Wireless Communication for Education

[Lessons from the Wake Forest Story]

TechLearn’s ConferenceRegents Park College, LondonJune 28, 2002

By David G. Brown, Professor/VP/Dean/Former ProvostWake Forest University, Winston-Salem, N.C., U.S.A.http://www.wfu.edu/~brown brown@wfu.edu

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• 3700 undergrads• 92% residential• 1300 average SAT• 500 each: Med, Law, MBA, PhD• $950M endowment• 26th in US News & World Report • Rhodes Scholars

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• IBM Laptops for all• Printers for all• New Every 2 Years• Own @ Graduation• 31,000 Connections• Standard Software• 99% E-Mail• Start 1995, 4 Year Phase In• +15% Tuition for 37 Items• +40 Faculty and 30 Staff

THE WAKE FOREST PLANIBM A30, Pentium III, 1.13GHz Processor, 30GB Hardrive, 384 MB RAM

15”ActMatrix Screen, CD-RW/DVD, Floppy, 56k modem, 16MB Video Ram, 10/100 Ethernet, USB&Serial&Parellel&Infrared Ports

Standard Load Includes—MS Office, Dreamweaver, SPSS, Maple,Acrobat, Photoshop, Shockwave, Flash,Net Meeting, Real Producer & Player,Media Player, Windows XP Moviemaker,Apple QuickTime, Netscape & Explorer,Netscape Calendar & Communicator, Windows XP Professional

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Wake Forest is Wired

• Backbone is wired

• 200+ Podiums & Projectors

• 31,000 Ports for 6,000 users

• 60% of classroom seats

Always top 20 in Yahoo’s Survey

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Wireless at Wake Forest

• Wireless Access in All Public Places (2MB802.11)• Wireless in 20% of Classrooms, Central

Administration Building. Not Residence Halls• 25% Students Own Wireless Cards

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Wake Forest’s Experience

• Use in Class is Too Slow (Bandwidth)

• Biggest Gain From Computers is Communication

• Computer Use is Between Classes (not during)

• Few Administrators Use Wireless

• Value Added by Wireless is Minimal

• Wireless Blackberry is Disappointing

• Students Often Drop Wireless Card Rental

• Biggest Gain From Wireless is Convenience

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Communication-Interaction

Computers Enhance Teaching & Learning Via--

PresentationsBetter--20%

More Opportunities toPractice & Analyze--35%

More Access to SourceMaterials via Internet--43%

More Communication with Faculty Colleagues, Classmates,and Between Faculty and Students--87%

ICCEL ICCEL ICCEL ------ Wake Forest University, 2002Wake Forest University, 2002Wake Forest University, 2002

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Examples of My Students Using Their Wired Laptops in Class

• Recite Main Point of Previous Session• React/Feedback During Lecture• Access Relevant Websites/Databases• Answer One Minute Quiz• Email Reaction to Classmates• Practice Use of the Computer• Create Team Presentations

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Examples of Use of Wireless

• Identity Checking at Parties• Medical Students Access Patient Records while on

Hospital Rounds• Physics Students Work in Teams During Lab

Session• Romance Language Students Work in Teams

During Class• Students Connect with Internet When in

Classroom WITHOUT Wired Access

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Conclusions From the

Wake Forest Experience

Coming Soon!

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What We’ve Learned So FarAbout Technology and Teaching

1. More Learning results From Better Communication!

2. Students relish Buffets!

3. Blended Courses are Best!

4. Ubiquitous Access is Essential!

5. Simpler is Better!

6. Professor becomes Personal Trainer!

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Progress Toward Realizing the Full Learning Potentialof Ubquitous Computing-- in Increments of Equipment[Study Chart from Bottom to Top]

0% 25 % 50 % 75 % 100 %

Add Handhelds connected Add

everywhere wirelessly 5%

Add Laptops connected Add

everywhere wirelessly 14 %

Add all with wireless Add

connectivity in classroom 1%

Add all with wired Add

connectivity in classroom 5%

Add all with connectivity from Add

personally owned computers 60 %

Add all with access to Add

public lab computers 5%

Instructor only computer with 10 %

connectivity & classroom projection

[Interpretation of chart: 10% of the value is achieved when the instructor only (bottom line) has a computer.Another 5% is added, for a total of 15%, when all students can get to computers in a public lab. …100% of the value of ubiquity is achieved when everyone has access everywhere.]

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Conclusions

• Fully Interactive Learning Can’t Take Place Until Everyone is Connected!

• If the Most Economical Means of Connecting is Wireless, Do It!

• Go For 802.11A if You Can Afford It

• Tom Franklin is an expert worth hearing

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Conclusions• Wireless is currently a technology still in search of a killer application.• The Killer Applications will likely be---

– Email & Instant Messaging EVERYWHERE– Global Positioning

• We’ll be closer when we have signals from the sky & community computing

• Wireless may slip in the back door by becoming the backbone of campus systems

• In the meantime, boutique applications will intrigue all of us.

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As Wake Forest sees ahead…

• Wait for 802.11A (agree with Franklin)

• Move from Wired-with-Wireless-Add-On

to Wireless-with-Wired-Add-On

• No Big Rush to Wireless

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Actions for You to Consider

• If not wired, go local wireless.

• Include voice wireless (cell phone)

• Support boutique uses as “add on”

• Encourage community-wide computing

• Stand ready to leapfrog the pioneers

• Invest cautiously

• Celebrate the brave innovators!

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David G. BrownWake Forest University

Winston-Salem, N.C. 27109336-758-4878

email: brown@wfu.eduhttp//:www.wfu.edu/~brown

fax: 336-758-4875

ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2002ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2002

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