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From: gwl@rruxa.UUCP (George W. Leach)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: microcomputers
Message-ID: <286@rruxa.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 12-Aug-87 11:51:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: rruxa.286
Posted: Wed Aug 12 11:51:10 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 15-Aug-87 16:52:41 EDT
References: <398@ndsuvax.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research
Lines: 41
Summary: student micro purchases and/or micro labs

In article <398@ndsuvax.UUCP>, ncmagel@ndsuvax.UUCP (ken magel) writes:
> 
>     How many microcomputers should be available for a given number of students
> who are computer science majors?  That is, should there be one micro for every
> ten students, every five students, every twenty students?  WHat would be an 
> optimal number and what would be a satisfactory ratio?  How well equiped 
> should the micro's be?  How much money per year should be available for software
> per student?


      At the New Jersey Institute of Technology, each and every full time
undergraduate is required to purchase a selected PC upon entering the
university.  I'm not sure about part timers.  In addition, currently
three public PC labs are available for general usage.  Each lab consists
of 50 PCs connected to a hard disk system and several laser printers
via a local area network.  Thus students may access common software
resources.  

      I know that the total student population within the CIS department
is somewhere in the area of 1500 or so.  However, many students in the
junior and senior classes as well as graduate students don't depend
only upon the micocomputers to do their work.  For the freshmen and
sophomores the micros are the only computing resource available.  It
does seem to be working quite well.  And from my experiences as an
undergraduate dealing with long delays while waiting for my printout
from a line printer, or punching hollerith cards I feel that today's
students are lucky!


George W. Leach

Bell Communications Research      New Jersey Institute of Technology 
444 Hoes Lane       4A-1129       Computer & Information Sciences Dept.
Piscataway,  New Jersey   08854   Newark, New Jersey   07102
(201) 699-8639

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