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Gadgets Laptops Required for ISU Freshman
Brandon Hill (Blog) - March 2, 2006 2:15 PM
Print 20 comment(s) - last by JBird7986.. on Mar 3 at 10:06 AM
Indiana State University partners up with Lenovo to supply students with ThinkPads

Indiana State University will be the first public university in the state to require notebook computers for incoming freshman starting with the Fall 2007 semester. ISU would join UNC-Chapel Hill and Clemson who have adopted similar policies.

Faculty members will first start receiving their ThinkPads later this year, while incoming freshman who have received President’s Scholars, Networks Scholars or ISU Laptop Award honors will receive their notebooks at the beginning of the Fall 2006 semester.

The Laptop Award is guaranteed to incoming freshmen who have completed an Indiana Core 40 Diploma (or equivalent) and have a high school cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher, based on a 4.0 scale. To receive the Laptop Award, students must be admitted to the university by March 1.

Students will also be able to purchase Lenovo ThinkPads through the university at a drastically reduced price. You can find more information on the ISU Notebook Initiative here.

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Wake Forest
By jeffbui on 3/2/2006 2:54:43 PM , Rating: 2
Wake Forest also supplies students with an IBM T series as well.




RE: Wake Forest
By BrownTown on 3/2/2006 2:59:30 PM , Rating: 5
forcing everyone to buy a laptop is such a scam, they even started doing this in the high schools (provate not public obviously) where i live. Now i can understand for engineers and some other majors requiring a laptop since so much of what you do requires a computer (I use mathematica pretty much every day), but forcing liberal arts majors and highschoolers to get one is just complete excess. Not only are laptop unnescecarry in most classes, but i'd say 90% of the people i see with laptops in class are using AIM or browsing the internet, or doing something which is actully hurting their learning.

So, in closing, in the majority of cases forcing people to buy laptops does not help their learning at all, and in many cases it probably hurts learning.


RE: Wake Forest
By SNM on 3/2/06, Rating: 0
RE: Wake Forest
By gooser on 3/2/2006 3:22:49 PM , Rating: 2
haha


RE: Wake Forest
By DarthPierce on 3/2/2006 3:44:25 PM , Rating: 2
Hey.... my laptop (and the internet/games/whatever) was often the only thing that kept me awake through my engineering classes.... (Of course I think I actually picked up more subconciously while napping than I did while browsing the internet, cause then my attention was more actively tuned AWAY from class) So.... maybe they are a bad thing after all... ;-) (But hey, I looked like i was doing a lot more work than I did while sleeping!)


Totally unnecessary
By Micah on 3/2/2006 4:09:44 PM , Rating: 4
Who knows? Maybe some people can use a laptop as a learning tool? I prefer a notebook and pen/pencil. You can draw diagrams, write notes in margins, draw arrows connecting things, and write mathematical formulae with ease.

I'm not saying laptops are worthless, just that it's stupid to make them required.

I think I'll move there just to steal them. Think about it: thousands of students all with the same model laptop...walk through any building (library, student union, etc.), grab one when someone's not looking, and just walk away. You'll blend in with all the others with the identical laptop. Sure, they probably have serial numbers and whatnot, but to the casual eye of the guy scanning the crowd for his stolen laptop, they all look the same...




By Xenoterranos on 3/2/2006 10:29:19 PM , Rating: 3
At the University Of Texas at San Antonio, there's hardly a teacher or science major (mostly physics) that doesn't have a tablet PC. I bought a notebook since most of my work is coding (CS Major), but for physics and math, not even a pencil and paper can beat a tablet PC. When problems start taking multiple sheets of paper (and it always is best not to scratch our or discard work, even bad work) you just scroll down and not have to throw anything away, it's awsome. My calculus teacher prefers that we not take notes in class so that we can pay attention and listen to everything he says; later we just download his handwritten tabletPC notes in a pdf from the school website (he'll even let you email math homework to him if you have a tablet). Also, most of the graphic design majors have them too (duh) and most of the buisness majors.


...ok..
By sadffffff on 3/2/2006 4:12:45 PM , Rating: 2
i dont understand how is this news.. its on lots of tech sites..

my university has been doing this for 4+ years. have to lease a (gateway or apple) laptop from them at $500 a semester no matter if you have a laptop already or not. at the end of the 4 year program you have the option to buy it for $25. so you get a $1500-$1600 laptop for $2025... the laptop is refreshed (you get a new one) every 2 years.




RE: ...ok..
By isaacmacdonald on 3/2/2006 4:50:22 PM , Rating: 2
Wow. That's an exceptionally crappy university policy -- wtf is the point of forcing every person into leasing a high end laptop? A budget notebook (~600.00) should be enough for almost all undergraduate educational needs.


...
By dheffer on 3/2/2006 5:09:40 PM , Rating: 2
I go to Clemson, and I was a freshman 2 years ago, the first year that they required laptops for all incoming freshman. They didn't make us buy their specific laptop, they just had some recommended (discounted) laptops from IBM, but you always had the option to buy anything you want, including Macs. About half the people here have IBMs because of the program they have set up here, but it doesn't affect tuition, here anyway. I would really hate it if they supplied you with a laptop included with tuition, because if you already had a laptop coming in to college, like I had, then you're in a really bad situation. I would say that, if anything, everyone having laptops cuts down the cost of having to have computer labs, since everyone has to have a laptop.
Besides, theres nothing like being outside laying on some grass doing schoolwork, especially on a day like today.




RE: ...
By Rampage on 3/2/2006 8:11:24 PM , Rating: 2
I use pencil and pen while laying on some grass.. and it leaves more money FOR grass.


Learning is fun...
By brshoemak on 3/2/2006 4:53:41 PM , Rating: 3
From the article:
quote:
The decision to offer laptops rather than a tuition discount is connected to the universitys laptop initiative and emphasis on the role technology plays in higher education

So let me get this straight. As a reward for being a good student you get laptops that are becoming cheaper every day, versus financial scholarships towards tuition costs that are rising every day.

"Thanks for my $1000 laptop. What? My tuition increased $2000 a year? Oh well, free laptop. College is AWESOME! Now where's my Econ 101 class?"




Dang.
By slash196 on 3/2/2006 6:43:04 PM , Rating: 3
I went throught the Indiana public school system and meet all the requirements. If I had gone to ISU instead of Indiana University, I'd have me a free laptop. Oh well, I guess that's balanced by the fact that ISU is a laughingstock of a school academically.




the flip side
By WileCoyote on 3/2/2006 3:51:51 PM , Rating: 2
I had to take a year from college due to my computer addiction. I'm guessing there will eventually be a lawsuit targeting this policy from the family of some kid who became addicted to it and had to drop out.




hehe
By ksherman on 3/2/2006 4:22:15 PM , Rating: 2
funny how ISU is a pretty big party school... hopefully Lenovo will impliment some good anti-beer-spillage tech into these laptops... :^P




Virginia Tech
By HammerFan on 3/2/2006 6:27:37 PM , Rating: 2
VT requires me to have a laptop as an engineering major, so i bought an ABS Mayhem G3 just before comming here. My roommate is a liberal arts major and originally came here with a desktop. He quickly learnd that there are numerous advantages to having a laptop, and over christmas break bought a mid-low end toshiba notebook. He is much happier with it now than he ever was with his desktop. I think requiring notebooks is a good idea, but i don't like the idea of requiring a specifc notebook.




Way behind the curve
By middlehead on 3/2/2006 7:27:59 PM , Rating: 2
My college has been handing every student a laptop for years now.




hmm
By spwrozek on 3/2/2006 11:36:59 PM , Rating: 2
This should not be reqiured of students. They should have the choice of bringing any Pc they want or none at all. When I was a freshman I took a laptop to class, got bad grades. Got a Tablet and it was to much of a hassle. So it is good ole paper and pencil. I am studying engineering and I would not want to run some of the programs I use on a laptop. When rendering 3-D and other thigns like that it is not enough CPU power. Also getting the programs is expensive, if you buy them, which I never would. My school tells you that you don't even need to bring a computer if you don't want to. We have pretty nice labs open 24/7 and you get a bunch of space to save things. You easily could have no computer and be fine at my school. I just think it is very stupid to make kids get something they may not need.




Laptops can be valuable
By JBird7986 on 3/3/2006 10:06:30 AM , Rating: 2
I'm currently a sophomore at Duke right now, and I have to say that my laptop is by far the most important piece of equipment that I own. Duke's only requirement right now is that students bring a computer (not necessarily a laptop). Of course, they do what every other college does and recommends (and discounts) particular models, but knowing better (thanks to AT), I went out and bought my own. Best move I've ever made. Some people like myself actually DO tote their laptop around to each class, and taking notes with my laptop is far easier than it ever was with pencil and paper. I swear by it, and for the first time in my life, I'm organized, as it's much easier to stay that way (IMHO) with electronic paper and folders.




tax
By albundee on 3/2/06, Rating: 0
"This is about the Internet.  Everything on the Internet is encrypted. This is not a BlackBerry-only issue. If they can't deal with the Internet, they should shut it off." -- RIM co-CEO Michael Lazaridis









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