Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Article
Campuses Expanding Wireless Coverage
9/16/2004
As wireless networks rapidly gain traction on college campuses, more and more administrators are looking to expand their access points, upgrade to faster standards, and entice more students to use the wireless network.
With some sort of wireless network a given for nearly all colleges and universities in the U.S., the questions now become, how far to extend the wireless network? What wireless standards to choose? How to justify and pay for wireless in conjunction with wired? Indeed, what role should the wired network continue to play? And the bottom line: Whether a wireless network helps entice students to select a particular school - and whether it enhances the teaching and learning experience for faculty and students.
Schools that have had great success with wireless range from 35,000-student Indiana University in Indianapolis, named "most unwired campus" earlier this year by Intel Corp., to lesser-known success stories like Mayville State University in North Dakota, the smallest public university in the nation. Mayville has distributed notebook computers to all students for years, and this year moved to well-received tablet PCs - along with 100 percent wireless coverage across its campus.
Mobility Solutions Mushrooming
Changes in wireless solutions are pushing the technology forward rapidly. A new notebook computer without a wireless card is rare these days, for example - and most students tend to show up on campus with notebook computers rather than desktop PCs. At many schools, the steeply dropping costs of hardware - especially wireless access points -- is driving a push by administrators to add access points and encourage students to take advantage of wireless.
Like many campuses, Temple University in Philadelphia will be aggressively expanding its wireless coverage this year for its 34,000 students. "Most common areas have access points in them" now, according to Ariel Silverstone, chief information security officer at Temple. The school is using a marketing campaign to encourage students to use the wireless network. One fresh idea: Wireless laptop rentals for students to encourage them to try out the new technology. "They're being used," Silverstone says, but he'd like to see even more usage - along with more applications and ways to take advantage of wireless.
Indiana University in Indianapolis has what Brian Voss, the associate vice
president for
telecommunications in the office of the vice president for IT and CIO, describes
as "a rigorous program" in place to increase the number of wireless
access points on campus this year. The school's ambitious goal is to boost the
current 1,250 access points by up to 40 percent this year. IU has "a good
quilt" of coverage, Voss says, but adding coverage will increase usability
- and users.
Voss says he expects a major shift this year on his campuses to wireless use. There are about 35,000 students at Indiana University and another 35,000 at associated Purdue University at Indianapolis, 55 miles away. During the previous academic year, Voss says just 1,000 to 1,500 students were using the wireless network. This year, he estimates, there will be 5,000 to 6,000 - a rough estimate that he partly bases on inquiries from parents about what kind of computer equipment to purchase for students.
Recommended Reading
- Sun, Stanford Working To Archive History
In May in San Francisco, experts from leading universities, libraries, and research institutions around the world met as part of an ongoing effort to address a pressing issue: archiving the world's history, right up to today.
- The Quilt Coalition Rolls Out XO Communications for High-Capacity Network Services
The Quilt, a coalition of 28 regional network organizations, has added XO Communications Services to its authorized vendor list. The Quilt represents 200 universities and thousands of other educational institutions across the United States. With this new relationship, Quilt members can purchase XO's high-speed IP transit and network transport services at competitive rates.
- Wimba Classroom 5.2 Expands Classroom Capture Support, Adds MP3 Downloads
At the NECC 2008 conference in Texas this week, Wimba launched a new version of Wimba Classroom, the virtual classroom component of the company's Collaboration Suite. The new 5.2 release expands options for classroom capture and adds a variety of other functional and ease of use features.
- Automation Chimera: Education Is Not Management
The lure of automating workflow online so human intervention is minimized is continually reinforced in the minds of higher education administrators by examples of automated campus systems such as financials, student information systems, and other enterprise systems. But what's good for management is not always good for learning.
- Cognos Releases BI Software for Linux-based IBM System z Mainframe
Cognos, which IBM acquired in January, has released an update to its business intelligence software that will run on the Linux operating system on IBM System z mainframes. IBM Cognos 8 BI was being developed by the two companies prior to the acquisition, but assimilation of Cognos into IBM accelerated development.
- Facebook and Collegiality: A Serendipitous Social Niche
Facebook is a way to greet a colleague as if she or he is on your own campus: a wave at a distance, a hello at the corner burrito place, a honk as you both leave the campus parking lot. Informal collegiality has been extended over the miles.
