Re: on computers in the classroom

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@MINDSPRING.COM>]

John Gastineau wrote:

[snip]

> In fact, wireless networking has gotten so cheap that I recently choose to use
> it at home in order to share an internet connection from my computer to my
> wife's computer. Running cables several floors was going to be a hassle, so we
> went wireless. Slick.

I will certainly second this item about doing your classroom
networking in wireless mode. I have also set up a wireless
mini-network at home and find it really a great help. We have three
computer--my wife and I each have desktops (which are separated by
the long dimension of the house) and I also have a laptop. With the
wireless network (Airport) all three computers have independent DSL
internet access over a single line, all three computers can access
each other's desktop, making file transfers trivially easy, and I can
take the laptop anywhere in the house or outside in the yard (not too
far outside, though), and work without having to worry about wires.
The Airport base station is located centrally in the house (in the
kitchen) and the DSL modem is plugged into it. So all three computers
look independent but are fully networked.

We are also planning on a wireless network at school, which will
include the dormitories as well. This  is a couple of years off and
we are in the midst of a debate on what we need to require the
students to bring to school. If it ends up being laptops, then I
suspect that the wireless network will be indispensable, since it
will cut down the connection time at the beginning of class to a
minimum.

I also like John's idea of putting all the classroom paper on the web
instead. The only problem that I see with that is the strain on the
printing capability on campus if everybody in a large class decides
to print a handout because it is still true that it is easier to read
something on paper than it is on screen. We are still debating over
that.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
<mailto://haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto://hhaskell@mindspring.com>

(919) 467-7610

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
have to..
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