It wasn’t so long ago that heading off to college required little more than a typewriter, a laundry basket and tuition.
Students used the library and the Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature for research. They drank cheap beer and swallowed live goldfish for fun. And they lugged around heavy tomes, notebooks and course materials for class.
But the microchip and the thousands of nifty products it has spawned have changed the way we live, work and play. There are few places where this is more evident than on campus.
Nowadays, students use LEXIS-NEXIS and other online databases for research. They drink cheap beer and mash the buttons of their PlayStations and Tamagotchis for fun. And those heavy tomes and notebooks gradually are being replaced by laptop computers. Don’t reach for the checkbook just yet, parents. Students of higher education in 1998 certainly can get by without cell phones, MiniDisc recorders and personal digital assistants, but more than 90 percent of them get Internet/local area network access at school, so a personal computer is increasingly important.
Dozens of schools, from tiny St. Gregory’s College in Shawnee, Okla., to Seton Hall in South Orange, N.J., have required all entering freshmen to show up with a laptop computer. Some schools even mandate the brands of hardware and software students must buy.
This month’s special report examines the trend of computers on campus. We’ll show you how schools are implementing or resisting the mandates, as well as how technology is changing the face of higher learning.
