laboratory microcomputers will conform to the minimum hardware configuration as defined in item 3. above.

10. Students will be provided with disk storage space in accordance with requirements as defined by the program. In general, students enrolled in programs where there is extensive use of computers and a need for disk storage can be provided with an additional 5 Megabytes or 10 Megabytes of disk storage depending on program requirements.