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  • Laptop Requirements and the Downside of Choice

    By Joshua Kim June 18, 2010 5:16 am EDT

    Us learning technologist believe in choice. We push for educational content to "just work" on whatever screen our learners may want to access the materials. Videos should work on any OS, any browser, and any device. From Firefox to the iPad, curricular content should be device and platform agnostic.

    But choice in learning technology comes with a cost. In supporting a diversity of platforms, operating systems, and devices we take time and attention away from the learning activities. In my last job I taught an undergraduate marketing research course through a business school. The university had a laptop requirement, meaning that every student was required to purchase the same computer (a Dell D600 at the time). Each laptop was loaded with the same software and configuration, students had no choices in the baseline setup.

    The students were required to bring the laptop to class, and the combination of a standard laptop and the requirement that the laptop come to class opened up all sorts of teaching possibilities. I would often use class time to have the students engage in instant data analysis and reporting using SPSS, Excel and PowerPoint. We were able to engage in active marketing research projects using their computers (and the pre-loaded data sets), working with confidence that the tools would not be a barrier.

    In places I've taught without a standard laptop requirement (and a rule that laptops need to come to class), doing in-class "instant" research or analysis projects is much more difficult. Time that could have been spent collaborating around and working on projects is instead spent troubleshooting laptops or coming up with work-arounds for students who don't have the right equipment or software.

    Giving students the freedom to purchase Macs or PCs, or come to campus with whatever computer they have, does increase choice - but it comes with a significant penalty for in-class learning productivity. I'm not sure if the tradeoff is worthwhile. I've been surprised that laptop requirements have not become universal, and I've seen some indications that the trend towards requiring a uniform student laptop has slowed. Does anyone know where to find the data on laptop requirements?

    What do you think? Does your campus have a laptop requirement that specifies a particular model? How have you gone about balancing choice with consistency?

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Comments on Laptop Requirements and the Downside of Choice

  • Choice "Worthwhile"?
  • Posted by Alfonso El Sabio on June 18, 2010 at 10:45am EDT

  • You yourself said it in the opening volley: " From Firefox to the iPad, curricular content should be device and platform agnostic."

    Don't blame it on requiring a specific piece of hardware...if, as you say, the software was both device and platform agnostic, then there would be no issues. From what I've seen, the problems start with the IT support departments not wanting to support the choices and pushing back by getting a single platform required. So look at where it starts (and it shouldn't be starting in the classroom).

  • This is our experience
  • Posted by Mike on June 18, 2010 at 11:45am EDT

  • We've been running a student computing program for over 25 years now. This is the reason we do it--dependability and standards. We've lately taken to selling the computing program as each student having their own 24/7 computer lab. We know that students will bring smartphones, tablets, other laptops, and we welcome them too--but in terms of curricular support we focus on the standard machine and are able to bulk configure and manage them, saving time and money.

    It's fine to say that we should make everything we do work on everything, and we do strive for platform agnosticism on our web services, but a laptop program is about ensuring reliability and a common experience. We could try to have students install SPSS on every machine they bring; or we can provide a common install mechanism that we've tested and deployed on standard laptops.

    I don't know what the future holds, but for now, the dependability of a standard laptop works for the most common in- and out-of-class tasks.

  • Virtualizing Applications
  • Posted by Kyle Johnson , Associate Provost for Information & Learning Resources at SUNY Institute of Technology on June 18, 2010 at 1:30pm EDT

  • I agree that right now laptop standardization can help ensure a consistent experience. A little way down the road I think application and desktop virualiztion will make device type less important. The only standard will be a client for the virtualization environment (think Citix client for iPad).

  • Posted by Bob Oso on June 18, 2010 at 2:30pm EDT

  • I agree with the dependability and standards argument posted by Mike. Another benefit of standardization is that it offers an opportunity to decrease the cost per unit when ordering in bulk. With CPU/RAM/HDD costs constantly declining, laptops are close to being in a commodity market. A decent laptop to support most applications (not heavy stats, video, CAD, etc.) can be negotiated to close to $300 apiece without software applications.

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