Calling College Students -- bring me up to date. (1 Viewer)

[Scott Dautel]

It's been a few years since I've sat in a college lecture hall. back then .. I was one of the 1st on campus to dial-in to the network from a dorm room (the school paper even covered it ... with a pic of me & my Commodore64 (no kidding ... anybody remember that antique?)

When I read this forum, I get the distinct impression that some of you are surfing/posting from college lecture halls, during class. That's just too cool. But what I'm really curious about is what equipment you're using to do it? Do must students bring laptops to class everyday? Are you running on batteries? Are you tapping into a wireless on-campus network? is it free for students?

If you are using a laptop in class ... do you chat or IM with friends all day long ... I can only imagine the temptation? If so, there must be a low roar of keyboard clicking in a big hall. The utimate to me would be a Wireless PDA running WinCE with net access. Is anyone really doing this these days, or am I getting ahead of myself.

One reason for my asking is because college campus life usually provides a preview of whats coming to the business world and I'm really curious.

Enjoy your days in college ... life will surely change afterwards and time will really begin to fly by. Life is good now, but I'll never forget how much fun those 4 years were.

Scott

 

[Chuck C]

The entire campus including dorms is hooked up thru the Ethernet....there are about 8-10 easily accessible labs around campus with nice P3 and P4 Dell computers running Win 2000 and of course, IE. Wireless Internet is still being experimented with here, but about 12 laptops in the library have it.

 

[Bob Graz]

Scott, my son's a freshman at UNC-Chapel Hill. They require all students to have a mobile pc. My son has an IBM Thinkpad R31 with integrated 802.11b, dvd/cd-r/w, 30 gig hd.It weighs less than 6 lbs and he gets several hours of battery life with it. Each dorm room has 2 ethernet connections. The school has numerous wireless areas all marked. Student uinion is wireless, many of his classes, though not all are wireless. He brings his Thinkpad to all classes. Chem lab for instance requires it. They download lab templates and enter data and the lab reports done. I got my EE degree in the 70's, cards, keypunch machines, computer centers. Long hours waiting to find out I punched a FORTRAN error on a card. Needless to say, I'm incredibly envious of what students have today. Our entire family is on Yahoo IM, so we can be in touch most of the time. I did ask him recently if students tended to play with their laptops in class, and his answer was no. Oh, I pay for all of that ethernet/wireless capability in his tuition. Ah, to be a college student today.........

 

[Scott Dautel]

Thanks Bob ... VERY interesting! What exactly is 802.11b? A wireless ethernet std? I've been reading that IM'ing is pretty standard in college, but I wonder if people are confusing IM'ing with e-mail? In my view, true IM connectivity means always on ... so if you're walking to class, only a cellphone or maybe PDA could deliver realtime IMs, right?

BTW ... I was in Japan last week. it appears cellphones are getting to be a bit taboo in public places like trains & busses. I was on a bus from Kansai Airport to downtown Osaka (approx 75 min.) They actually made an announcement that talking on cell phones was not permitted. But what I did see was all the kids were punching furiously into their cellphones (they all have color photo displays too). It was obvious they were IM'ing or catching up on e-mail. I suspect we'll be doing the same here in 2-3 years. The push is already beginning for cellphones with still picture displays.

I agree ... Oh to be a college student these days. I spent 10-12 hours per week just crunching data and drawing plots for engineering labs... it would have taken 15 min with Excel.

Scott

 

[Charles J P]

Yes, computer literacy, and even proficiency is a requirement for many college courses that would - in days of old - not necessarily have anything to do with computers. I remeber when I got my first PC (paid for out of my own pocket my Jr year in high schoool at $3300!!!) my dad said he was excited about having a IBM PC in the house (we had an Apple IIGS at the time) so he could do "what if" calculations on it. I was like WTF do you mean "what if" he said he wanted to be able to setup all these number for income, yeild (he is a farmer) acreage, etc. and then change one number and see how it would affect the other numbers. I was like "you mean formulas?". He didnt need a new computer, he needed to learn how to use the one he had. Anyway, kind of off topic, but a funny story that I will always remember.

 

[Neil M]

While i think that computers and the internet are great tools for learning, I also think that their importance to the learning enviroment are extremely overblown. There is no reason to have your computer during a lecture class except if you want to goof around. Professors come prepared with powerpoint presentations that can be downloaded at your leisure from your dorm. A computer cannot replace the interaction of a professor to his students. I don't know anyone who took an online course and didn't wish that they had taken the regular class taught by a professor. Computers are just a distraction in the classroom. I took a required computer class that was such a joke and I found myself just playing solitaire and using IM during class. I find that most people are computer illiterate. They know how to type a report, use IM or e-mail, download music, and use the internet. And that's about all they have to do with a computer. I rarely see people bring a computer to class so it's not a very common thing. I think most people realize it's a useless distraction. They would be better off staying home and playing on the computer.

One reason for my asking is because college campus life usually provides a preview of whats coming to the business world and I'm really curious.

I certainly hope it isn't a preview. I see alot of inefficiency with the use of computers here. And don't get me started with cell phones.....I love technology and the internet but only at my leisure. When it comes down to business, you'll find yourself fighting to stay away from it so you can get work done. The internet is probably the biggest distraction a college student will face....except for maybe beer
As far as equipment goes, you can really go any route. Nothing is free in this world so most people go cheap if they can. There are some people who go all out. You just need to know how to connect your computer to the school's network and you'll be flying in no time.
That's just my $0.02

 

[Scott Dautel]

bump ^^

I'm still interested. Anyone other observations. Seems college kids arent as hi-tech as I thought.

 

[Benjamin_L]

I'll bump you! heh.
I attend one of the larger public university's in PA with 9.4k undergraduate and 2k graduate-level students. There is only 1 decently-sized computer lab on campus with about 60 terminals, and about 4 more moderately sized open labs(12-16 terminals) all running Windows XP. There are a few regular classrooms filled with PCs, but I've never had the chance to check 'em out.
Interestingly, the computers in the larger lab all have flatscreen monitors, which is cool but kind of irritating since it's obvious the computing center's been given tons of new money while other areas have fallen flat: my poor library lost it's 8 awesome photocopiers with purchasable copy cards and is now stuck with two of the most ghetto-ass copiers I have ever seen. They eat your dimes and look 15 years old.
Oh yeah, and nearly all dorms/floors and campus-related housing have ethernet. The network is rather... colorfully... run, but does it's job. Suffice to say I prefer my cable modem.
back to schoolwork.

 

[Philip_G]

my department on campus has a wireless LAN, we're required to have a laptop (actually we're required to lease it from the department, to be more specific) and all have wireless LAN cards. We have an online class uh, system for lack of a better term. Each user is allowed into the class website by the instructor, each class site has a gradebook, forum, drop box to hand in assignments, they can, and often do administer tests online that are submitted, and scored instantly all online. The LAN is available all throughout our buildings and out at the airport. It has its bumps, but works pretty well overall.
and yes, I spend a great deal of the day on IM, and just in general fucking around. It's also worth noting every classroom has a PC and projector, so every lecture is off powerpoint slides, not a whole lot of note-taking to be done as all of the powerpoint presentations are also available for download, online.
most classes don't even hand out a syllabus any longer, it's mostly all paperless. Pretty nifty. BTW our system is at http://learn.aero.und.edu you can browse around a little bit if it makes no sense. We developed the site, but other universities also use it. A similar service is www.blackboard.com though it isn't as good
it's been odd to be in school and watch this transformation take place. Our department is pretty well ahead of the curve, the rest of our university is no where close to us in terms of classroom technology, yet anyway.

 

[Jed M]

I don't know anyone who took an online course and didn't wish that they had taken the regular class taught by a professor.

You do now
I never took a laptop to school but I also graduated last year so I may have missed the hysteria. On the other hand by the time I graduated I noticed that more people were carrying them but still I never had a class with someone who used one. Wish that could be said about cell phones but I will hold that back for another topic. Also, my brother in law is in law school and he uses one and claims everyone else does also so I am pretty sure I just missed the laptop/school routine.

 

[Paul_Fisher]

I just graduated from Auburn University, and in the business building where I spent most of my time (graduated in management information systems), we had two labs each with about 30 computers running XP and they all had flat panel monitors.

I also had a couple of classes in a room that had a computer at each desk with a flat panel monitor for each student.

I thought it was a pretty hi-tech room.

Alot of people now starting college are required to bring laptops with them. My fiancee's sister is a sophomore at Auburn and she is required to have one and her major is interior design! If thats not ridiculous I don't know what is.

 

[David-S]

At VT we were required to have a computer, and they were a big part of outside projects, and homework (in addition to online forum time ) but i never really had anyone who took one to class... just too inconvenient to draw engineering diagrams in Paint I guess?
Several of our buildings were set up for wireless LAN, but that was a relatively new thing...
Both there and here at UofD (grad school) most of the classrooms had a computer and projector, but that was just for showing presentations etc...

 

[Michael St. Clair]

dupe.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I was distracted on the internet at school in 1987!
Of course it was a shell account, but USENET, FTP, and Telnet could keep a lad busy for many hours a week!
Oh, and for the most part, only those in geek degrees had accounts. I think the worst thing that ever happened to the internet was letting everybody on.

 

[Tony_Woods]

I am a junior attending CSC (Chadron State College). We have two ethernet connections in each dorm room. There are also connections in every classroom (most only have two connections) and office. A couple buildings have wireless access. There are quite a few online classes as well as distance learning classes. The distance learning classes are like normal classes, except there is a video camera which sends realtime video to smaller schools around the area who do not offer the class. Many classes are "online enhanced", meaning in addition to normal classroom meeting times, you can also log onto the system and post in discussion forums, check grades, submit homework, etc. Overall I think it is an effective system.

 

[Charles J P]

I'm with Jed, I took a class online and went to the lecture a few times just to see what they were covering. It was much easier to just read the material myself. The lecture was horribly worthless. So now you know two people.

 

[ToddMS]

Here at ND every dorm room has 2 ethernet connections. There are a couple wireless networks setup around campus, and LAN jacks most places you would take a laptop (library, burger king, etc..) There are several computer labs around campus with WinXP Pro and Macs available. There are also 3 SUN SPARC labs running Solaris that can be used as well. Even with all the public computers, not having a computer on campus would be a very big pain. Checking homework/quizes/class bulletin boards, etc. is no fun at 2am, especially if you have to go to a lab. Laptop/desktop use is split about 50/50 I would say. It's nice to have the option to take a computer to class, but few if any ever do...and the amount of work being done at Starbucks is minimal. Laptops allow for a lot of space on a desk in the dorms, but I find a nice LCD hooked up to a dekstop does the trick just fine for me.

Todd

 

[Bill Slack]

I graduated in May after taking 1.5 years to do my last semester. My school had ~4000-5000 undergrad students with a very high percentage living on campus (it's sub-urban Boston.)
When I entered school in 1997, all the dorms were wired for ethernet (with one port per room) and there were either 1 or 2 T1 lines (1.5-3 megabits)
Everyone was required to own a computer when they came to school. Most people bought the school supplied laptop (they technically required a laptop, but you could usually convince them of otherwise. Occasionaly classes required the use of the laptop, but almost always in groups.)
Many classroms had ethernet ports at each desk. Most also had FPTVs with 100" screen or so for the teacher to use as a computer.
By the time I left, there was an ethernet port for every person that lived in each room, most of the campus was convered by wireless networks, almost all the rooms had FPTV, except for classes the would essentially never need them (all the news ones are LCDs too instead of, IIRC, Sony G90's... doh!)
As of last year the school had 2 T3's and they were completely maxed out. They wanted to get multiple OC-3's, but no one could supply the lines.
Most people seemed comfortable downloading stuff of Kazaa, Napster, chatting on IM and playing some games online. But, in general, no actually understands what they were doing any better, but more people are comfortable using it as a tool without having any deeper understanding.
Nothing hand-written was ever allowed. Most of my prof's accepted assignments via email (which was nice, since we were given until midnite the day it was due, unless a time was specifically stated.)
All of the professors, from my first year were easily accesible via email. Many would reply from home late at night and on weekends (MUCH nice than trying to bug them on the phone with sleeping little ones, etc.)
I would have been screwed without the internet on my assignments. From history, to English to math, I used the internet far, far more than my books in order to learn the material. It was especially useful in my discrete math class in order to derive simple formulas in rules by finding similiar problems with answers provided and explained. A lot easier than trying to read my POS textbook for understanding and explanation!
In one of my english classes, I emailed the entire class a copy of the cliff notes for the book we were reading (there was a distribution list for every class on the email system -- and I made sure to delete the prof. from this list when I sent it!) -- the prof. has been upset by how poorly we were doing on quizes. It was a terrible class without any real understanding of the material expected, so I didn't have any sympathy for her. A bit underhanded, but I heard about my 'exploits' from other people for weeks...
Technology is our friend!