Tuesday, February 01, 2000
Mount St. Joseph students get PCs
BY JEFF CARLTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
For students at the College of Mount St. Joseph, getting a computer this fall will be as simple as showing up for class.
The Delhi Township school of 1,300 today will announce its plan — the first of its kind in the Tristate — to provide all 330 incoming freshmen with hand-held personal computers, said Mark Cain, executive director of the school's information services and support.
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RENT TO OWN
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To pay for the hand-held PCs, Mount St. Joseph will charge freshmen a $250 technology fee each semester. After eight semesters, the PCs belong to the students.
Students already enrolled in the college will be able to buy the PCs for $1,200.
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The wireless PCs access the Internet through high-speed radio frequencies.
“What's important about this technology is what we will be able to do with it in terms of instruction,” Mr. Cain said. “It's something students are starting to expect from their college experience.”
Because students will be expected to bring their PCs to class, professors are deciding how best to use the new technology.
Ideas range from posting term papers online to directing students to a particular site on the World Wide Web during class, said Annette Muckerheide, director of the honors program.
“Our faculty won't just be proficient with this,” she said. “They will be comfortable with it.”
Compared to laptops, the hand-held PCs are smaller, lighter and come with longer-lasting batteries.
Mr. Cain said incoming students won't even need to bring their own printers. The models purchased by the school come with infrared ports that beam term papers and English essays to specially equipped printers.
To pay for the hand-held PCs, the school will charge freshmen a $250 technology fee each semester. After eight semesters, the PCs belong to the students.
Students already enrolled in the college will be able to purchase the PCs for $1,200.
About 150 colleges and universities, including the University of Dayton and Ohio University in Athens, have similar programs in which computers are provided.
Amy Hoff, a senior who works in the computer lab at the Mount, said she could take the PC on a spring break trip to Florida and hammer out a term paper while sunbathing on the beach.
An easily distracted student may be tempted by some of the perks of the PCs, Ms. Hoff said.
The PCs come installed with solitaire, which means bored students could surf the Internet or play a few card games when they should be taking notes.
“If the class is boring enough, then yeah, I could see that happening,” Ms. Hoff said.
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