Editorial: Laptops are a luxury; keep campus computers
Editorial Board
Issue date: 9/22/08 Section: Opinions
That reasoning is understandable, but requiring all students to do so is a bit much. Make an emphasis to incoming students because some chose not to buy computers or already own one.
Requiring students with at home accessible Adobe programs takes several excuses away from students who do not complete their assignments and allows other students to explore projects independently without being on campus.
"When our students are going out to their internship placements, the supervisors are saying 'Oh my gosh, they're teaching me what to do,'" said Gail Richard, chair of communication disorders and sciences. "They're really appreciating that our students are coming out so on top of the technology, so this is only going to help."
Having highly capable technology to keep beyond college is a plus when applying for jobs, but all this should be the students' choice.
Students make or break their own experiences at college, and some do what they can with the opportunities that they have. Financing is one of the main limitations to all college students and forcing financially unequipped students to buy what could be bought any time in life is wrong.
What's important is acquiring knowledge and skill, not hardware. And on-campus computer labs are supposed to be there for those who do not have the needed hardware to practice the skills of writing, graphic design, research and lesson planning.
The journalism department has 50 computers in three labs used for classes, one computer in the department's student lounge and four computers in the instructional technology center on the first floor of Buzzard Hall.
"I would think we would probably be down to five in each lab," Tidwell said. "We'd be down to maybe 20 total, but that's pure speculation at this point."
Tables would be brought into the classrooms for students to place laptops on, and the spare computers would be for non-journalism majors who may enroll in the classes. The university would also save money on software because the students would be required to purchase their own software licensing.
Requiring students with at home accessible Adobe programs takes several excuses away from students who do not complete their assignments and allows other students to explore projects independently without being on campus.
"When our students are going out to their internship placements, the supervisors are saying 'Oh my gosh, they're teaching me what to do,'" said Gail Richard, chair of communication disorders and sciences. "They're really appreciating that our students are coming out so on top of the technology, so this is only going to help."
Having highly capable technology to keep beyond college is a plus when applying for jobs, but all this should be the students' choice.
Students make or break their own experiences at college, and some do what they can with the opportunities that they have. Financing is one of the main limitations to all college students and forcing financially unequipped students to buy what could be bought any time in life is wrong.
What's important is acquiring knowledge and skill, not hardware. And on-campus computer labs are supposed to be there for those who do not have the needed hardware to practice the skills of writing, graphic design, research and lesson planning.
The journalism department has 50 computers in three labs used for classes, one computer in the department's student lounge and four computers in the instructional technology center on the first floor of Buzzard Hall.
"I would think we would probably be down to five in each lab," Tidwell said. "We'd be down to maybe 20 total, but that's pure speculation at this point."
Tables would be brought into the classrooms for students to place laptops on, and the spare computers would be for non-journalism majors who may enroll in the classes. The university would also save money on software because the students would be required to purchase their own software licensing.
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