6.0508 Rs: Student Computers (3/79)

Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Mon, 15 Feb 1993 14:59:03 EST

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0508. Monday, 15 Feb 1993.


(1) Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1993 17:14:33 -0600 (24 lines)
From: David Bantz <D-Bantz@uchicago.edu>
Subject: Re: 6.0504 Student Computers

(2) Date: Sun, 14 Feb 93 19:03 CST (22 lines)
From: TB0WPW1@NIU.BITNET
Subject: Re: 6.0504 Qs: Student Computers

(3) Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1993 23:03 EST (33 lines)
From: "Peter Graham, Rutgers U., (908) 932-2741" <GRAHAM@ZODIAC.BITNET>
Subject: Re: 6.0504 Qs: Student Computers

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1993 17:14:33 -0600
From: David Bantz <D-Bantz@uchicago.edu>
Subject: Re: 6.0504 Student Computers

FRI001@IBM.SOUTHAMPTON.AC.UK wrote:

>It is now being suggested that all students be required to equip
>themselves with a wordprocessor/PC/Mac *at their own expense*. I think
>I remember a similar scheme having been tried in the States

A very few institutions in the states formally require students to purchase
computers, though many recommend or otherwise foster such ownership. Among
those formally requiring students to have their own computers:
Dartmouth College, Drexel University (Macintosh)
At many institutions, entering students are given advice, recommendations
and/or discounts on particular models of computers; at Chicago, for
example, entering students receive information on the uses of computers at
UC, available public facilities, and a series of recommended models
available for purchase through the University. Or experience (broadly
reflective of many institutions) is that a (slight) majority purchase, with
Macintosh the overwhelming choice.

David Bantz <D-Bantz@UChicago.edu>

(2) --------------------------------------------------------------23----
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 93 19:03 CST
From: TB0WPW1@NIU.BITNET
Subject: Re: 6.0504 Qs: Student Computers; Teaching; E-Mail Degrees (3/72)

Well, things are no better in the good old US of
A. I came from a meeting with the Director
(Mis-Director) of Academic Computing Services (it
is a question if he would recognize an academic if
he bit him in the bottom) during which we were
told that we could only have an Internet
connection if our departments (in my case,
English) paid something like $1,000.00 per
connection. We were also told that it was
impossible to have a dial-up connection to
Internet. We were told that that was true
thoroughout the net. Can any one verify this?
Thanks, and do not let us let down our friends and
allies in the UK and elsewhere.

William Proctor Williams TB0WPW1@NIU
Department of English
Northern Illinois University
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------39----
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1993 23:03 EST
From: "Peter Graham, Rutgers U., (908) 932-2741" <GRAHAM@ZODIAC.BITNET>
Subject: Re: 6.0504 Qs: Student Computers; Teaching; E-Mail Degrees (3/72)

From: Peter Graham, Rutgers University Libraries
Re: students required to buy computers

our good friend FRI001 (Fri for short) in the UK has asked about US experience
in this respect. Briefly: Drexel and one or two other places about 5 years
ago did indeed set up a requirement. The movement in the past years however
has been away from a requirement and more toward a two-fold attempt to deal with
undergraduate needs:
1. Provide as many workstations (PCs, etc.) in public areas as poss-
ible. This allows a good deal of control over uniformity of technology base,
software, instructional patterns, and the like. It also (if funding is
available, which it often isn't) allows for upgrades of equipment as needed,
whereas if the student is required to buy as a 1st-year then in his/her final
year he/she is very likely to have a behind-hand machine.

I recognize that the difficulty of doing this is what prompted Fri's question.

2. Make it as easy as possible for students to buy machines at
advantageous prices: provide a computer store with plenty of options, with
good consultants (related to the computing service and to the instructional
component of the university), and with deals made with vendors for good prices.

I am told that this latter, which we take for granted in the US, is not
a prominent feature of the UK situation. I wonder if the Universities there
could band together to make something like it happen--it's in everyone's
best interest.

Again, I recognize that I am proposing something that is difficult in the UK
scene. That may be how it is. I hope this helps.