Free laptop for students no time soon
Kimberly Woods
Issue date: 11/30/09 Section: News
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Dr. Sheila Flemming-Hunter, vice-president for academic affairs, said the idea of the laptop is to encourage students who want to bring their laptops to Rust.
While some institutions offer laptops to welcome students; however, the cost of the laptop is included with the tuition fees.
She said if Rust is to begin to distribute laptops to incoming students, there would be an added cost to the tuition. Rust is not at the point where the school can provide laptops.
"We are not even close to saying that every student should have a laptop when they come, or when they come we give them a laptop."
Referring to the use of laptops by students in the classroom, Hunter highlighted the advantage that it will improve note taking skills. "I think you can store information better when using a laptop, and that way, the student will not have to bring different notebooks to class."
Students can as well do instant referencing of class information online. Along with advantages, there are disadvantages when using laptops in the classroom.
"With all the different computers in the classroom, the faculty member may not have the attention of the students," said Hunter. In other words, there may be 20 laptops in the classroom and everyone is supposed to be looking at an experiment or a scene from a particular film, but some students may be checking their e-mail, and visiting social websites such as Twitter, Facebook, Fanbox, and Myspace.
"I think that the advantage outweighs the disadvantage. We don't have a policy about using laptops in the classroom, although we can make criteria or create certain standards for using and taking laptops to class," said Hunter.
She also stated that it should be up to the faculty member to decide whether or not the student is allowed to bring his or her laptop to class.
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