Spring Break
Most Unwired Campus in Connecticut
Nina Blair Wales Staff Reporter
Issue date: 10/20/05 Section: News
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Out of the top 50 U.S. colleges, Sacred Heart University ranked 11th. Sacred Heart University was the only university from Connecticut on Intel's list.
The Intel Corporation gathered data and took into consideration the percentage of the campus covered by wireless technology, number of undergraduate students, number of computers and the campus computer-to-student ratio.
In addition to these statistics, the list data also relied on an online student survey. The survey was conducted by Intel and the Center for Digital Education from May 1, 2005 to Sept. 1, 2005.
"Across the country, wireless campus networks are dramatically changing the way students, faculty and staff learn and work," said Dr. Richard Beckwith, an ethnographer with Intel's Corporate Technology People and Practices Research Group. "Wireless networks are connecting students and faculty to vital academic resources, providing improved efficiencies for faculty and staff and overall creating a new and enriched social fabric on campus."
Seventy-four percent of this year's top 50 schools have 100 percent wireless network coverage, on campus.
Whether it is on the quad or in Holy Grounds, students throughout campus have the ability to access the internet whenever and wherever.
Having a wireless access throughout campus is beneficial to the students, professors, and university operations personnel.
Professors have the ability to administer exams through Blackboard while students can engage in communicating their thoughts and ideas. This is done through the online discussion board.
"I think it's great to have Wi-Fi access all across campus," said Umberto Torrielli, a junior from Geneva, Italy.
"It is hard to find a spot where it doesn't work and we have access to all the information we need at anytime."
"Wi-Fi", or wireless fidelity, is a radio-frequency technology that allows laptop or handheld computer users in the vicinity of the transmission equipment to access the Internet.
Sacred Heart continues to stay abreast with the new technology by providing a new laptop computer to every full-time undergraduate student.
The freshmen and juniors each received a new IBM this fall. Students keep the computer for two years and then receive a new one. If they graduate then the computer is theirs.
Student on campus can take advantage of the wireless, however, they can not use this technology without the laptops issued by the school under the Mobile Computing Program.
Sacred Heart gives students a hands-on learning experience through the use of laptops. As a university it enables students to access the Internet anywhere on campus. Talk about unwired!