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The Board of Regents' plan to have every student in the South Dakota University system purchase a laptop by 2009 has been pushed back by the legislature when they cut the $5.5 million in funds needed on the last day of session.
The plan has been left in the exploration stage, but the BOR's Technology Committee is still in place to see it happen. The Ubiquitous Mobile Computing Requirement Committee, also called the Technology Committee, is made up of faculty and staff from each of the universities and colleges and has been looking into the integration, development and infrastructure changes needed to see the shift happen.
According to Roberta Ambur, the vice president of Information Technology at USD, those changes would have a one-time cost of $1.35 million and an ongoing cost of $450,000 a year. That money would bring in new furniture, wireless access, network storage space and support personnel. More electrical outlets in classrooms would also be needed so that students could charge their laptops in class.
It would either be put in with each incoming class or by program of study.
Contemporary Media and Journalism Professor Candice Walton is on the Technology Committee and is working with the Training and Development Subcommittee to ensure that the faculty are prepared to integrate the laptops into their classes.
"If I were a student and I had to buy a laptop, I would want to make sure it is used in class. And since it's hard to have one-size-fits-all, we need to have leeway for the students," Walton said.
Since the program would be put into place statewide, Walton also wants to see flexibility for the students required to buy those laptops, since an engineering student at the School of Mines and Technology would need different tools from their laptop than a USD fine arts student.
The precise brand of laptop has not yet been decided upon, Ambur said. Each university will likely be determining the details when the program begins. The USD Fine Arts College's graphics department has required that students use Macintosh, however, other departments would rather see their students with PCs. She estimated about 90 percent of students bring in their own computer, laptop or otherwise, and said some would continue to bring their own even after this is put into place.
"Students can come with a laptop, there can be exceptions made, but we may not be able to support it," Ambur said.
Paul Turman, director of Academic Assessment for the BOR, has been overseeing the Technology Committee. He said the BOR began considering this program as an extension of the K-12 Classroom Connections Program, which provides laptops to all students in various school districts.
"We have a broader vision of education in the state, which is affecting and changing the learning style," Turman said. "We are moving into a society where mobile devices are more common."
The committee is also considering how to accommodate different types of students. Part- time students who only take a few classes might be exempt from having to purchase a laptop and could instead rent a laptop from their university.
The committee has not discussed providing scholarships for students who cannot afford a required laptop, although Turman said it has been another issue brought up by students when talking to the committee.
The School of Mines and Technology and Dakota State University have already made this change and students from both schools have been brought to speak with the committee about their plans and how they affect students.
The number of computer labs is likely to decrease and some of the current funds used to support them will go into servicing the students' laptops, Ambur said.
The libraries on campus could also be affected, but since the general public also uses them, the number of computers will probably stay about the same. Librarian David Alexander is on the committee as well and said the emphasis might then switch to more couches for students to use their laptops on, instead of the computer stations.
"With technology such a part of life today, we have to do this just to keep in pace," Alexander said.
Reach reporter Sarah Paulus at Sarah.Paulus@usd.edu.
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