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Wireless Communication
for Education
[Lessons from the Wake Forest Story]
TechLearn’s Conference
Regents Park College, London
June 28, 2002
By David G. Brown, Professor/VP/Dean/Former Provost
Wake 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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THE WAKE FOREST PLAN
IBM 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
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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
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
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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-Presentations
Better--20%
More Opportunities to
Practice & Analyze--35%
More Access to Source
Materials via Internet--43%
More Communication with Faculty Colleagues, Classmates,
and Between Faculty and Students--87%
ICCEL
ICCEL --- Wake
Wake Forest
Forest University,
University, 2002
2002
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Examples of My Students Using
Their Wired Laptops in Class
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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 Far
About 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!
Progress Toward Realizing the Full Learning Potential
of Ubquitous Computing-- in Increments of Equipment
[Study Chart from Bottom to Top]
0%
25 %
50 %
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75 %
100 %
Add Handhelds connected
everywhere wirelessly
Add
5%
Add Laptops connected
everywhere wirelessly
Add
14 %
Add all with wireless
connectivity in classroom
Add
Add all with wired
connectivity in classroom
Add
1%
5%
Add all with connectivity from
personally owned computers
Add
60 %
Add all with access to
public lab computers
Instructor only computer with
connectivity & classroom projection
Add
5%
10 %
[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
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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. Brown
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, N.C. 27109
336-758-4878
email: brown@wfu.edu
http//:www.wfu.edu/~brown
fax: 336-758-4875
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2002