May 28, 2008
The End of Campus Computer Labs?
Most colleges have them: computer rooms with rows of PCs—usually loaded with expensive software needed for certain courses—where students can work on assignments. But will a new approach to IT services make campus computer labs obsolete?
North Carolina State University is one of a handful of colleges to set up virtual computer labs, where users enter it remotely, from their own computers in dormitory rooms or libraries. So if they need to use a 3-D modeling program for an engineering course, they can log into the virtual lab (a bank of servers in some room they’ll never see) from their laptop and use the program without even coming to campus. A free article in this week’s Chronicle outlines the university’s model, which is being emulated at other colleges.
Officials at NC State say they have no plans to close their computer labs, but they will no longer build new ones. It seems possible, however, that down the road colleges could decide that computer labs are as old-fashioned as typewriters.—Jeffrey R. Young
Posted on Wednesday May 28, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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My son, an English major, refused to take a PC to campus even though he could have. He prefers to do his work in the library and use the computer lab there. If his university eliminated that lab, he would be forced to take his own PC or buy a laptop. No big deal, just an observation.
— Deborah May 28, 01:40 PM #
A good idea in concept, but large programs that use lots of memory (particularly 3d imaging, graphics, etc) are not going to do well over remote settings. Universities might be able to cut down on a lot of programs and labs, but others will give students a head ache and make their time less productive. And as Deborah was getting at, some students cannot work well with the distractions of dorms/personal comfort spaces.
And if virtualization were to go down for any reason that means all those students can’t have access to their programs. On the other hand some labs don’t stay open very late so students may be freed from time restrictions. Pros and cons I guess.
— J May 28, 01:58 PM #
The Virtual Computing Lab at NC State was designed as a tool to augment, not replace, the on-campus computing labs. As long as a laptop or other computer remains a significant personal expense for some students there will be a need for on-campus computer labs. NC State has a relatively large number of international students who are not on the Graduate Support Plan and who are essentially living a hand-to-mouth existence. They rely heavily on the campus computer labs to get their work done.
The VCL augments and multiplies the technology tools available to students, particularly students participating from satellite locations and through Distance Ed. VCL enables us to offer the same software tools to those students as are available to students on campus. In addition, through partnerships with community colleges the VCL provides access to specialized software for transfer students well before they arrive on NC State’s campus.
— K. Boswell May 28, 02:10 PM #
At large campuses, or campuses with significant numbers of commuters, campus computer labs save students the effort of carrying laptops to class. If a student has an hour or two between classes, the computer lab is a good place to go to work on papers or other projects. It seems this need will be around for a while longer… until laptops are considerably lighter in weight than many now are.
— L Jones May 28, 03:13 PM #
Limitations on the capabilities of computer labs and on personally owned computers drove NC State’s College of Engineering and the central IT organization to develop the “VCL”.
While the VCL is certainly not a panacea, it has solved many problems including use of different applications which don’t co-exist well on one computer, allowing students to run applications which are too large or demanding for their own computer, or which are incompatible for any other reason. Providing access over the net from a distance and 7×24 allows use by many students at distant locations, who are mobility limited, or simply who want to work during the wee hours when campus labs are closed.
Campus computer labs will still serve a number of important functions, including providing collaborative work space. However the augmentation provided by the VCL greatly increases the services provided and their availability to the campus community.
— Henry Schaffer May 28, 10:28 PM #
I was too poor to be able to afford a PC or laptop for my entire undergraduate career. Eliminating computer labs would have sidelined me, without doubt. As it was, I was often too strapped to print assignments. If colleges do this, how will low-income students fair? The digital divide still exists, even in colleges. My vote: thumbs down.
— Sociologist May 29, 07:30 AM #
An important aspect of computer labs: other people are there.
— Stan Sclaroff May 29, 07:43 AM #
This of course is a look into the future and with our technology we can believe it will happen. Students now take laptops everywhere, even to social gatherings. They prefer information instantly. The need for a “lab” will decrease. A valid issue are students that can not afford laptops yet somehow a decade ago those same students thought they could not afford cell phones.
— W. Hart May 29, 07:45 AM #
It’s exciting to see so much interest in VCL.
George Mason University views VCL as a part of a portfolio of services for our students. Much like North Carolina State University, Mason will use virtual computing services to augment our existing on-campus labs.
In some situations, VCL is the only option. As an example, creating and pushing a software image to support SAS data mining tools in a general computer lab was a challenge for technical staff at William and Mary. Using the VCL in Virginia, William and Mary students will now access software that they otherwise would not be able to use at all. For our part, a blade provides more horsepower for complex programs than our general lab machines.
VCL helps Mason to address the challenges of application wars, provide software access to students in an urban environment where traffic delays can mean hours of travel to campus, and allows the purposeful transformation our physical lab facilities to support active and team-based learning.
— S. Pitt May 29, 09:14 AM #
Again, the VCL as implemented at NC State augments, but does not replace physical, on-campus computer labs. So those labs will still be there for students who don’t own or don’t bring their laptop to campus. But consider this. In the College of Engineering at NC State we provide more than $250K worth of specialized software on each of our lab machines. We have that same lab image available through VCL. So, the student who doesn’t own a computer goes home for the summer but still wants to work on a project. If s/he can get to an internet connected computer, at their public library for instance, they can still take advantage of that specialized software. Stop thinking of VCL as replacing computer labs and start thinking of it as extending the resources of the institution beyond the physical boundaries of the campus. And it isn’t just our students who benefit. The VCL folks at NC State are working with Community Colleges, K-12 and our own extension organizations and are finding ways to make VCL resources available to all the constituencies represented there.
— K. Boswell May 29, 10:11 AM #
Libraries will still be on the campus and can access the remote servers – so your students who don’t do well in dorms or crowds can still go to a quiet place with their computer and access the information.
— Librarian May 29, 10:42 AM #
Having been involved in the provision of student computer labs for many years, my observation is that the role of the computer “lab” has changed significantly. Prior to the ubiquity of the Internet, computer labs as physical spaces were required to provide access to computing tools and services for our students. A few years ago, our labs were typically rows of individual workstations, packed into the space as efficiently as possible. In many cases, students had to go to a particular lab to get access to a specific tool or application. This was a particularly vexing problem in our College of Engineering, where VCL originated, due to the extensive use of large, industrial-strength software packages in the engineering curricula.
Now, with the rich communication and collaboration tools that have evolved since the advent of the Internet, the old “computer lab” model will (and should) go the way of the dinosaur. The new model of the “computer lab” is exemplified by the NCSU Libraries Learning Commons, where access to computers is provided in collaborative spaces where students can gather and work together.
VCL has aided significantly in this transition from the old to the new “computer lab” model by making it much easier to provide large, complex, discipline-specific software tools available anytime, anywhere. It is certainly not a panacea, but as network bandwidth continues to increase and virtual computing tools and protocols continue to improve, it is a model that I believe will continue to develop in capability and popularity in the future.
— T. Miller May 29, 10:52 AM #
I find it interesting that people immediately leap to the conclusion that this means computer labs will be closed when it is obviously not the case as the NCSU folks are commenting on the blog. Basically this is showing how technology can be used in two different ways — through an image using either your own laptop or another at a computer lab. This allows those who either own a computer or those who do not the ability to use the state of the art software their engineering lab have available all over campus. Good job.
— D. Velasquez May 29, 11:34 AM #
Librarian,
You must be way better at enforcing no-cell-phone and quiet-study rules than the librarians at my univeristy were.
— anonymous May 29, 01:43 PM #
VCL is a gopher with a bow tie going to the dance with his cousin, also a gopher, but without the tie.
— Shala May 31, 01:41 AM #