Last fall, over three hundred first-year students purchased laptop computers to use in their studies, and at the end of that semester, after discussions involving a number of campus groups, Rensselaer committed to introducing a laptop requirement for entering freshman beginning in the fall of 1999. The program will expand to include all undergraduates over the next four years.
Laptops offer many advantages over labs and classrooms of desktop machines.
It has long been a concern of students that, as more classes use information technology, the public computer classrooms and labs are heavily scheduled, limiting student access. A laptop allows students to have the computer with them whenever they need it. Depending on their needs, they can work alone or in a group, in a classroom, the library, or in any quiet corner on campus. And with faculty able to plan around a standard computer, they can devote their primary attention to the curriculum and the students. In preparation for the fall, a number of new laptop classrooms and study areas are planned, as well as upgrades to the network, servers, and classroom projection equipment.