4/5/00
Contact: Dale Tampke, director of assessment, (740) 593-2475
OHIO UNIVERSITY STUDENTS GIVE COMPUTER INITIATIVE HIGH MARKS
ATHENS, Ohio -- Ohio University freshmen say having computers in their residence hall rooms has provided academic and personal benefits and made them the envy of their friends at other universities.
Seventy-two first-year students in eight residence halls participated in focus group meetings conducted in February and March to assess students' satisfaction with a university initiative that placed 2,106 computers in freshman rooms by the start of this academic year.
Director of Assessment Dale Tampke will present findings from the focus group meetings to the Ohio University Board of Trustees on Friday. Trustees allocated $2.5 million for the first year of the computer initiative and this week will consider a $2.8 million expenditure to purchase another 2,100 computers for the remaining residence hall rooms.
Ohio University is the only state-assisted university in Ohio and one of the few higher education institutions nationwide that provides computers and printers as part of residence hall accommodations. The initiative was funded by an 8 percent increase in room and board for 1999-2000, and a similar increase will be considered by trustees for the 2000-01 academic year to continue the project.
"We thought it best to hear from the students themselves," Tampke said of the decision to conduct focus group meetings. "There's a lot of value in having structured input from the students."
Among students' comments:
* Communicating by e-mail was the most common use of the computers.
* Having a computer in their room allowed students to write papers and do research on the World Wide Web without having to walk to the library or computer labs, particularly at night.
* Students said their friends on other college campuses expressed surprise and envy that Ohio University had equipped freshman residence hall rooms with computers and printers.
* Students noted that many instructors provided class notes, assignments and articles online.
* Access to software allowed students to become proficient at a number of popular programs
* Academic and personal use of the computers are interrelated and often occur simultaneously.
While students who participated in the focus groups were guaranteed anonymity, other freshmen also express enthusiastic support for the computer project.
"I use the computer a lot, at least two to three hours every day," said Abbey Emery of Cincinnati. "I use it for e-mail, research for class and to find out about things without going to the library. I also use e-mail to ask my professors questions."
Noted Andrew Vitale of Chicago: "I knew how to use a computer before I came to college, but because it is here in the room and on all the time, I have picked up skills like downloading programs and using e-mail. It has saved me time by not having to walk across campus to a computer lab just to do a simple one-page paper."
Associate Provost for Information Technology Doug Mann said information gleaned from the focus group meetings is being put to good use.
"The students' feedback already has had a tremendous impact," Mann said. "We will use it to tailor the training we offer students and the information we push out to them, on a limited basis, by e-mail."
Students participating in the meetings expressed concern about the speed of Internet access, particularly during peak use times. Included in the university budget trustees will consider Friday is a $100,000 project to double the capacity of the university's connection to the Internet. Mann said a plan to place the residence hall computers on an Internet connection separate from the rest of the campus network will make Internet access more consistent.
While some small colleges have provided computers in students' rooms, Mann said he knows of no other major university that has undertaken a program as extensive as Ohio University's. In fact, only about 40 percent of universities have installed wiring that allows for Internet access from residence hall rooms, he said.
"This project has exceeded our expectations," he said. "The students love the systems. They had a hard time coming up with suggestions for improvements."
Ann Kovalchick, who works with faculty to incorporate technology into the curriculum, said placing computers in the residence halls has affected the teaching process.
"There has been an increase in professors coming in and asking for help designing instruction," Kovalchick said. "Faculty are now offering online office hours by e-mail, e-mail document exchange and a lot of Web-based assignments."
Meanwhile, the university's purchasing department is overseeing the acquisition of another 2,100 personal computers that will expand the computer initiative to upperclassmen, placing a computer in every room of the 40 residence halls by fall quarter.
Starting in June, the university's Information and Technology division will cleanse the hard drives of the freshman computers, install the additional computers and upgrade the network.
- 30 -
RSS