August 2005 — Features

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The Hidden Costs of Wireless Computer Labs

By Una Daly

Keeping Laptops Safe

Most student desks do not provide adequate space for a laptop and backpack, which can lead to accidents. Security can also be an issue with laptop computers; their size makes it easy to slip one out of the classroom undetected. In fact, a recent theft from a CUSD middle school computer lab reduced the number of laptops from 51 to 32. The carts are locked when not in use and stored in a secure location, but laptops can be vulnerable at the end of a class period, or after school hours.“With all the backpacks in a classroom, it takes a diligent teacher to keep laptops from being broken or vandalized,” says Christine Shepherd, tech aide at Miller Middle School. “It also takes time for the teacher to set them up for each class, sign them out, and then properly put them away.”

“The most time-consuming maintenance task for tech aides is updating software and disinfecting laptops, which is made more difficult by the lack of a dedicated space.”

Maintenance Issues

The most time-consuming maintenance task for tech aides is updating software and disinfecting laptops, which is made more difficult by the lack of a dedicated space. Although, theoretically, laptops could be updated while in the cart, the wireless network bandwidth (11Mbps) is not sufficient to allow the simultaneous updates possible with a local area network in a computer lab, which has a much higher data transfer speed (100MB).

“A conventional computer lab is much easier to maintain because ethernet connections are more reliable than wireless connections,” says Alice Sing, media clerk at Sedgwick Elementary School. The solution to this problem is to reconfigure the laptops to use ethernet for updates, or individually update each laptop, both of which are time-intensive processes.

Wireless protocols can also present problems in the classroom. For instance, 34 laptops hitting the base station simultaneously can cause some dropped connections. This is especially a problem at the end of class when students save their work to the server, according to Lee Appelbaum, tech aide for Kennedy Middle School. Since the lab is being used in the classroom, a tech aide is not usually present, which can frustrate teachers and students. Having a tech aide available to troubleshoot these issues, as is the situation in a computer lab, would encourage teachers to use the mobile lab more.

According to Blue Hills Elementary School’s Donna Blomquist, the ongoing upkeep costs can also prove to be excessive, with batteries needing to be replaced after two years and charging tips easily broken. Aside from the frequent recalibration and replacement of lithium batteries, the increased handling of portable computers contributes to more physical damage than to desktop computers. Laptops are dropped, for instance, resulting in broken keys or worse. This damage often g'es unnoticed until the next class that borrows the cart, which can lead to reluctance to use the cart for mission-critical lessons. One middle school has even resorted to using laptops in the library, where there is adequate space and personnel to monitor handling.