"The typical cost for renovating a general classroom into a regular 25- to 35-desktop PC lab was running upwards of $200,000," says Arthur Doyle, vice president of Academic Affairs at Framingham State College. "By using 25 laptops and a wireless access point, an existing classroom becomes a lab for about $40,000, a considerable cost savings."

Gradual Deployment

Framingham has installed the wireless access units gradually over the term of the pilot, starting with four devices serving four specific courses held in two different classroom buildings. Other early installations include the library and the Center for Academic Support and Advisement.

"From the very first semester we put an access unit in the library, which has proved to be a very wise decision," says Doyle. "When school is in session, students snuggle up in any nook or cranny they find comfortable, open their laptops, and within two minutes they're on the Web or the campus network."

Today, the College has a total of 25 devices deployed throughout the campus. While the first units were installed directly in the classrooms, the more recent additions are placed out of sight in nearby mechanical rooms or janitor's closets. With a range of roughly 500' indoors (and 1,000' outdoors), each unit covers two or three classrooms, but building materials, topology, and even people can decrease their reach.

"I read of a school that surveyed for the best access unit locations during the summer, only to find that the results changed considerably when students returned," says Doyle. "Every student is a column of water, and 25 to 30 columns in every room diminish the extent of the coverage."

In good weather faculty and students can take their lessons out on the lawn and still have a perfect connection to the college LAN and the Internet. The only areas deliberately excluded from coverage are the dormitories, which had been previously retrofitted with direct network connections. However, during the next two years the reach of the wireless units will be extended to the dormitories.

"We have decided to redo the entire wireless infrastructure next year, adopting the new IEEE 802.11b wireless standard," says Doyle. "Because that will necessitate putting in all new access units, we will conduct a thorough site survey."

Economics of Density

The economics of the wireless program are especially attractive on a campus that hasn't seen any new classroom construction for the past 25 years. An investment of less than $420,000 (25 access units at $895 each and 250 laptops with LAN cards and pre-loaded software at $1,580 apiece) allows the College to give full computer lab capabilities to 250 students per semester without major building renovations or expansion.

"If we were to create new computer labs out of existing general-purpose classrooms, we would not only incur all the costs associated with construction, we would also take those rooms out of play for other uses," says Doyle. "We need classrooms, and acquiring the space and funding to build new ones is a formidable proposition. The wireless access units make possible an economics of density, so we can use the same space for both kinds of activity at less cost while serving more students."

Another space-saving feature of the laptops is their portability. Unlike bulky desktop PCs, they can easily be closed and stowed when they are no longer needed in class. In addition, the inclusion of a 56K modem in each computer gives students 24/7 access to the campus network through an Internet service provider, so they can work from off campus as well.

Laptop Allocation

Each semester, the laptops are distributed to students who have enrolled in specific courses that are part of the pilot. In order to participate in the program, faculty members must first develop a proposal describing exactly how the laptops, wireless LAN, and Internet are going to be used. Details on specific pedagogical issues, such as training students in how to organize research data into public presentations, must also be included.

Since its implementation in the fall semester of 1998, the pilot has served more than 1,100 students in 28 courses taught by 13 of the school's 18 academic departments. Participation has steadily increased, from 224 students in the first year to 459 students today, roughly 15 percent of Framingham's total enrollment. In a significant expansion of the program, the College will distribute laptops to approximately 1,200 students during the 2001-2002 academic year.

Faculty Training is Key

The College realized from the beginning of the wireless program that a well-trained faculty was vital to its success.

"When you undertake a project like this it's absolutely essential that you provide adequate faculty training and support," says Doyle. "This demonstrates that you expect full utilization of the resources that you are deploying. Fortunately, we have a high-end multimedia PC room in our library that's devoted exclusively to training."

Four-day "Web camps," one offered during summer and one during winter break, promote the new technology. Here faculty and staff learn everything they need to know about how to set up a Web site and manage a course through it.

"Although voluntary, the camps are among the most popular training that we offer and are always well attended," Doyle says.

Framingham contracts with Blackboard Inc. to support its online learning. Currently the College has 68 courses on the Blackboard server, including all the courses in the Masters program in Education and Instructional Technology.

Although the Blackboard initiative grew independently of the laptop program, Doyle points out that it provides a quick and easy way for teachers to have a Web-enhanced course.

"Because we have a well-developed faculty training program, many instructors in the laptop pilot had already developed their own course Web sites before we chose this service," he says. "However, the beauty of Blackboard is that it gives you excellent Web-based course management tools with no development effort required of the faculty."

Advancing Pedagogy

Along with lightening the load on campus computer resources, the laptop program has had a very positive impact on the way students interact with their instructors and each other, according to Doyle.

One of the earliest and most enthusiastic participants in the pilot was an English professor, who designed his honors writing course so students could post early drafts of writing assignments to the Blackboard server. That way, both the professor and other students had access to the work for critique and review.

"The class collaboration not only teaches the students writing but also how to make use of communications infrastructure--an important skill in our society," Doyle says.

Another early adopter was the Biology Department, which distributed the laptops in a large introductory course to give prospective majors the computer know-how essential for further studies. Among the desired skills were data analysis, both analytical and graphic, along with technical report writing and creating PowerPoint presentations.

Laptop use also enables biology instructors to make full use of the auxiliary materials on CD-ROM that often come packaged with the textbooks.

"Until we provided the computer access, neither the teacher nor the students could take advantage of this material," Doyle says.

Expanding Access to the Laptops

One of the major issues to surface during the pilot is how the laptops should be allocated. Today the school provides them, but in the future it is likely that students will be asked to buy or lease their own.

"Students treasure the laptops," says Doyle. "However, they express some ambivalence about whether laptops should be required if they have to bear the cost. In surveys, 76 percent of students respond affirmatively about making them a requirement, but when asked if they would personally spend $2,000 on a laptop, only 37 percent were willing. Clearly the cost is a problem for many."

However, the College recently announced a new initiative that, by 2002, will make it the first Massachusetts college to implement wireless laptop computing for all students. The initiative, Framingham Infuses Technology (FIT), builds upon the College's commitment to integrating new instructional technologies into the curriculum.

A key component of FIT will be to double the size of the wireless program and upgrade the infrastructure to the IEEE's new standard, also known as "WiFi," during the 2001-2002 academic year.

"This scaling and upgrading will position us to launch a laptop lease/purchase requirement for all entering freshman beginning in fall 2002," says Doyle. "Under the plan all day school undergraduates will possess wireless laptop computers, either leased or purchased, by the fall of 2005."

The College is seeking a business partner to cooperatively structure a lease/purchase plan that will spread the cost of ownership over eight semesters. Possibilities for financing the costs through increased financial awards and low cost student loans are also being investigated.

"We are committed to finding the resources to make this work," says Doyle.

Outsourcing in the Future?

As Framingham's laptop pilot expands, Doyle believes it may be necessary to outsource IT support on campus. In that case, the selection of laptop models and associated hardware might become a function of the outsourcing contract, which could include different options for students to finance the equipment.

"However we develop the program in the future, we have learned from the first two years of this pilot project that wireless computing, given our situation and the age of our buildings, definitely provides an economic alternative to standard PC labs and classrooms," says Doyle. "We have also learned that when you provide the faculty with the right training and support and give students universal access to computers, you enhance the educational experience."

By Lawrence A. Howard

We welcome your Questions and Comments

Copyright 2008 Tradeline Inc.
All Rights Reserved
ISSN: 1096-4894