By CHRISTINE RAPPLEYE
christine@du2.byu.edu
Today: Nine a.m.: Religion; 10 a.m. History of Civilization; 11 a.m.: Quantum Mechanics; Noon: Lunch/Study time; 1 p.m.: Work on campus until 5 p.m.; 5:30 p.m.: Study Group; Other things: English paper, computer programming assignment, Internet research project ...
It is a typical day on campus: running to and from classes and study sessions, attempting to stay awake despite the chronic sleep deprivation, etc.
However, the laptop or notebook computer comes in handy to work on the English essay during lunch. Being able to plug it into one of the four buildings wired for laptop or notebook computers and log into the network, helped find the latest research on quantum mechanics for a presentation next week, all from the comforts of a personal laptop or notebook computer.
Recently, as a building is renovated, it has peppered open ports for students to log into the network and power outlets.
There are about 500 open ports on campus, said Eric Denna, vice president of technologies. These open ports were put in with the student in mind.
With the student as the customer, there is a structure for making sure things happen.
'We tend to organizationally start with 'This how we're organized, this is the way we've always done things,'' Denna said. 'We're trying to reverse that.'
First, the customer needs to be identified and services they need recognized.
'We have students, what do they do? They study, they sleep, they eat, they attend class and so on and so forth. What services do they need? They would like to able to apply to school, attend classes, see their grades, communicate with others, and turn in homework,' Denna said.
Only then, can performance be measured, Denna said.
'With these three questions answered, we can start asking: what's the best way to provide these services and how do we organize to facilitate this?' Denna said.
Having open ports available and having dormitory rooms and buildings wired for laptops is one way the university is implementing technology to help students.
However, every student being required to have a laptop is not currently feasible or practical, said Kelly McDonald, assistant vice president of technology.
McDonald said campus-wide diversity of needs, lack of physical facilities for 30,000 laptops and the practicality of what is best for the student are why laptops and notebooks computers will not be required in the near future.
So far, the only programs that require a laptop or notebook are the J. Rueben Clark Law School and some of the graduate business programs.
'Most institutions that are embracing this type of technology are small liberal arts schools and only a few are approaching our size,' McDonald said.
McDonald said that besides laptop or notebook computers, the university is keeping an eye on wireless technology and its capabilities.