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RIP the Campus Computer Lab, 1960-2009

Posted by kdawson on from the passing-of-an-era dept.

theodp writes "When every student has a laptop, why run computer labs? That's a question schools have been asking themselves as computer ownership rates among incoming freshmen routinely top 90%. After only four freshmen showed up at the University of Virginia in 2007 without a computer of their own, the school decided that it's no longer worth the expense of running campus computer labs. Student computer labs have been a staple of campus life since the '60s. So what are the benefits that will be missed as other schools follow UVa's lead?" The university's report notes understanding that "that students need collaborative space where they can bring their laptops and mobile devices to conduct group work, especially as the curriculum becomes increasingly team- and project-based." One of the spaces formerly occupied by computer labs "has been transformed into a technology-rich collaboration area."

20 of 571 comments (clear)

  1. Printing by twocows · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I lack a printer, and thus I rely on the University's printing capabilities. I'm sure I'm not the only one; many students appear to have their own computers, but seem to rely on the University for printing off papers or projects.

    1. Re:Printing by moderatorrater · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I owned three computers while going to college and still used the computer labs frequently. One of the big reasons was printing. Another was software, as in they had purchased software that I was never going to buy for myself. Also, assistants are there to help with any questions. Also, sometimes it's just nice to have a place where you can go and work at another computer without getting distracted by all the things on my own computer, or without having to carry my laptop to school every day.

    2. Re:Printing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes, very easy to turn off your roommates/suitemates!

      Given the appearance of the average /.er, yes, yes it is.

    3. Re:Printing by Thinboy00 · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Library's" ?? Tsk tsk.

      "??" ? Tsk tsk.

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      $ make available
    4. Re:Printing by mpeskett · · Score: 5, Funny

      That sounds like a complicated solution for a simple problem... all he needed was earplugs or a quiet room; a dramatic restructuring of our educational culture is overengineering the issue.

    5. Re:Printing by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As to "if they can't afford it", then how are they going to afford the tuiction, lab kits and everything else they need to buy?

      That doesn't make sense - it's equivalent to saying "if you can afford a $10000 car, you can afford a $30000 car".

      Some students have a very hard time getting the money together for college as it is, without increasing the amount of money required by another couple of grand. Not everyone is middle and upper class, you know.

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      #DeleteChrome
  2. Still Important by mathx314 · · Score: 5, Informative

    As a present college student, I have to say that I still spend hours in computer labs. I use a SunRay lab as a controlled development environment for computer science, and I have math class in a computer lab loaded with Maple and Mathematica. There's an open-access computer lab near me that I also use frequently to access necessary software, to use as a meeting place for group projects, or to use as a printer when I can't use mine for whatever reason.

    Mind you, it's not like I don't have a computer on campus, but I still find myself using computer labs very frequently. And I know other people do too, the labs are almost always full when I'm in them. If labs die in 2009, it's not students' laptops that did it.

    1. Re:Still Important by mlts · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I graduated last December, so my experience is recent as well. Almost always, all the computer labs on campus are packed to capacity, and usually stays this way until late at night.

      Labs provide several things:

      First, a place to do last minute changes before printing. Yes, there are portable printers, but for students, they are both expensive in both initial expense and per ink cartridge. Connecting over a wireless network can be problematic for some computers, and finding the right printer in the right floor of the right building to print to can confuse some students who are barely able to stand up due to a hangover the night before.

      Second, not every student wants to deal with a laptop all the time. It is nice to just carry around a USB flash drive, or just store files in a home directory.

      Third, the computers in a computer lab run by competant admins are usually decently secure, provided you reboot them before use to ensure DeepFreeze rolls back all changes done by the previous person.

      Fourth, there are apps that are very expensive. Not just Maple and Mathematica, but MiniTab, AutoCAD, SPSS, Cubase and plugins, Premiere, the CS suite, Microsoft Office, etc. Yes, one can get demo versions, and yes, one can make the "demo versions" have a very long evaluation period, but most students don't pirate either for legal/ethical reasons, or the fact that infected torrents are becoming more and more commonplace.

      Finally, there is something nice about going in and checking mail and Web forums on a machine without having to either dig up a laptop or try to fumble with a smartphone's small screen. Just sit down, log in, do your E-mail and Web browsing, log off, and go about your business.

    2. Re:Still Important by Ludachrispeed · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'm a student at UVA, and I must say this doesn't sit well with me yet.

      I don't want to have to carry my laptop around all the time
      I want to be able to work in a room full of other engineers whom I can talk to
      I want to be able to use a computer when mine isn't working
      I use linux... what am I going to do when some teacher makes me use windows, if I can't use a computer lab?

      If it's to save money... maybe they should try not leaving all several hundred of our puplic computers on all night, and for the whole summer and winter vacations!

  3. Computer Labs are still useful by forkazoo · · Score: 5, Informative

    When I ran one, it was a lab of Linux machines running Matlab and a bunch of other software that most student machines wouldn't have. The computer lab was extremely useful for the students. I expect that you'll continue to see labs being used for anything that isn't common on a student's computer. (Video editing, 3D animation, Matlab, anything with specialty software), or for computer skills courses. Teaching excel is a lot easier when everybody is looking at the same version.

    Sure, if it's just being used for web browsing and checking email, a computer lab may be much less useful now than it was ten years ago. Still, I think the social aspect of a computer lab shouldn't be overlooked. I expect that you'll soon see a movement of "micro computer labs" the size of a conference room with something like 3-6 computers, a conference table, and a white board, maybe a projector. Extremely useful for group projects, and things like that, but also useful by a group of completely random individuals as a small computer lab.

    1. Re:Computer Labs are still useful by fishbowl · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "I agree; student laptops are useful for generic computer usage, but not that great for assuming a particular set of software, unless you're going to go the extra step and mandate that students buy a particular computer with a particular OS and software environment. If you aren't going to do that, you're stuck with some of your students running Windows, some OS X, a handful Linux, and very little you can assume about what they can install and run."

      If you are going to do that, you'll increase costs, especially when you have to renegotiate site licenses and volume pricing because you've mandated a change.

      There's also a consideration for when your "nice to have campus wi-fi" becomes a critical component across colleges, and suddenly you've outgrown your Bluesocket solution or whatever. Campus administrators at the risk-management level of funding won't miss this sort of thing. They may be pinheads when it comes to technology, but they have uncanny talent for anticipating hidden costs, particularly when those costs can't be absorbed by a single college or department.

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      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    2. Re:Computer Labs are still useful by eggnoglatte · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Very true. This is also important for the instructors (at least in CS) - how can you mark programming assignments if the environments used for development are that diverse.

      It'll be interesting to see how VMs change that game: assignment handout is a Linux VM that runs on any host OS, an has all the necessary apps and libraries installed. Students hand in a modified VM for the instructor and TAs to run on whatever host platform they use. Not quite feasible yet, I think, but maybe in a few years?

    3. Re:Computer Labs are still useful by Kaboom13 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I know at least at my school, they had a number of computer labs. The largest were big, general purpose labs, with little more then a web browser and e-mail. These were always deserted. I found myself spending a lot of time in them for a period of about a week when my power supply died under warranty and I was waiting on the RMA. I never saw them used more then 25%. Of course part of that is probably because they were locked down heavily and ran pretty slowly. They also had smaller, special purpose computer labs in the various departments, that were always packed. Even though they were less conveniently located, they had better computers and the various specialized software used in courses. Furthermore, they also often felt more comfortable, because you would be surrounded by peers in your department, and didn't have that "empty library" atmosphere where people talk in hushed whispers.

      The other computers that were ALWAYS in use was the first floor of the library. The library had a coffee shop, and lots of computers and tables that made it easy for group collaboration.

      It seems to me that if you are a college administrator, you should probably spend a day in any computer lab you are investing resources in. See if it's being used, see what it's used for, and talk to the student's about why they chose that particular lab. Some are probably underused, some are probably in high demand. The prevalence of personal computers probably means the days of students packing the room just to use a word processor are probably over. That doesn't mean labs over all are done for.

  4. Computer labs aren't only computer rooms... by Kindaian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I completly disagree with the removing of computer labs and i would just point two issues:

    a) Freshman can have a portable, but they don't have the array of servers that currently are needed for a complete CS courseware. How do they program in cluster computers, clustered database servers and so on? Yes, you may be able to skip on the ton of personal computers, but you will still need the IT infrastructure to support a proper learning experience;

    b) It is not appropriate to ask every freshman to ditch hard coin for a program just to learn something. In that case, the usual setup is for the school to have a computer room with computers and all the programs required. Also bear in mind that many programs aren't exactly instalable on a portable computer...

    So yup... you may be right that the "need" for perssonnal computers aren't currently that great, but nope, computer labs will always be needed on schools that relate to IT.

  5. As an instructor, software uniformity is crucial. by j-stroy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When a course requires a certain software package, a consistent install base is crucial for teaching and troubleshooting.

    When a system problem can't be solved by having the student move to another workstation while IT is re-imaging a lab computer, weeks of course time and homework can be lost. It is a headache keeping track of excused late assignments.

    Not to mention software licensing issues.. It forces the instructor into a legal and moral choice between running the "new & hot" version the students are running and last years license the school purchased. Isn't your highest obligation to teach the students? And don't even start me on instant messaging.

  6. I wonder if the economy will change that back... by damn_registrars · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sure, right now a lot of kids who just graduated from high school can convince their parents that they need their own computer in school (even if the school website says otherwise). Though as the economy continues to falter, parents should start taking a serious look at what their kids truly need for school (and realize that a computer of their own is not on that list).

    Spend $1,000 on that new laptop, or instead use the same $1,000 to take out less in student loans? That should be a pretty easy choice.

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    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  7. What about software? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm a civil engineering student and throughout my course I had to do a bunch of projects that demanded all sorts of software and although a bunch of that software has a free counterpart (openoffice, latex, maxima, GCC, etc...), we are still forced to use software that not only doesn't have any free counterpart but also costs an arm and a leg to begin with (I'm looking at you, autocad). That alone makes the computer lab to be nothing short of invaluable. That and the fact that my school's computer lab also sells prints.

    Then there's the safety aspect. Nowadays I'm able to go to class with nothing more than a pencil, A4 paper, an USB drive. That's about 15 euros worth of stuff. If suddenly I was forced to carry around a laptop then that value would easily surpass the 600 euros mark, all that concentrated on a neat, easily stealable toy.

  8. Mission Change by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Computer labs won't go away, they will just change their mission. Instead of labs for general computing needs (email, info searches, web browsing), they will become support for specialized computing needs.
    They are still needed to provide access to specialized professional applications which would be too expensive for individual students to license. High end scientific, art, media and simulation applications are too expensive or require too much computing power for the average student with a laptop to realistically use.

  9. Computer labs provide forums to exchange ideas by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 5, Interesting

    One of my favorite professors, Arthur Lo, said of his course:

    "Most of my students say that they get the most from this course from the lab exercises. I think that they get the most from their lab partners."

    This was back when a computer "lab" really meant a "terminal room." But you could take a quick break, discuss assignments with other students, to make sure that you understood it correctly, ask older students which courses were good, tell younger courses which course sucked.

    Computer folks tend to be introverted enough anyway; encourage them to get out a bit, instead of hacking alone in their dorm rooms.

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  10. One word: Engineering by ender06 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Computer labs are essential to any good engineering program. The smartest and easiest way to provide access to and support for an array of engineering software is through University run computer labs.

    At the University of Michigan, where I attend, there is a huge amount of software that engineering students have access to on any of the CAEN (computer aided engineering network) computers. All my complaints aside, the engineering network is one of the most useful resources. I have a fair amount of University storage space, access to all my files on any CAEN computer, and generally a lot more computing power available than on most student's laptops.

    Students will routinely run simulations and analyses on the computers, letting them run overnight, or even days. Above all, without an engineering computer network, student teams, such as Solar Car, FSAE, Baja, etc. would not be able to design, build, and compete on the same level.

    A properly run computer network can be a great way to provide access to a huge resource with an array of software otherwise unavailable or too costly for students.