Students Using Laptop Computers May Access University’s Online Resources From Anywhere In School

During peak hours last year, DePaul University students sometimes waited 45 minutes for a computer in one of the three computer labs on the university’s Loop Campus. But this fall, thanks to a wireless technology upgrade at the DePaul Center, College of Commerce students are able to use their own laptop computers to access online library materials, course Web sites, university e-mail and other Internet resources from anywhere in the school.

The wireless installation is one of two major technology innovations that will debut at the business school in September. Several classrooms also have been equipped with Course OnLine II, a multimedia system that records classroom activities and downloads lecture visuals and audio onto a Web site for student review.

“DePaul is on the cutting edge of a trend among universities to provide students more connectivity and flexibility through wireless and distance learning technology,” said Thomas Donley, an economics professor and director of DePaul’s Business Technology Center, which initiates technology enhancements at the college. “The wireless system is a pilot program that, if successful, may spread throughout other schools at DePaul.”

Donley said university officials are especially interested in exploring the possibility of creating a wireless campus at Barat College of DePaul, the Lake Forest, Ill., institution that became DePaul’s ninth college through an alliance forged earlier this year. DePaul has made a significant investment in upgrading Barat’s facilities and is seeking ways to improve student technology access at the college.

At the DePaul Center, 1 E. Jackson Blvd. in Chicago, six floors that contain the business school, a library, student organization and service offices, a cafeteria and even an open air deck were equipped with wireless technology over the summer.

Dispersed throughout these floors are 40 radio antennae linked to 20 access points, which are transceivers that provide radio wave communication between laptops and the DePaul computer network. To go wireless, students must use their DePaul passwords and encryption keys, which are downloaded at the beginning of each quarter. “The encryption keys will keep outsiders from breaching DePaul’s network,” said Jeanine Lee, an analyst from DePaul’s Networks department who worked on the system.

In addition to providing student access to Internet resources in hallways, classrooms, lunchrooms and lounges, the wireless set-up allows more professors and students to use computer laptops at meetings in the building’s conference rooms. “You won’t have people fighting over the room’s one computer jack anymore,” said Thomas Brett, the College’s technology administrator.

Many of the business school’s students already own laptop computers, and most laptops produced in the last two years are compatible with the system. For students, faculty or staff who don’t own laptops, DePaul has reached an agreement with Fujitsu PC & Tabin to offer three new types of notebook computers with up to a 48-month installment payment option. Two versions have built-in compact disc burners, allowing students to hand in class projects on CDs in the future. The school also plans to add wireless printing stations for students.

DePaul’s wireless system not only expands network connectivity, but also is economical, Brett said. “It costs us about $30,000 to equip a single classroom with desktop computers. For twice that—$60,000—we were able to install wireless equipment in the DePaul Center.”

The school’s other new technology innovation, Course OnLine II, captures entire lectures on video and audio, including faculty computer presentations and notes written on an electronic whiteboard during a class. The visual and audio elements of the lecture are automatically synchronized and downloaded onto a password-protected Web page that students can access six hours after a class concludes. It was developed by DePaul’s computer school, which uses it in more than 100 courses.

“The goal of Course OnLine II is not to replace the classroom experience but to enhance it,” Donley said. “It’s designed for DePaul’s large population of part-time graduate students who may miss occasional classes because of work or family obligations, or who learn better by reviewing class activities.”