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Switching a College from Desktops to Laptops?
tverbeek asks: "The college of art and design where I work is going to start switching next year from a labs-with-desktops approach to computers, to a students-with-laptops approach. The president appears to have made up his mind that we're doing it, so that's not really up for debate. We'll be starting by equipping all the full-time faculty this year, then next year start requiring (as in 'you can use financial aid to pay for it') each new student to buy a laptop that meets our specs (Apple or Dell, depending on major). Does anyone have experience with this kind of transition? What were the biggest complications?"
"How did you handle software licensing, especially for high-priced apps? How do you do software installs/upgrades? What do you do for resource-hungry apps (e.g. CAD, 3D rendering)? What about traditional lab configuration issues like anti-malware software, classroom restrictions on IM/P2P/network gaming, standard configuration options, etc. that would seem impossible to do with computers you don't own?
I know that many other colleges have done this sort of thing, but what about *art schools* or other colleges with high-end needs but mostly non-technical users, and where something like Photoshop is considered a 'core' application more than MS Office? Also, I'm especially interested in info about much more/less support staff the laptop approach requires; my intuition says that 1000 unsecured laptops will take more work to support than 300 locked-down desktops, but I need data."
I know that many other colleges have done this sort of thing, but what about *art schools* or other colleges with high-end needs but mostly non-technical users, and where something like Photoshop is considered a 'core' application more than MS Office? Also, I'm especially interested in info about much more/less support staff the laptop approach requires; my intuition says that 1000 unsecured laptops will take more work to support than 300 locked-down desktops, but I need data."
Set up a main server with all the software the students need. Then allow them to Remote Desktop in to use the server's resources for all those CPU-intensive tasks.
Let them buy their own copies of PS or whatever if they want to.
Better yet, quit now before the whole thing goes to hell. Find a nice cushy job in the industry rather than eke along in academia.
This is a horrible idea. Crime in the area around my first college was bad, I'd hate to think what it would be like with _every_ student carrying several hundred dollars worth of pawnable hardware. I also see plenty of students incredibly pissed at having to allocate hundreds of dollars to a laptop that they need for food. Not to mention that it's a laptop that they, effectively, aren't going to have full control over what they run on.
Please, don't be so cheap.
I go to Lawrence Technological University, and they have a Laptop Initiative. They have two sets of computer types: a compaq laptop for architect/sciences and a micron laptop for the engineers. Each Major type has their own 'Laptop Image' that loads the computer with the OS and programs. Since all the computers are the same they just image everything in the labs and hand them out to the students. Then the student is free to do what they wish with the computers. They have no locks on them what-so-ever. The programs on the computers are registered like corporations, and some of them require you to be on campus to use them (Matlab) because they have to contact the campus servers. As for upgrades, its up to the student. However, every two years the computers are returned to the help desk for the next set of images to be loaded. And if you bork your computer, you can just go down there and have them re-image it for you. Any physical damages have to be paid for though. You don't have to use a campus issued computer. If you have your own you can use it on their network, but will not be pre-registered on the domain or given any programs/support. The laptop initiative is very useful because it allows students and faculity to contact each other when ever needed. Our whole school is wireless with printers throughout the buildings, so presentations and class work can be done on them.
Back when I worked as a model and prop maker I had a serious problem with lost tools. For a number of years I painted all the tools with a type of hot pink until it was discontinued. It was offensive looking but the entire time I used it I never lost a tool to thieft. People laughed but they left them alone. It's serious business when you start loosing thousands in tools a year. The color was so intense that I could stand in the middle of the room and point to every tool of mine. If some one wants to steal all you can do is make your stuff less attractive so they'll go on to the next person. It may be possible to repaint the computer but if they have the choice between your laptop and one that's unpainted they'll go for the unpainted one. Resale value? Well with laptops everyone I've had by the time I was finished with it the resale was so low that I gave them away. I've sold dozens of computers but I've never sold a laptop.
Penn State Dickinson School of Law doesn't require laptops. When we take finals, we either write 'em by hand, or log on using a special testtaking username and password to Windows desktops that only let us use Word and save the .docs to a special network folder which is backed up in case someone can't print off a hardcopy, which is the actual thing graded by the prof... For those students that do have laptops, the SSID is broadcast as "pennstate" but we have to use a VPN client to authenticate in order to have internet access... As if I'm not far enough off topic already, anyone got a recommendation for Linux VPN clients??? OpenSuSE 10 detected my Ralink RT2500 wifi card, and I can connect to wifi access points, even ones that are WEP encrypted, but I need to use a VPN client to connect at school. What's simple and easy? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
whatever, I'm drunk and offtopic anyway, fuck you, flame me, I'm moving to digg
Isn't it interesting how you come to recognize posters based solely on their sigs???
Absolutely. Same holds true on cars. To aford equipment I've often drove junk cars. None of them were stolen. Over the years I had two sports cars and both were stolen and trashed by the thieves. I drive a decent car now but it's alarmed and clubbed to within an inch of it's life. If I go into a 7/11 for 60 seconds I club it. Like I say all you can do is make them go to the next guy who's less well protected. Notebooks at times are expensive enough to warrant a tracking device. Since they have internal power already the device wouldn't have to be that large. Just needs to send GPS information. Seems like a good add-on feature to pro notebooks.
If you plan on taking notes in class, I recommend getting the smallest laptop you can afford and then getting a Monitor and keyboard for your use in your room. The 12in iBook is a good value, but depending on your school, you might want to check if getting a Windows compatible machine is worthwhile.
While the thief may have a laugh that the owner thinks it's worth stealing, is it worth his effort to steal it?
Especially when the car next to it has no club, and no alarm. The whole point of these security measures is to make some other target more attractive. If someone really wants to steal your car, as opposed to just any car, they will.
Security measures can't prevent theft, they can only make it more likely, and any lock is better than none for that.
1000?
UNC-Chapel Hill has over 27,000 students and began requiring laptops starting with the incoming class in 2000. It all works through the Carolina Computing Initiative: http://www.unc.edu/cci/ We even have IBM/Lenovo repair service right here on campus and 4-year warranties on the laptops. A Microsoft site license and IBM ImageUltra helps them maintain system images and covers software licenses.
I'm a OS X fan (Linux for servers), but I have to admit that UNC did a great job on making this work.
Life is short: void the warranty.