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Lyon's 1:1 Laptop Program Aims To 'Level the Playing Field' for Students
6/26/2008
In higher education, however, these types of initiatives are not so widespread. It's estimated right now that less than 5 percent of colleges and universities--somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 higher education institutions total--have a 1:1 laptop initiative in place. And, according to Roettger, no other college in Arkansas offers such a program.
Said Roettger, "Our students use information technology to communicate with faculty, staff, and peers, to conduct research, and to connect with off-campus sites. This program will level the playing field by ensuring that all our students have equal access to these critical resources, and we believe that it will contribute to a more technology-savvy, computer proficient graduate."
He told us the program was initially proposed by Lyon Director of Information Services Charles Neal as recently as spring 2007. Following discussions with academic departments and the college's board, the final decision was made in February 2008 to move forward with the program for several reasons: an expectation to benefit from hardware standardization, an imperative to graduate students with a higher level of technical proficiency, and (not incidentally) a hope to generate interest among prospective students with perceived added value.
"There's been a lot of excitement among prospective students and their parents since we announced this program," Roettger said. "It makes a strong statement about our commitment to learning technology--something that our parents and students hold in high regard."
Lyon, as we mentioned, is a smaller college, with a total enrollment of about 500 students. About 150 freshmen will arrive in the fall, so nearly a third of the entire student body will receive laptops at that time. The program will continue each year so that, within about four years, the entire student body will be equipped.
Considerations: Leasing, Support, Maintenance, Configurations
How can a small college roll out such an ambitious technology program, one in which funding, support, and maintenance requirements may place a heavy demand on the institution? It's all a matter of prioritization, according to Roettger--not to mention establishing the right partnership to help ensure the success of the program.
For Lyon's initiative, the college partnered with CDW-G and leased the ThinkPads, with the expectation of refreshing the laptops every two years. In the event of maintenance issues with individual laptops, Lyon is maintaining a pool of ThinkPad loaner units that can be checked out by students. CDW-G is also providing warranty service on the units and is training Lyon's Information Services department on maintaining the laptops.
For data and physical protection, the laptops include an integrated fingerprint reader and hard drive shock protection, along with durability features like metal hinges and "roll cages."
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