September 8, 2006
Are Computer Labs Still Needed on Campus?
During our first Brown Bag chat yesterday, the guest, Lev S. Gonick, vice president for information-technology services and chief information officer at Case Western Reserve University, was asked what he thought would be the future of computer labs on campus. He wrote:
“I don’t know if you’ve seen or visited Case’s Weatherhead School of Management. It is a Frank Geary building (http://weatherhead.case.edu/). It was the first building to support our switched gigabit network and the first building to open up with pervasive wireless. But because it was designed in the days before wireless, it was also built with computer labs. Fast forward 6 years and today there is only 1 lab left in the building and three other spaces have been converted to alternate space use allowing the Management School to attend to other priorities. At the same time, every student at Weatherhead has a wireless notebook. Literally hundreds of simultaneous users on the network. Most are using wireless in work groups or video conferencing with friends ‘back home’ (wherever that might be). I still see some RJ45 blue connections to the gig networks in the halls but most of the blinding speed stuff is left to the formal learning spaces and faculty offices and research facilities. That is some of our experience here at Case. My sense is that we (IT leaders) need to work with our professional colleagues in campus planning and work together to re-think space utilization both on the campus as well as, to reference an earlier comment I made, to finding ways to support mobile and telecommuting to support life style choices and hopefully contributing to quality of life both to work and study at our unviersities.”
The full transcript of the discussion is available on our Web site. Join us each Thursday at noon, U.S. Eastern time, for a live discussion with a newsmaker from the academic world.
Posted on Friday September 8, 2006 | Permalink |Comments
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It would be nice if our school and our students could afford to get rid of computer labs, but we still find that the labs are highly used. Not every student can afford a computer when they go to college, and not many universities can afford to give them one.
— Samantha Sep 8, 03:59 PM #
I hypothesize that the situation experienced by a business school may differ in some significant ways from other institutions. The most important difference may be, as Samantha says, the resources available to the students, particularly the graduate students. I also suspect that the lifestyle choices and the culture of business students differ in significant ways from those of students in other disciplines. Another important consideration is the availability (or lack thereof) of specialized or expensive software, a discussion involving both technical and legal (i.e. licensing) considerations. Some of us can probably do away with some of our labs but it’s very difficult to generalize in this area. In spite of these concerns, we definitely need to examine our current computer labs to ensure they are meeting the needs of today’s students as I strongly suspect that many of us are deficient in this area.
— Kevin Guidry Sep 8, 05:07 PM #
What an intriguing discussion!! Those who have been responsible for maintaining or teaching in campus labs should find it a terrific jumping off place for discussions about the future IT needs at their respective campuses.
I recently learned of a campus in Georgia that has pretty much eliminated computer labs—yes, they’ve gone to wireless laptops for students! I’ll let THEM tell their own story at the following link:
http://itpchoice.clayton.edu/?nav=history
It may very well be a look into our own futures.
Dr. Whisler
— Dr. Whisler Sep 8, 06:36 PM #
(Academic) Libraries increasingly make computers (or wireless access to computers) available so that students can not only do research, but write papers, create spreadsheets, develop powerpoint presentations, build web pages, etc. They support this equipment, and advance student learning, with librarians and technologists who teach information and computer literacy (or Information and Communication Literacy).
Maybe the question is not “Do we need computer labs” which seems to put the emphasis on a specific and singular space, but “What resources are necessary for students to succeed academically?” and how can we best provide those resources in physical and virtual space.
— Fred Sep 8, 07:39 PM #
Having just worked through the design and construction of a new academic library at Chicago St. University, the issue of computer labs was thought out, resulting in combinations for choice of learning and working environments from random acces via library laptops in a totally wireless envirnment, to instructional labs traditionally laid out, and a lab capable of 24/7 hrs. separate from the library, and also spaces with raised floor for instant class areas or computing clusters on demand (half-hr. setups), and our IT access is integrated with other non-electronic formats—books and computes together, what a novel idea! The question is not a designated space and a forced decision for all use, but choices for different times and different uses, including offsite lounges, homes, etc. and flexibility in format delivery, from scanning print materials and printing digital sources, audio and images. The real problem is retrieval,selecting from the mass, document appraisal, synthesis, and and documentation for verifiable information use—from wherever and however.
— Lawrence J. McCrank Sep 9, 10:06 AM #
I’m the one who asked the question during the live chat. Thomas Birk of the University of Nebraska and I will be presenting on this topic at the Society for College and University Planners (SCUP) North Central conference in October. We’ll have a powerpoint of our findings available after the conference.
— David Stack Sep 11, 10:26 AM #
The idea of reducing/eliminating labs not only passes the cost of the hardware to the student, but also the cost of the software. What of cases where students are required to do computer animation or video editing, both of which require enormously expensive apps? Would unis buy apps for students?
— Cassandra Van Buren Sep 12, 11:09 AM #
I find it interesting that we talk of affordability when it comes to computer availability, and yet we don’t seem to be phased by the enormous cost of textbooks that we force students to buy. In fact, you could probably purchase a very basic desktop computer for much less than an Organic Chemistry textbook. If we aren’t going to require that the college have copies of all textbooks that are used available on site (although many instructors do, in fact, place a copy on reserve) then how can we really say that we MUST have computer labs available, even as more instructors are utilizing blended models of learning in the curriculum. Basically, I think we’re hypocritical when we talk about how we must have computers available for our low-income students, yet we do nothing to curb the cost of textbooks.
— Christopher Conzen Sep 14, 02:33 PM #
I appreciate Cassandra’s question and wish to broaden it beyond doing video editing and animation. Our school makes available many different software suite packages (the full Adobe suite plus some expensive Bible software suites to name a few) to use in the labs, some of which are important for assignments in classes. Even with an academic discount on some of the software packages, it is still too expensive for students to afford on their own. On another note, we still teach several courses in the labs where we can control the environment and use specialized software. Not sure if requiring laptops of students would be financially or logistically feasible.
— Tonja Brice Sep 14, 02:35 PM #
Tonja, I think the “use vs. own” debate tilts strongly toward student ownership in cases where the student is taking classes that lead to a professional career. The graphic design student is better off buying the Adobe suite now with an academic discount than waiting until she graduates and buying it at full price. It’s a vital tool for her professional career.
Same thing goes for the MDiv student. The company I work for publishes the equivalent of a theological library on CD-ROM and sells to students and faculty at a 40% discount (see www.logos.com/academic). Students are profoundly grateful to begin building their digital library while eligible for this discount, because these are books they will continue to use day in and day out over a lifetime of ministry. I think it would be a rude awakening to graduate, then look around and realize you just left your best and most critical equipment sitting in the computer lab at school.
But for students at, say, a church-related liberal arts school I can see how it might be overkill to expect them to buy a Bible software package just for a single class. Of course, we have multiple product configurations and do what we can to bring the price within a reasonable range for any class.
— Daniel Foster Sep 14, 04:46 PM #
I like Lawrence McCrank’s thinking process.
One thing that I would like to add. Most IT decision makers overlook the human ergonomics when users spend a large amount of time using laptops that have a too small keyboard. Staff members where I worked, were afraid to complain, because IT decision makers were not to be questioned.
Poor provision for computer user’s comfort, is a sure path to musculoskeletal disorders in later life.
Global warming is real. Musculoskeletal disorders from extensive use of laptops is real. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for IT decision makers to understand this problem.
— Henry Preston Sep 14, 10:36 PM #