URL: http://clm.ucdavis.edu/pubs/access/
Last reviewed: Thu, 22-Apr-2004
Last updated: June 17, 1997
By Tim Leamy, Lab Management (tcleamy@ucdavis.edu)
Supporting Arguments
Computer rooms are a common sight in higher education. However, due to budget constraints and escalating demand there has been a lot of discussion concerning the future of computer rooms. The last IT Strategic Plan (see appendix) made the assumption that the need for computer rooms would decrease as student computer ownership increased. However, the demand for the computer rooms has continually increased to the point where faculty and students are complaining that they cannot get the access they need.
The first step is to identify the campus' computer needs. It is important to note that computer needs are changing due to the rapid evolution of technology, so this document will need to be revisited every few years. The most prominent needs are:
Second, the various means to deliver computer access need to be identified. Analysis shows there are many options. The following is a list of the most common means to deliver computer access, listed in rough order of cost to the University.
The third step is to determine the most cost effective way to meet the campus' computer needs. All computer access needs can be met by the most expensive option, computer classrooms. However, there is neither enough money nor space on campus to build the required number of rooms. Therefore, this is obviously not the most cost effective solution. Ideally each need would be matched with the least expensive type of access which can appropriately meet that need.
| Need | Most cost effective delivery method |
|---|---|
| Classrooms or lecture halls with network and projection capabilities | Mediated classrooms |
| Teaching environment with computers for instructor and students. | Computer classrooms |
| Network access | Network access ports combined with student owned laptops OR Computer labs |
| Printing access | Students owned printers OR Computer labs |
| Access to class software | Computer classrooms OR Computer labs |
| Access to specialized hardware and software | Computer labs |
| General productivity software | Students owned desktops or laptops |
Computer labs are also listed in some cases along with student owned hardware to help resolve the equity issue between students from different economic backgrounds.
The computer access problem cannot be solved by one means only. It will take a multi-pronged approach of student ownership and targeted computer rooms on campus to provide the needed computer access in the most cost effective way.
Student ownership, currently around 75%, should be encouraged. Although student ownership will not solve all computer access needs, laptops will help address the network and general productivity software needs. However, only about 8% of students own laptops. Since network access and general productivity are the most time intensive needs student notebook ownership should greatly alleviate the current crowding in the computer rooms. A program to assist students to won laptops is needed,
Campus computer rooms should be divided into computer classrooms which are specifically designed for instruction and computer labs which are designed to meet the remaining needs, which are most cost effectively met by central computer ownership (access to class software, access to specialized hardware and software, and general access for students who do not own computers).
In order to identify more easily the campus' computer access needs, it is useful to look at the problem from the point of view of faculty and students.
Drawing from discussions of the Instructional Space Advisory Group, the Joint Campus Committee on Information Technology, the FIAT email list, and the Summer Institute on Technology in Teaching it appears that faculty are interested in ways of integrating technology in their teaching. The major areas in which technology is used in teaching: demonstration, collaboration, and student assignments.
Lab Management conducted a survey in March 1997 to determine why over 90 percent of students use the campus computer rooms when over 70 percent own computers. The full survey and results can be found at Student Survey - Winter 1997 (http://lm.ucdavis.edu/pubs/survey/student_w97/). A summary can be found in the appendix.
The survey revealed that there were three main reasons why students use the computer classrooms.
From the survey and discussions with students and faculty Lab Management developed the following list of types computer access needed by students.
Since the identification of needs was broken down into faculty and student needs, the discussion on the most appropriate way to meet those needs is similarly divided.
Mediated Classrooms
ISAG and IT Media Engineering are addressing this issue.
It appears that mediated classrooms address the projection and
network needs of the faculty.
Computer Classrooms
There has been much discussion on how best to create a
teaching environment with computers for the instructor and
students. Some of the main issues are:
Computer Classrooms vs. Computer
Labs
The distinction between computer classrooms and
computer labs is often difficult to grasp. It is made
more difficult by the fact that the computer classrooms
are treated as open access computer labs when they are
not scheduled for classes. A computer classroom is more
than a room with computers. In the past there were
attempts to take existing space, place as many computers
as possible in the space, and call it a computer
classroom. It quickly became evident that a computer
classroom has to be designed from the ground up to
support instruction. This task is made more difficult
since different styles of instruction are better
supported by different layouts, etc. However, Lab
Management believes that the current configurations have
been able to make reasonable accommodations for almost
every instruction. A discussion of the issues of computer
classroom layout can be found at John Stenzel's Report
on Computer Classroom Design
(http://wwwenglish.ucdavis.edu/compos/compcai/report.htm)
and Composition
Program's Concerns Regarding Computer Classrooms
(http://lm.ucdavis.edu/pubs/english/). There are several
attributes that distinguish a computer classroom from a
computer lab
Therefore, the only appropriate solution for this type of instruction is the computer classroom. Faculty have been enthusiastic in using this type of instructional setting causing the scheduled time in IT computer room to increase from 901 hours in Fall 1992 to 2619 hours in Spring 1997.
There are several issues that affect many of the student computer access needs.
Student owned laptops will provide a better solution to the network access problem since the computers can be hooked into network access ports on campus. The laptops can also be used in mediated classrooms.
However, distributed ownership will not solve the following access issues:
- Access to class software.
Due to software licensing restrictions some software students are required to use for classes is only available in the same computer classroom where the class is held. In some cases Lab Management is able to install the software in multiple computer classroom but only rarely are we able to allow students to copy the software to load on their personal machines. If students were required to purchase the software it would cost many hundreds of dollars in many cases, and there is not guarantee it would work on their computer. Most specialized software is Mac or PC only, so it would not work on a portion of the students' computers. It would be unreasonable to expect students to own both a Mac and PC just to run the various class software that they might be assigned.- Access to printers.
Most students do not have the funds to purchase a relatively expensive printer. For the students who cannot afford a computer the added cost of a printer would just raise the barrier to being a student at UCD.
While student owned machines can provide access to general productivity software, access to the network is problematic and access to printers is often too expensive. Laptops will improve the access to network situation, but most students will not be able to take advantage of this method of access since they do not own laptops. Access to specialized hardware and
The following chart summarizes the types of computer access that students need identifies the appropriate ways to meet those needs.
| Type of Access | Student Owned Laptop | Student Owned Desktop | Computer Lab | Computer Classroom |
| Access to class software | No | No | In most cases | Yes |
| Access to specialized hardware and software | Expensive | Expensive | Yes | Yes |
| Access to network | Yes, via Net Access Ports | Speed and access limitations | Yes | Yes |
| Access to printer | Expensive | Expensive | Yes | Yes |
| General Productivity software | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
In the late 1980's the Office of the Registrar, the English
department, Computing Services (the precursor of Information
Technology) and faculty created computer classrooms with a vision
of designing a new teaching environment. These classrooms were
controlled by the Registrar and as such were scheduled for
academic classes in the same way as "normal"
classrooms.
The English department started teaching normally offered English
classes in these rooms. Instead of teaching about computers, the
instructors used the computers as a tool to teach English. The
focus was not so much on the computer, but rather on how the
computer could improve the learning experience. A "computer
classroom offers different kinds of communication opportunities
for writing instructors, including real-time demonstrations,
electronic essay pick-up and drop-off, on-line conferencing, and
screen sharing."
Other disciplines began to see the value of computer classrooms,
and now many (including Psychology, Spanish, Linguistics,
Nutrition, Chinese, Plant Biology, Chemistry, Animal Science, and
others) are scheduling classes in the computer classrooms.
For a discussion on the use of computer classrooms please look at
The
Computers in Composition Program
(http://wwwenglish.ucdavis.edu/compos/compcai/). It describes
some of the tools that computer classrooms provide instructors.
In a survey conducted in March 1997 Lab Management attempted to determine why over 90 percent of students use the campus computer rooms when over 70 percent own computers. The full survey and results can be found at Student Survey - Winter 1997 (http://lm.ucdavis.edu/pubs/survey/student_w97/).
There were 421 total responses and multiple reasons were allowed.
| Reason | Responses | Percentage |
| Need to access the network | 310 | 75% |
| Need to print | 278 | 67% |
| Need to access class software or information | 223 | 54% |
| Don't own a computer | 123 | 30% |
| Campus computers are more convenient than mine | 120 | 29% |
| Campus computers work better than mine | 109 | 26% |
| Other | 101 | 24% |
The top reasons for using the computer rooms are access the network (75%), access printers (67%), and access class software (54%). The percentage of students who own computer, which shows in students using the computers since they don't own their own, is roughly 70%, the same as in other surveys. It is interesting to look at the reasons comparing computer owners vs. non-owners. The don't own, campus computer are more convenient, and campus computer are better responses were removed since they don't make sense in this comparison.
| Computer owners (293) | Non-owners (128) | |
| Access the network | 67.6% | 91.9% |
| Access to printers | 59.0% | 86.3% |
| Access class software | 52.1% | 58.1% |
Non-computer owners used the computer rooms to access the network and printers in greater percentages than computer owners. However, computer users still relied on the computer rooms heavily for network and printer access.
Information Technology's Strategic
Plan in 1992 states:
"Strategic Outcome: A majority of students
and faculty will have access to their own personal workstations,
and the campus will begin a corresponding transition from
investment in large numbers of open access sites with low-end
software and hardware, to emphasis on investments which provide
network and services access for personally-owned workstations,
e.g., docking-stations, and to shared campus instructional
facilities with high-end equipment and software which individuals
cannot typically afford."
Planers assumed that the need for access to campus computers would decrease as student ownership increased. However, in the years that followed this assumption has proved to be false. In reality lab usage has increased over the past few years. The increase can be seen in Computer Classroom Report - Spring 1997 (http://lm.ucdavis.edu/pubs/labrep/spring97/). Time reserved for classes between M-F 8-6 for classes has increased from 13% in Fall 1992 to 51% in Winter 1997.
DHCP stands for "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol". DHCP's purpose is to enable individual computers on an IP network to extract their configurations from a server (the 'DHCP server') or servers, in particular, servers that have no exact information about the individual computers until they request the information. The overall purpose of this is to reduce the work necessary to administer a large IP network. The most significant piece of information distributed in this manner is the IP address. A more complete description can be found at http://netaccess.ucdavis.edu/.
There are several reasons to use DHCP. DHCP allows your to move a computer, such as a laptop, among various locations without reconfiguring the TCP/IP setting. For example, if a faculty member had a laptop which he wanted to take from his office to a networked classroom to present in class DHCP will allow the laptop to hook to the network in both locations without reconfiguring the computer. Or if a student has a laptop she wishes to use to access the network in various locations around campus DHCP will handle the TCP/IP configuration.
| Comments: tcleamy@ucdavis.edu URL: http://clm.ucdavis.edu/pubs/access/ Last reviewed: Thu, 22-Apr-2004 Last updated: June 17, 1997 |
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