Poll regarding requirement of Laptops

[Betsy]

Update 9/11/05: The curriculum committee decided AGAINST the requirement of laptops. Thanks for your participation in the poll. It has now been closed.


YOU MUST BE LOGGED IN TO COMPLETE THE POLL!! Sorry!

Do you think that the School of Medicine should require laptops for the entering Class of 2010?

The curriculum committee is debating on the requirement of laptops for the class of 2010. This will allow testing to be done on computers, and more interactive lectures. This poll is designed to get feedback from our class regarding our opinions on this matter.

The requirement of laptops may not mean that you would have to bring them to class with you, except on test days. But, you could use them for notetaking in class if you wanted to. Also, the school would have a contract with a computer company for students to purchase computers from that company, and have them be able to service them on campus if you have any troubles with your computer.

Thanks for your time. Feel free to post additional comments in replies to this post. The information gathered will be submitted to the curriculum committee.

[Betsy]

You must be registered and logged into your account to complete the poll. I encourage you to register and do this, because Liz and I plan to do more polls in the future, and unfortunately, this is the only way to do it. It wont take long!

How to register:
Click on register at the top beside the logo of the forums. Fill out the requested information. You will be sent an email with an activation key. Retrieve it from your email, and log in to the boards. Its easy!

[adambeall]

I'm all for the use of laptops as tools for more interactive education, but I cannot endorse the idea that MCG would contract with a computer company for the purchase of laptops. That takes the capitalism out of the idea. I think that if MCG want to OFFER additional services and opportunities via the use of laptops, that is great, but it shouldn't be forced on the students.

[Betsy]

Thanks Adam for your reply. MCG would not force students to purchase laptops from the company that MCG has contracted for the laptops. Students would be able to purchase them outside of the company....i.e. get any brand they would like. However, with that said, the IT support would only be for the computers that students had purchased through MCG. If they purchased it elsewhere, they would have to get it serviced somewhere else. Also, funds would be added to financial aid to cover the cost of the computers, if the change was implemented.

If you guys have any other questions, feel free to post here, and I can respond. Thanks for all of your feedback, it is much appreciated!

[cassie]

The only way that the laptops should be required is if MCG pays for them--maybe out of the "technology fee" that is never used but we are all forced to pay?

[Betsy]

Unfortunately, as far as I know, students would be required to purchase them. However, the cost would be included in the financial aid allowance.

[anitaks]

I think that if the administration is going to truly implement an "interactive curriculum," that will really be different from what exists and will truly benefit the students by being computerized, then laptops should be required. How will the new curriculum be interactive? As far as testing on computers, that sounds more like it will serve to make the administration's lives easier, not the students' (especially with the format of our testing - scantrons and multiple choice questions) and shouldn't be something that students should have to spend ~$1500-$2000 for.

[Betsy]

anitaks said:

How will the new curriculum be interactive?

Good question. That is something that they are working on. It is my opinion that there needs to be more work done in this area before the requirement is implemented. Right now, there is nothing in set in stone regarding that topic. The committee is getting feedback from instructors as to how they will use computers during lecture time, etc. Not much feedback from instructors has been received. However, now that there is online lectures (video/audio), students will need a computer to view these if they miss class, but (at least in my opinion) this does not mean that a student needs to have a laptop over a desktop.

But to answer your question.....We don't know for sure.

[puck]

I hope the administration at least has the sense to do a cost-benefit analysis of this "new" teaching modality. I mean, how much more educational will this make things? Shouldn't the curriculum be a little bit more stable before implementing a requirement of this level of costliness?

Also, hehe, they might consider the costs in respect to infrastructure that the college will incur. Neither of those rooms has the power capacities, I am guessing, to power 180 laptops at once. And setting up a network for that many workstations isn't exactly trivial in either materials or expertise.

[Betsy]

Yes, they have to get power stations for each seat. This is something that has already been analyzed for cost/benefit. There already is campus wireless access (yes, the classrooms too) as of beginning of August. So that is already in place. The main thing would just be getting the power strips for the laptops at each station.

This has already all been worked out, and the school is getting quotes from computer companies, to analyze the costs, etc.

The main question I am asking is........do you guys think that this would be beneficial to your education. Costs aside.......do you feel that requiring laptops would be helpful for the Step exams, being able to view lectures, etc. I know cost is also important, and this is being also worked on, but the administration wants to know what students think of the usefulness of laptops. Thanks for all of your help, and keep the questions coming! Thanks to all that have responded.

[kimbozini]

I had a laptop through the entire first two years. I never felt the need to bring it to class. I could've downloaded notes onto it and viewed them in class instead of printing them, but I'd much rather have the paper version so I can easily make notes during class and it's just easier for me to find information I need when I'm studing if I can flip through a binder rather than trying to find a specific file. I don't think that taking tests on the computer would help with Step 1. If they really want to help boost Step 1 scores, they should do a better job of teaching important topics rather than random facts!!!!! It seems like teh administration is trying to do about a hundred things to increase board scores ("integrated" curriculum, this laptop thing, etc.), but they don't address the main problems, which are the quality and relevance of the lectures. This problem can certainly not be remedied by requiring students to purchase laptops.
Also, in my realtively few dealings with MCG's IT support staff, they suck. (I may be spoiled since I did undergrad at GA Tech and their IT infrastructure is great.) There are several places on campus (that I've found in my relatively limited travels) where the campus-wide wireless access is terrible!!! The signal is very weak and it makes it very difficult to connect to the internet.

[dew]

Kudos to Betsy and Liz. Here's to the future of MCG, moving forward. Thanks for the work you are doing.

[Betsy]

The curriculum committee unanimously decided AGAINST the requirement of laptops. Thank you for your participation in this poll!! It is now closed.