An Evaluation of a Notebook Computing Project as part of the Total College Educational Experience

Phillip Heeler, Ph.D.

Roger Van Holzen, Ph.D.

 



Abstract

Northwest Missouri State University became known as the Electronic Campus when, in 1987, it was the first public regional university to install computer terminals in every student residence hall room and faculty office. In fall 1995, a pilot program was initiated to incorporate the latest computer innovations into the original Electronic Campus and network. This session describes ramifications of this project including the impact on student and faculty computing and the university's curriculum, infrastructure, and support systems. Recommendations will also be made for integrating notebook computing into the total college educational experience.

Notebook Computer Pilot Project for 1995-96

The purpose of the notebook computer pilot project was to provide access to, mobility with, and integration of computer-based-technology across all aspects of the students' educational experience. Ninety-five entering freshman students chose to participate in the pilot project and paid $395 per semester for the use of a notebook computer. Besides having access to a high capacity computer network in their residence hall rooms, students utilized the notebook computers while attending targeted classes in two state-of-the-art classrooms.

Students enrolled in specially designated general education courses such as computer literacy, composition, mathematics, history, geography, speech, wellness, and physical science. The fifteen faculty members who agreed to participate in the pilot project were each given a notebook computer, a stipend, and sixteen hours of training on using the Microsoft Office software and use of the Internet in academic applications. They were expected to teach their pilot project courses using the notebook computer and also incorporate innovative educational activities into the sections of their courses that used the notebook computers.

At the end of the first year of this pilot project, several points were realized by the participating students, faculty, administration and Computing Services staff. The pilot project students used the notebook computers in their classes, in their residence hall rooms, and while studying. They became very accustomed to carrying their notebook computers all over campus. In some of their courses they were expected to use the computers in every class. In other courses the use was sporadic and minimal. This wide difference in use proved to be a controversial point between the students, the teachers, and the administration.

The pilot project faculty members were also very conscientious in their attempts at incorporating this new technology into their courses. This new information tool allowed the faculty to take their computers with them everywhere they went including their offices, classrooms, and off campus. With this adjustment in accessibility, some faculty members were able to create new teaching materials that used the power of the notebook computers in their classes. Also, some of the faculty members now expected the students to use the notebook computers outside class because of the increased accessibility. This new-found computer power, accessibility, and mobility required the faculty members to modify some of their teaching and testing techniques.

The Northwest administration found this pilot project to contain several positive and negative features. First, the increased accessibility of computing power to the ninety-five participating students forced the Computing Services office to change their traditional routines for maintenance, assistance, and delivery of services. Second, the students quickly swamped the campus network with data traffic that exceeded the traditional text-based data traffic. Third, the problems of hardware and software maintenance, repair, networking and connectivity all forced constant adjustments in policies and procedures. Fourth, the administration found the evaluation and assessment of the pilot project to be very difficult as all groups attempted to adjust to this new instructional tool.

Notebook Computer Project for 1996-97

Northwest is now in the second year of the notebook computer project. Considering the experience gained during the first year of the pilot project, several planning decisions were made in an attempt to improve upon the results of the pilot project. The following is a list of actions that were taken by the pilot project steering committee in preparation for the second year.

* Increased state funding was obtained to enhance the infrastructure necessary to support a more complex and larger capacity campus computer network.
* Along with the installation of the enhanced network, more sophisticated software was installed, and more sophisticated maintenance measures were required to operate the new network.
* The pilot project faculty and student participants quickly learned that notebook computers require careful maintenance. This obligation put a larger strain on Computer Services to maintain the hardware and software. In turn, more rigorous specifications were designed for the notebook hardware and software that were to be purchased by the students in the second year of the program.
* After the successful preparation of the pilot project faculty, a second group of faculty had to be selected and prepared for teaching notebook designated courses.
* The necessary training and mentoring of the faculty became a much larger task not only because of the increased numbers but also because of the sophistication requirements from both the faculty and the students. In response to this need, a faculty mentor position was created, additional technical support personnel were hired, and student assistants (pilot project students) were hired to assist faculty as they developed materials for their courses.
* The selection of students who would be interested in participating in the notebook computer project needed to be completed on a more timely basis with a more rigorous approach to recruitment. One significant difference from the pilot project was that students were expected to buy a notebook computer instead of renting one.
* In order to be able to teach more notebook courses in more classrooms on campus, the selection, design, and renovation of six classrooms had to be scheduled and completed.
* The scheduling of more notebook courses and the registration of students in these courses required the joint efforts of the faculty, registrar, and advisors.
* The results of the pilot project assessment indicated that the students, faculty, and associated support personnel approved of the project and supported the premise of the project.


Assessment of the Pilot Project

The ninety-five pilot project students participated in two specific assessment activities during the 1995-96 academic year. Late in the fall semester, ten different focus groups were held for the purpose of listening to, asking questions about, and eliciting evaluative comments from the pilot project participants including students, faculty and support personnel. The comments made by the students included recommendations about
* course content
* faculty preparation
* student work load
* equipment reliability
* equipment flexibility
* the quality of computer support
The comments made by the faculty participants included recommendations about
* faculty preparation
* faculty expectations
* student expectations
* equipment reliability
* equipment capabilities
The comments made by the computer support personnel included recommendations about
* computer reliability
* computer repair rates
* vendor reliability
* software reliability
* student and faculty expectations
* heavy workload to support 100 notebook computers

At the end of the spring semester, when the pilot project students were required to check in their notebook computers before leaving for the summer, another assessment instrument was used to gather additional information about the student pilot project participants. This survey asked several questions. Some of the questions are listed below.
1. Have you benefited from participating in the EC+ pilot project?
2. How could the EC+ pilot project have been better for you?
3. Indicate the extent to which you agree with the following statements:
* Using a notebook computer has helped you meet your goals.
* If starting over you would choose to participate in EC+ again.
* You would recommend EC+ to others.
* EC+ has helped motivate you to improve your academic life.
* EC+ welcomes and uses feedback from students for improvement.
4. Rate the IMPORTANCE and your impression of the CONTRIBUTION of the EC+ pilot project toward your progress in reaching these items.

After tabulating each of the assessment measures, the results from the notebook pilot project were moderately positive. These results were scored using a scale with 1 as negative, to 5 as positive. The importance of the above factors varied from 3.77 to 4.26 as listed below. The contribution of the EC+ pilot program varied from 3.09 to 3.97. Both categories indicate to a moderate degree the importance of the EC+ pilot project and the contribution of the EC+ pilot project.


IMPORTANCE CONTRIBUTION
4.14 Learning to think and reason. 3.41
4.09 Improving your writing skills. 3.78
3.77 Further developing your study skills. 3.11
4.23 Developing openness to new ideas and practices. 3.97
4.08 Broadening your intellectual interests. 3.89
3.85 Learning about career options. 3.09
4.03 Understanding yourself- your abilities, interests, and personality. 3.42
3.94 Ability to put ideas together, to see relationships, similarities,
and differences between ideas. 3.53
4.26 Becoming academically competent. 3.72
3.89 Setting long-term goals. 3.27


At the beginning of the 1996-97 academic year the notebook computer initiative expanded to include approximately 350 students and about 30 faculty members teaching typical general education courses. Most of the students are first year with a small number being upper class students. All of the first year students were directed to enroll a computer literacy course. This course consists of 27 sections and has a total enrollment of 810 students. In each of the 27 sections, a small number of students who have notebook computers were allowed to enroll. This number was combined with the remaining students to total about 30 students in each section. With this population of students some of whom use their own notebook computers and some of whom use desktop computers provided in the classroom, another assessment inventory was conducted.

A general attitude inventory was given to each student enrolled in the course and a series of 25 computer literacy knowledge questions was given. At the end of the computer literacy course another assessment will be given to the students to determine if there is any difference between the notebook students and the regular computer literacy students who were forced to use the desktop computers in this course.


Conclusion

This paper provided a detailed description of the first year of the notebook computer project and the decisions made based upon the assessment results from the pilot project. Now that the project is into its second year, different difficulties are being resolved and additional expectations are being realized. In order to integrate notebook computing into the total college educational experience, Northwest Missouri State University must continue to enhance the computing infrastructure and the faculty must continue to restructure their courses. Students have shown that they will choose courses that are taught using technology if the technology is used appropriately. To this end the Northwest notebook computing project continues to evolve.

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