New computer policy affects South Alabama freshmen

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA – Starting fall semester the School of Computer and Information Science will be the only school within the University of South Alabama requiring certain students to own a laptop computer.

However, USA is requiring that all students registering this fall own a computer or have personal access to one.

Only those students enrolling in CIS 120, Problem Solving and Programming Concepts I, and graduate studies CIS 501, Accelerated Programming, are required to own a laptop.

“This is the first wave of classes that have to own laptop computers,” Dr. David Feinstein, dean of CIS, said. “In the spring we will assume that those students entering the next level of classes will own a laptop computer too.”

“None of the CIS labs are being phased out at this time,” said Feinstein. “The two labs normally used for CIS 120 and 501 are becoming wet ports.”

Wet ports are labs that enable students with laptops to plug in, log on and take off.

According to the CIS computer ownership program, www.cis.usouthal.edu/~laptop, “the purpose of the laptop initiative is to assure that all students in the School of Computer and Information Sciences have adequate access to computing resources.”

Each student should have access to e-mail and the Internet. Also, students will be able to interact with the USA library and digital learning materials.

One of the goals of CIS is to increase the opportunities for using electronic instructional technology in many of their classes. Some of these new technologies include Web-based presentations, CD-based lessons and increased dialog with instructors and lab assistants using e-mail.

The school has decided on some minimum hardware and software specifications for the laptop computers that students must purchase.

Some of the hardware requirements include an Intel Pentium processor or something compatible, a hard drive of four giga-bytes or greater and a 56k modem.

The software specifications include programs such as 98 Microsoft Windows Operating System, Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, World Wide Web browser and a virus checker.

The estimated cost for this computer is $1,200 to $1,500.

“We feel that this is an up front cost for a successful career,” Feinstein said.

However, the costs of the laptops have been a concern for many students.

“We have labs and at this time I don’t think it is a good idea,” Dinesh Sivasankaran, USA student and CIS major, said. “The cost is just too much.”

The university is taking steps to help students pay for the laptops.

Financial aid is available to those students who qualify at www.finaid.usouthal.edu.

The University Federal Credit Union will also make loans for the purchase. Contact the UFCU at 334-380-2851 for current plans and rates.

Also, the USA bookstore, www.southalabama.edu/bookstore, will offer laptops to meet the specifications of CIS.

Copyright USA Vanguard