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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."
RPI's not a huge surprise? I expected MIT at number one... not below the top 25. Same for many others. WTF?
Mencken had it right. So glad that's old news.
With as much emphasis as the survey put on wireless networking, I'd think good security would be one of the most important factors in a well-wired campus.
It's sad that something this high-profile apparently dismisses the importance of network security.
There's a Mercedes gap too. I want one and can't afford one, but it's not government's job to do anything about it.
And then once I got on, the slowdown was that our new superfast server (danube, IIRC) was bogged down running poorly written interpreted, recursive, memory-hogging programs by 500+ students all trying to get in under the wire.
Sigh. The good old days.
The CB App. What's your 20?
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 read this on some IRC channel a couple'a years ago...
A: this school i'm trying to apply for is asking me all these stupid questions. like "why do you want to attend our school?"
B: tell them 'cuz you got a phat pipe that i can use to download porn, warez and mp3s.
This sig contains repetition and redundancy.
sadly, the most connected campus seems to be fairly irresponsible with their student data. 3 years ago, i did a search for a friend who went there, and got a hit on a page including student names matched with Social Security numbers and a test score. We sent an email to the IT guys there... a year later, I did it again- the page was still up, so I told them again. Out of curiosity, I just did the same search, and got the same list. How would you feel knowing that your school was this irresponsible with personal data?
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!
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.
This article is completely inaccurate. I checked a couple of schools I'm familiar with and they were all missing multiple items. The rank is more a factor of whether the appropriate person filled out the form. In many schools, there are few administrators who actually know all of the services provided on the campus. Sadly, it's very difficult to get accurate information about technology at a school. The best way is probably to talk to a student. The admissions office has no idea what's going on. I remember listening to the admissions tour at one school. The tour guide lied on multiple facts which I had easy methods to verify. The tour guides are just there to sell the school.
Case Study: California Institute of Technology (who recently broke networking speed records)
The study says there is no wireless network (there is), school doesn't provide web pages (it does), can't register online (we do), no ethics policy (a very loose one: the honor code), school doesn't provide multimedia equipment (its available for use), doesn't stream its radio (our radio is only streamed).
What the study got right: I don't think classes are provided online, students are not required to own a computer, tuition doesn't include a computer, and I don't think courses are offered in emerging technologies (if by emerging technologies you mean MS Word). I wouldn't want to go to a school that has these features.
Personally, I think this idea of connectedness is a horrible measure of a school's IT saviness, and I'm not even talking about the erroneous study itself.
can't sleep. clowns will eat me.
Yes, the town looks like a nuclear bomb went off there... and sure it rains all the time... and um... snow gets asshole deep on a camel in the winter... but the area does kind of grow on you. And um... you could do worse when global warming comes... it's ah... not like it's freaking New Jersey, or anything.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
North Carolina State University
It says the school does not supply web pages. This is bull crap since I've had a website on the school server for over a year. Plus it explains right here on state's own server HOW to set up your web page.
Create your own homepage
Heck, every freshman undergrad is required to take a computer class where they make their own website.
Now down to the bottom, it says the school does not provide multimedia equipment. Again, completely false. Look at this site again on ncsu.edu
Multimedia Reserve
This is why I hate school rankings like these. They are usually very misleading and often contain false information.
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.