After discussions earlier this year about requiring each incoming undergraduate to own a laptop computer by fall 2002, University administrators are now suggesting such a proposal may be unnecessary.
Intended to help integrate technology into students' lives, the plan would have also required that all upperclassmen own some type of computer. Administrators have been researching the experience of other universities that have required laptops, including such a program's implications for technical support and financial aid, and have decided that the benefits for the classroom may be overstated. A final decision on the requirement is expected from Provost Peter Lange by the end of the semester.
"What we have found is that the goals of a laptop program often involve technology for technology's sake," said Michael Pickett, special assistant to the provost for academic technology. "We believe the most important thing for technology at Duke is to use it to further our goals in teaching, learning and research."
A computer requirement in itself would not further those goals right now, Pickett said. Instead, he added, more planning must occur to see if laptops would be well-used and how they would fit in with broader plans for technology use.
Pickett did not rule out reconsidering the requirement in the future, but said that at this time, laptop use is not prevalent enough to justify the cost to students, the necessary technical support and the demands on the planned expansion of wireless capabilities on campus. Over 90 percent of undergraduates already own computers, and about one third of them own laptops.
"I think it would be fair to say that we've seen an increase in technology use in the classrooms, especially some of the computer rooms where we set up networks, but it's certainly not that predominant," said Robert Thompson, dean of Trinity College.
If the requirement is rejected for next year's students, the University may still try to increase laptop ownership by offering them at lower rates than it does now, Pickett said.
Administrators have been working with Duke Student Government officials to garner student reaction to a laptop requirement. A resolution opposing the program came before DSG last year and was never voted on, but the discussion allowed student voices on the subject to be aired, said Abhijit Prabhu, DSG vice president for academic affairs.
"A lot of concerns were raised on the student side about choice, and that students may not be able to get what they wanted," said Prabhu, a senior. "With Duke having as many diverse academic areas of study as it does, we didn't think a one-size-fits-all solution worked."
Much of that concern arose over professors' varying teaching styles as well as diverse student preferences in computing. Even if all students had laptops, administrators and professors were unsure how much they would be used and if they would fit students' needs.
Partly for that reason, the provost's steering committee on creating a computer and information technology intensive environment voted unanimously against implementing the requirement last year.
"Computer science students tend to use UNIX, not Windows. Some humanities students use Macintosh, not Windows," said Robert Wolpert, professor at the Institute for Statistics and Decision Sciences and a member of the committee. "It was hard to see how we could have one platform across the school. On the other hand, it was not clear if the requirement would still be useful if it was not uniform."
Wolpert echoed Pickett's sentiment that some schools have instituted computer requirements for students only to gain prestige or appear cutting-edge. Indefinitely postponing the program, he said, would allow the University to more easily take advantage of newer technologies as they arise.
"There are races to get these requirements in early to try to get newspaper attention, to develop an impression in people's minds that the school is tech-savvy and forward-looking," Wolpert said. "When hundreds of schools have done this already, it's hard to see how this could give you a leadership position."
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