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REINVENTING HISTORY
4/6/2005
Sometimes the best way to respond to technology challenges is to innovate
Computing at Creighton University (NE) is growing up fast. For years, the school offered students dozens of desktops for use in libraries and public labs across campus. Then, in 2003, when the school sought to expand its computing program, officials had a brilliant idea for change: wireless. Instead of purchasing a new slew of desktops, officials expanded the wireless network and snatched up a handful of mobile computers from Gateway (www.gateway.com) for faculty and staff. The school also set up a pre-purchasing program for students to buy select Gateway laptops and tablet PCs. The result was a learning environment available any time, from any place on campus.
Creighton is not the only university to embrace revolutionary changes in computing; at other schools such as Colorado Technical University, San Juan College (NM), California State University, the University of Kansas and Wichita State University (KS), administrators have invested in innovative technologies, too. Like Baskin-Robbins ice cream, these innovations come in a variety of flavors and sizes, from sleeker, simpler machines to desktop computers with a new and longer-lasting design. In every case, the technology itself has sparked legitimate evolution. In every case, that evolution has made computing on campus easier for everyone.
Going Mobile
The drive for mobility at Creighton began back in 2003. Frustrated with a long-time reliance on desktops, campus technologists set out to find a single technology supplier who could provide the latest in mobility. After evaluating products from a number of different vendors, officials settled on Gateway for its breadth of offerings. Right out of the gate, the school purchased a handful of 450E Series notebooks and M275 notebook-to-tablet PCs for faculty and staff. Officials also purchased a cache of the same wireless-enabled computers for each of the school's three libraries, where they are available for students to check out and use as they wish.
The effort didn't stop there. Once these first few wireless machines were in place, Creighton got certified as a Gateway Authorized Service Provider (ASP), and set up a laptop pre-purchasing program for incoming students. The program is designed to standardize technology on campus by offering students discounted prices on equipment as they enter. In 2004, the first full year, 200 students bought M275s and 200 more purchased M450s. Michael Allington, assistant director of student technology support, said that more than 75 percent of incoming freshman now own a Gateway notebook of some sort, a number that will only increase as the program gains momentum.
"These computers have changed the way we do everything here on campus," he says, noting that the biggest challenge of the new effort has been proving to parents that the mobile equipment is worth the investment. "When you see dozens of students using their laptops in a public space or a cafeteria, you realize that the days of using a PC simply as a word processing device to type up a paper are definitely behind us."
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