Laptop and Notebook Computing

Bryant University implemented the Citrix Presentation Server to provide students with access to lab applications on their laptops. Faculty and staff looking to "share" application licenses can do so using our Microsoft SoftGrid environment. This presentation will describe our technology and rationale for implementing these solutions.

Baylor University has spent two years working on a large-scale deployment of whole-disk encryption. This session will present the process from selecting the encryption technology to the culminating deployment. The result is the mediation of data loss that can result from the loss or theft of a technology asset.

The Miami University English department and Academic Technology Services developed new laptop classrooms, digital writing curricula, and instructor training programs. Currently 30 percent of all required first-year writing courses are taught in networked laptop classrooms. We will focus on English/IT collaborations, instructor preparation, and the impact on student learning. Qualitative and quantitative data, including video interview clips with students, will be shared.

Faculty from more than 250 campuses in 36 countries have been exploring innovative ways to enhance teaching and learning. This poster will describe some of the emerging best practices from the Worldwide HP Technology for Teaching philanthropy initiative. Examples of how teachers are using tablet PCs, key success factors, and samples of the resulting impact on student academic success will be presented.

We will present learning outcomes from Science and Culture, an interdisciplinary course in a wireless laptop classroom. In-class activities involve pushing content out to individual laptops. Students process this content in groups and publish their results globally. This teaching technique, which greatly increases student engagement, will be demonstrated during this session.

The University of Vermont, School of Business Administration (BSAD) began requiring students to have computers in 1984, moving to a laptop requirement in 1999, and today requires a convertible laptop/tablet computer. In the days of the desktop requirement, students complained that their desktops made very expensive plant stands. Moving students to a laptop computer requirement was easier than expected and student acceptance high. Students tended to buy the biggest, heaviest laptops which were used more as desktop replacements than mobile computing tools. BSAD experience has shown that students did not bring laptops to lectures for a variety of reasons including weight and bulkiness and professors who perceive them as distracting and do not allow their use in the classroom. The school is confident that a convertible laptop/tablet combination will allow greater flexibility and more acceptability for their usage throughout all campus classrooms.

The author points out the positives and negatives to students having internet and computer access during class.

Frequent use of mobile devices does not mean that students or instructors are ready for mobile learning and teaching.

Given the increasing ownership of notebook computers, will notebook universities be the next big wave of technological progress on campus?