X-Delivery-Notice:  SMTP MAIL FROM does not correspond to sender.
X-Envelope-to: mbu-l@ttuvm1.bitnet
X-VMS-To: IN%"mbu-l@ttuvm1.bitnet"
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.mbu-l
Date:         Sat, 10 Oct 1992 17:31:44 -0700
From:         James Crosswhite <JCROSS@OREGON.BITNET>
Subject:      Computer Travels

  I'm back, with more. And this is timely. I stopped in at
UC Davis last Wednesday, where they've opened a new
Powerbook Lab (170's). No, students didn't buy the machines
under a mandatory plan. The arrangement is basically the
same as in Davis's other labs, but the laptops make for a
different kind of classroom. I talked with three teachers,
and they all said that they preferred the Powerbook lab to
the other, more traditional labs. The reasons they gave? The
students can close the Powerbooks, and the lab becomes an
almost ordinary classroom, where face-to-face meetings can
take place without the visual obstacles and magnetic
attractions of all those--well, television screens. Further,
the machines are *quiet*, very quiet. It's easy to hold an
out-loud discussion, even with all the machines on (if only
you could get people's attention).
  Is this a version of the multi-use classroom of my dreams?
I don't know. Eric Schroeder was one of the teachers who
preferred the powerbook lab. It's easy for me to see why;
his minimalist approach to computers and writing is probably
most fully realized in this kind of classroom. I myself have
some real intellectual sympathy with the minimalist view.
The students seemed as fully intent and involved in their
electronic environments as they are anywhere. I sat in on
one of Davis's upper-division writing adjuncts in which
students were getting hands-on instruction on how to
transfer files, send e-mail, search databases and so on. I
sat at a machine and went through some of the exercises
myself. (I also telneted to Oregon, and went through some of
my accumulated mail.) The laptop and Davis's networking
arrangement have some real strengths. I like what I saw.
(Now I want a Quadra and a Powerbook!)
  However, although the 170 screen is a great laptop screen,
it's still a laptop screen. I found it hard to read; this
might be a strain for some other people, too. It also lacks
the magic of the big screen--the sheer attractiveness of a
larger display, or a color one. For some courses, color and
large screens are necessary. For first year composition
courses, I don't think they are. But, again, I found the
screen harder to read than the displays I'm used to.
  And even though they have 030 chips, they still seem to go
slow. (Hey, Apple! How about a laptop with an 040 and lots
of power? And cheap!)
  In light of the recent talk about mandatory laptops for
students, as well as my Davis visit, I'll have to give some
thought to laptops. I can see the power of the ideas at work
in some of the recent postings. However, I can't easily
imagine an institution like the U of Oregon being out in
front on an issue like this. In my judgment, Oregonians
would react negatively to the mandatory purchase of
computers. Given recent tuition increases in the state, and
coincident declines in enrollment, adding to the cost of
higher education in any way at all seems almost impossible
to recommend.
  Still, I'm turning it over...I'll be back later with more
on Computer Traveling.