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University of Ontario Institute of Technology and Durham College
University and College Mobile Learning Program
Higher Learning Means Something New at Two Post-Secondary Schools Devoted to Technology in Education
Background
At the northwest corner of the City of Oshawa, Ontario, two schools share a campus and a determination to train young people for knowledge-based careers in the 21st century.
Durham College has been operating as a community college for 40 years and today has 6,000 full-time students and 20,000 part-time students enrolled in almost 100 programs focused on employer demand. Its newer roommate is the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), established in 2002 and now preparing 4,000 students for degrees in education, health sciences, justice, engineering, business and IT and science.
The two schools have distinct faculty and senior management but share some services, including a common Information Technology Services Department.
Challenge
The schools wanted to institute a technological approach to teaching and learning, consistent with their goal to prepare students to work in a networked world. They needed:
- A technology solution to improve teaching, broaden communications, expand learning and enhance the quality of education;
- A common technology program for all students and faculty to share applications to support teaching and learning, with equal access to educational resources for all;
- A self-sustaining solution that could provide continuous service and reduce costs compared with equivalent solutions in the market.
Solution
The Mobile Learning Program is provided to all students in academic programs, including 4,000 students at the university and 2,000 college students as well as 400 faculty members. Academic students are provided a laptop and software that matches the curriculum and application needs of their program. All students and faculty members within each academic program share the same platform.
More than 300 applications are distributed through the program. The computers are connected to wired and wireless networks, which provide high-speed Internet access anywhere on the campus. A standards-based hardware platform provides common communications tools and image management. The IT Services help desk delivers one-hour turnaround of technical problems.
Costs of the Mobile Learning Program are covered through an annual student fee of $1,300. The program is self-sustaining with total revenue and expenses of about $9 million in 2006. This covers all service and lease costs and provides ownership of the laptop after graduation.
Results
Use of standard deployments and economies of scale means that hardware, software and network services are provided at much lower cost than would be traditionally required. Pre-loading and configuring of 6,000 laptops - which is completed within two weeks before the beginning of each fall term - would not be possible without such standardization. Administration and maintenance of the Mobile Learning Program is carried out by only four full-time-equivalent staff. At a typical support level of one FTE supporting 200 laptops, 30 staff would be required.
Provisioning of laptops to students reduces the high cost of establishing and maintaining desktop laboratories. At least 15 desktop labs have either been eliminated or not needed for future student growth in the college. That translates into reduced costs of $3 million over four years at Durham College and $1 million at UOIT.
Students, too, save money. Computers are a necessity of academic study today. The Mobile Learning Program provides excellent-quality laptops at a discount of more than 40 per cent off the cost of acquiring hardware, software and services that a student would otherwise have to pay. The program also provides equal access to computers, which might not be possible otherwise. Students have expressed universal satisfaction with the program in surveys.
Innovative Use of Technology
Information technology is applied at UOIT and Durham College to enrich and reinforce the learning experience. For example, through use of a software application called Digital Chalk, as a professor is speaking in a classroom and presenting PowerPoint slides on a screen, the presentation is recorded and any notes made on the slides are captured and transferred to students' laptops in real time. They are also archived and made accessible through the schools' high-speed network.
While some universities and colleges have selected academic programs that require their students to purchase a laptop, no other university in Canada has made it mandatory for students to be part of such a mobile program. UOIT and Durham College believe that this program delivers teaching and learning opportunities that could not otherwise be provided.
A 2006 CIPA Winner!
For exceptional application of information technology to transform educational processes and bring benefits to stakeholders, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and Durham College have been awarded a 2006 CIPA Silver Award of Excellence in the Organizational Transformation, Not For Profit category.
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