Wireless Web treads fine line on campuses
By: BY NOAH BIERMAN Knight Ridder Newspapers
Issue date: 3/31/05 Section: News
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Law student Brian Gabriel was sitting in class, using his laptop computer to buy home brewery supplies. His professor called on him to explain the international jurisdiction of war criminals.
"I actually think I had the (beer Web site) minimized when he actually called on me," said Gabriel, who insists he knew what was going on well enough to answer the question aptly.
Modern college campuses permit - some say invite - a style of multitasking unavailable just a few years ago. To most students and faculty, new technology has been an academic boon. But there are unintended consequences.
Wireless technology has led to increasing numbers of students bringing their computers to class; some play video games, look for jobs, instant-message their friends and even watch movies while faculty are lecturing.
Opinions differ on how extensive such modern-day doodling has become. But the trend has sparked enough concern to compel technology gurus to prepare a sort of nuclear option: a switch that shuts off wireless Internet in class.
The University of Miami in Florida started building wireless capability in 2000, roughly the same time other major universities began installing palm-sized antennas around their campuses. Now, students in 85 percent of the school's 240 acres can access the Internet without wires.
Laptops Everywhere
Walk into UM's library or the Starbucks across the pathway and students click and drag on open laptops. Wander through the quads and students sit in green plastic chairs or on concrete benches, next to palm trees, with laptops.
A few lie about on the otherwise empty athletic fields in bikinis, their minds still connectable to the World Wide Web by slender black notebook computers while their bodies tan.
"We've gone to all the places our students congregate," said Timothy Ramsey, the university's associate vice president for telecommunications and computer operations.
Ramsey is responsible for upgrading the system, making sure connections are fast and easy. That means building more capacity in heavily traveled areas like the coffee shop and a bit less at the baseball stadium.
"I actually think I had the (beer Web site) minimized when he actually called on me," said Gabriel, who insists he knew what was going on well enough to answer the question aptly.
Modern college campuses permit - some say invite - a style of multitasking unavailable just a few years ago. To most students and faculty, new technology has been an academic boon. But there are unintended consequences.
Wireless technology has led to increasing numbers of students bringing their computers to class; some play video games, look for jobs, instant-message their friends and even watch movies while faculty are lecturing.
Opinions differ on how extensive such modern-day doodling has become. But the trend has sparked enough concern to compel technology gurus to prepare a sort of nuclear option: a switch that shuts off wireless Internet in class.
The University of Miami in Florida started building wireless capability in 2000, roughly the same time other major universities began installing palm-sized antennas around their campuses. Now, students in 85 percent of the school's 240 acres can access the Internet without wires.
Laptops Everywhere
Walk into UM's library or the Starbucks across the pathway and students click and drag on open laptops. Wander through the quads and students sit in green plastic chairs or on concrete benches, next to palm trees, with laptops.
A few lie about on the otherwise empty athletic fields in bikinis, their minds still connectable to the World Wide Web by slender black notebook computers while their bodies tan.
"We've gone to all the places our students congregate," said Timothy Ramsey, the university's associate vice president for telecommunications and computer operations.
Ramsey is responsible for upgrading the system, making sure connections are fast and easy. That means building more capacity in heavily traveled areas like the coffee shop and a bit less at the baseball stadium.
