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America's Most Connected Campuses
foghorn666 writes "Forbes and the Princeton Review have posted their list of America's Most Connected Campuses, which measures the technological capabilities of the country's 357 top colleges and universities. They're looking at infrastructure stuff like whether wireless networks are available, if you can register for classes online, and so on - not really curriculum. But the results are interesting, and the winner not a huge surprise: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute."
"...which measures the technological capabilities of the country's 357 top colleges and universities."
But where's the survey measuring the technological capabilities of the students?
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120 chairs?! What the hell am I supposed to do with 120 chairs...?
A major portion of their analysis seems to be the ratio of students to computers, but that is rather unfair: they are only counting campus-owned computers, not the ones students bring with them. For example: my alma matter, the University of Washington, has two EXCELLENT, large computer labs, plus others scattered about the various buildings. They also have Wi-Fi network s (though not campus-wide). But still, the majority of students bring their own computers (wether laptops they carry or desktops in their dorms). And ya know what, it didn't even make the list! This is bull-crap!
William George
I have a problem with these ratings. According to the criteria, ratings are strongly based on how many computers there are per student. I dont know about your university, but i rarely use the campus computers. When i do, there are always many and they are mostly not used. Most people either have a desktop at home / dorm or a laptop they carry everywhere. To get my university to be on the top 25 on this list, they'll need to have even more unused machines scattered about campus.
In summary, I disagree with the rating criteria. I would like to see the rating based more on how many computers there are per student (including the ones the students own) not how many computers the campus owns per student.
The only reason RPI is so high on the list is because the administration is a bunch of pandering suck-ups who will do whatever it takes to meet a trendy benchmark rather than actually earn respect the old fashioned way. RPI wants to be at the top of this list, so they excel at filling this requirements that Forbes is looking for. Yahoo does such a ranking, and for years RPI has been near the top of that list.
In reality, RPI's dorm network is a mess, they manditorily firewall off all students, and computer labs have disappeared because since 1999 they've required all students to have a laptop (and essentially required them to run windows). They've had among the worst problems with file sharing and the RIAA. Sure, there "is a" wireless network. Great. Ooh, and email access off campus! Too bad Rensselaer alumni free email for life is, as of this month, no longer.
I'm not a smorgasbord.
This study makes no sense. My school, the University of Oregon, offers free web hosting, discounted computers, support for handheld computers, multimedia equipment to borrow, and courses in emerging technologies. Why is all the information at Forbes.com wrong?
I'm not saying the UO is high tech, or that they should have been rated higher. I just wonder if they screwed up the data from other schools, too.
Now has amazing connectivity. The entire campus (quite large) is entirely "lit up" with wireless hot-spots, and most buildings have an ethernet tap for every classroom seat.
To make it better, in the student housing, for some pitifully low amount ($25?), you get a 20 megabit(!) connection. All paid for by student fees, of course.
Now, I'm all for computers. But when tuition has tripled over the past ten years, parking costs have quadrupled, and student fees are going out the roof - all the time real services to students are decreasing - it makes me wonder if it's really worth it.
Am I really going to be a better engineer if I have a 20 megabit connection to my home vs. a 1- or 2-megabit? Not really. Will a sociologist find better research to study over the 20-megabit connection? Nope.
The matter extends into the classrooms - while some connectivity has a very good payoff, they've gone to such lengths that the cost has far, far exceeded the benefits. It's just plain irresponsible.
steve
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
I just looked over our school's info. A lot of it is wrong. It was off in at least three or four categories too, not just one or two.
Anyone else's school got the wrong info for it? From what I saw of the school where I work, I wouldn't give this list much credence.
I'd expect a lot of smaller, more obscure schools to rank more highly. Particularly when the ratio of technology to student body is so heavily used. USD for example not only has a great ratio of desktops to students, but also provides PALMs to incomming students and has network/power conneectors for laptops at most classroom seats. Yet they only scored number 17.
It would seem that a college with very few students would have a far easier time beating the ratio game.
Trying to use sarcasm in text-based forums does not work.
- Is there a campuswide network?: yes
- Is there a wireless network?: yes
- Can students access e-mail away from school?: yes
- Does the school provide Web pages?: yes
- Does the school offer classes online?:
- Can students register online?: yes
- Can students do other administrative functions online?: yes
- Are students required to own a computer?: No, thats what labs are for!
- :Can students get discounted computers? yes
- Does the school support handheld computers? yes
- Does the school stream audio or video of any courses?: yes
- Is network access available in dorm rooms?: yes
- Is network access available in dormitory lounges?: yes
- Is a computer ethics policy in place for the school?: yes
- :Do students have access to Usenet newsgroups?: yes
- Does tuition include a computer?: No, thats what labs are for!
- Does the school provide multimedia equipment?: yes
- Does the school offer courses in emerging technologies?: yes
- Does the school stream its campus radio or TV stations?: yes
Looks like they didn't even bother doing the minimal amount of research.I really can't tell how they did the research for the article. With so many basic wrong answers for GW, I can't imagine that they surveyed the schools themselves. Some of the questions that were wrong were the first things they tell you about on the tours when you visit; I can't imagine that GW wouldn't tell Forbes what they tell high school seniors. If the writer did the research himself, he needs to think about another career. The same can be said if they had interns doing the work, which is probably the case. But I still don't understand, many of these questions could have been answered by simple searches from GW's homepage.
Simply said, this article has no founding whatsoever. If other school's information is as wrong as GW's, then this article can't even be taken with a grain of salt.
I was reading the list for Penn State.. WOW. Whoever did that research really sucks. Don't trust what it says about any school you DO NOT go to... for example (and I wrote this verbatim to forbes):
[quote]
I was reading the article and noticed some major errors in your list... With Penn State University at least.
here are the errors I found:
1> can students access email away from school: you put no, but they do have web and pop3 mail you can access from anywhere.
2> Does the school provide web pages? You put no, but they do.. www.personal.psu.edu/
3> Does the school offer online classes? You put no, but they do, located at the world campus section of penn state
4> Can students register online? You put no, but they can, and do... E-Lion provides all those tools.
5> Can students do other administrative functions online? You put no, but they can do other featuers.
6> Is the network accessible in dorm rooms? You said no, but that's just dumb. You guys should know Penn State partnered with Napster to give the kids access to napster to help curb illegal downloading.. of course there is access in the dorm rooms!
7> Is a computer ethics policy in place for the school? You said no, but I know first hand there is, and Penn State is really strict on stuff.
8> Does the school stream its campus radio or TV stations? You said no, but they do... WPSU is streamed, that's how callers from Maryland can listen and call in.
All in all I'm VERY disappointed in this list. I can't speak for any other schools, but I can't trust what you guys list either. You guys did NOT do your research, and this is a poorly done peice of crap.
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