Clemson Provides Network of
'Virtual Laptops'

COLUMBIA, S.C. - At a time when universities have started requiring students to bring laptop computers to school, Clemson University bucks the trend. It has established what it calls a network of "virtual laptops."

In 33 labs across campus, Clemson provides nearly 800 computers that can be configured to suit each user's tastes. When a student logs on, the computer will bring up a screen designed for her, as well as folders for e-mail and class syllabi.

"You never have to buy your own machine," said Chris Duckenfield, vice provost for computing and information technology. "You don't have to lug it around. Nobody's going to steal it.

"It's unfair to require the students to spend all this money, and they're going to have to replace (an obsolete computer) in two years," Duckenfield said.

"I think a lot of universities require laptops ... just so they can say the curriculum is forward-thinking."

After three years of testing, Clemson has just completed a limited, first year of using virtual laptops the only such program in the country. Now, it's testing the idea of setting up "collaborative learning" work groups, linking groups of students taking the same classes.

Come fall, every professor will be able to pull up a computerized roll on the first day of classes, and to post a syllabus. There will be a drop box where students can deposit electronic "papers," and where the professor can overlay comments before returning the papers electronically, of course.

"It's going to be up to the professor to decide if he wants to use it," Duckenfield said.

Interest seems high. The university started training professors in January, said Duckenfield, "They are lined up out the door."

Ansel Miller uses the network to post lecture notes from his sophomore forestry classes, which have about 75 students each.

Miller, an assistant professor, has taught at Clemson for 18 years. More than a decade ago, he was one of the first five forestry professors to use a computer. He sees computers as "a wave of the future" in forestry, so he is eager to use them to teach although he said they have limitations when it comes to lab use.

As for student communication, Miller said, "There's a group that seems to be more willing to communicate by e-mail ... than eyeball to eyeball."

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About one-third of students may be comfortable playing video games but not using e-mail or electronic class notes. "It's too much like work" for them to use a computer for class, he said with a chuckle.

(Clemson has about 16,000 students. About one-third have their own computers.)

All of the units in Clemson's common labs are loaded with such Microsoft products as Word and Excel. All provide unlimited Internet access, at the university's expense. Each lab also has a number of printers and nearly unlimited paper.

Each student has 20 megabytes of personal memory. And each student can set up her own Web site.

Of course there are crashes. Duckenfield said. "There's always something broken."

The university replaces the computers every two years. The machines automatically sweep for viruses after each use. And if a student tries to "hack" into another system from a university machine well, Big Brother University can spot it and punish the hacker.

"It's hard to do something somebody else doesn't see," Duckenfield said.

Brackett Hall has one of the most impressive labs, set at the base of a three-floor atrium. Bronze animal sculptures skitter up the wall; potted plants provide a tropical setting for 72 computer work stations.

Then there are the wooden benches much-used by students waiting for computers.

"You spend all your time waiting for computers," complained Jessica Harrell of Columbia, who was waiting for a friend to finish at a computer on the last day of classes this spring.

Harrell has used the computers for e-mail and sometimes for classwork. The university routes 150,000 e-mail messages each day.

Stefan Bendfeldt of Guatemala used the machines to e-mail his family back home and to search for a job after graduation.

"I pretty much do all my schoolwork here every day," he said even though he might wait 45 minutes or more for a computer.

"It just feels like it's so much worse" of a wait than it is, he said.

© Knight-Ridder Newspapers, 1998

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This page last updated 09/08/98.

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