WORCESTER STATE COLLEGE GOES WIRELESS

LAPTOP INITIATIVE GOES INTO EFFECT FALL SEMESTER 200

(Worcester, MA – January 16, 2004) President Janelle C. Ashley has announced that Worcester State College will begin an exciting, new wireless initiative that will vastly improve students’ technology skills and better prepare them for a competitive job market. The College is in the process of installing state-of-the-art wireless connectivity to the College’s computer system so that students will be able to work on their computers any where on campus, including their classrooms.

“We strongly believe that wireless technology is the future and that our students will greatly benefit from this new initiative,” said President Ashley. “It is essential for our students to have technological skills to succeed in today’s high-tech world. We plan to be completely wireless by 2005.” President Ashley also noted that the College will continue to maintain traditional special purpose labs for specific academic program needs.

For phase one of the laptop initiative, the College will require all incoming, full-time (day) freshman of the Fall 2004 semester to own a laptop computer when they arrive on campus. These freshmen will be enrolled into “learning communities,” which means they will be assigned to the same small groups for three classes: Freshman Seminar, a writing course, and a class in their major or a general education course.

“We believe that the learning communities are the place to start the laptop initiative as our freshmen will receive a great deal of support from faculty and their classmates,” said David Caruso, Ph.D., Vice President for Academic Affairs. “It is a good way to acculturate both faculty and students into a wireless environment.” The College implemented the “learning communities” initiative this year.

According to the National Learning Communities Project, funded by the Pew Charitable Trust, learning communities have been shown to increase student retention and academic achievement, increase student involvement and motivation, improve students’ time to degree completion, and enhance student intellectual development. Students involved in learning communities become more intellectually mature and responsible for their own learning and develop the capacity to care about the learning of their peers.

Donald Vescio, Ph.D., Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Information Technologies, will be overseeing the deployment of the laptop initiative. According to Vescio, the cost of installing wireless technology is minimal compared to the continual replacement costs of outdated desktop computers every three years and the cost of rehabilitating computer lab space which could be better used as classrooms. Vescio states that it will cost students less in the long-run to own their own laptop and allow the College to maintain a quality educational computing environment. The College is working with several vendors to ensure the availability of an affordable and state of the art laptop for its students.

“We know through our online survey that 85 to 95 percent of our students already purchase a personal computer for their college education,” Vescio stated. “For the 10 to 15 percent who can’t, we will have options in place to take care of them. No student will be left behind through this initiative.” Vescio will have a website available by June 2004 that will answer students’ questions about laptop specifications, as well as a list of vendors offering discounts to WSC students. Since the “cost of attendance” will now include a laptop computer, financial aid will be available to help pay for the increased cost for those who qualify.

“The most important aspect of this initiative,” said President Ashley, “is that our students will have the latest in technology, and at the end of their academic career they will take it with them--just like their textbooks.”

For more information about the College’s laptop initiative, please see http://tech.worcester.edu.

###