Ninety accounting students are using iPAQ Pocket PCs in an applied research study at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) and Seneca College.
When administrators at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in Edmonton, Alberta, decided to rethink their approach to buying computers in 2001, HP was first in line with the products and progressive thinking that administrators wanted. The 10-year technology agreement totaling Cnd$40 million includes HP ProLiant servers, Evo desktops and notebooks, and up to 12,000 iPAQ Pocket PCs.
"The typical approach in education is to go to the marketplace with a tender and look for the lowest price you can find," said Jeff Zabudsky, dean of Technology and Curriculum Innovation. "The problem is that you end up with a fractured approach to IT. The purchase price is small compared to what it costs to maintain your system."
Zabudsky hoped for a better tactic for NAIT's thousands of continuing-education students, 16,000 full-time and apprenticeship students and 2,400 faculty members. NAIT sought a technology partner that could match its mobile computing vision.
"HP's strengths in mobility were important to us," he explained. "We have an academic plan and vision for all of our students to be connected, with their own device, to our organization by 2005. We want all students to have access to us at all times — to be able to access their grades, digital curriculum and a whole range of services. HP has the product suite with both laptops and iPAQ devices, all on the Microsoft platform. That's important to us because we're an all-Microsoft shop."
Forestry students tap Evo mobility
The new HP Centre for IT and communications students includes 20 classrooms and 56 computer labs.
Students in NAIT's two-year forestry program receive an Evo N160 notebook PC with a wireless card. "We went wireless because our students do a lot of fieldwork," said NAIT's Sherril Cossey. "The wireless and peer-to-peer (network) is terrific for us."
The laptops allow students to upload data from their professor, record data in the field, produce maps and find their way using global positioning system and geographic information system software. Professors use an HP iPAQ Pocket PC with a phone link to give students satellite data. So, students are able to complete assignments on the bus ride back to campus.
NAIT forestry students continue to use the Evo laptops over the summer. "We found that the laptops have made the students more employable and more desirable by employers in the industry," Cossey said.
Accounting students test mobile learning
Compaq Evo N160 PCs are the standard notebook for NAIT students and faculty.
Meanwhile, first-year accounting students are participating in a research project to help determine if wireless iPAQ Pocket PCs can play a role in education.
Researchers include faculty at NAIT and Seneca College in Toronto and a number of partners, including HP, textbook publishers, curriculum development and delivery experts, and management consultants. The research will compare the experience of 90 students using the iPAQ Pocket PC to a group of students using wireless laptops of their own choosing and a group relying on a textbook and more traditional learning tools.
"This research is one of the coolest things we've ever done at NAIT," noted Sandi Barber, who manages the mobile learning project. "(We want) to find out whether using wireless technology will enhance student success and increase their access to NAIT resources and services.
"The potential benefit to the student is that when they are on a bus, in a car, at the student lounge, at the watering hole, wherever they may be, they've got a fragment of learning time available to them," Barber continued. "It may not be enough time to sit down and read a chapter of a textbook. With the iPAQ Pocket PC, they can simply sign on wirelessly and go through these highly interactive and compelling kinds of exercises."
For the pilot program, NAIT also developed a student chat function, an interactive accounting game similar to Tetris and quizzes that make heavy use of media objects built on Macromedia Flash MX technology.
More HP products on campus
The 250,000-sq. ft. HP Centre allows NAIT to increase its technology enrollment by 75 percent.
The Evo D510 PC — the standard desktop at NAIT — is already a hit with students, faculty and IT staff.
"I've always believed the motherboards in the HP systems are higher quality than clone-type motherboards," said Ron Nykiforuk, NAIT asset manager. "We have less downtime with the Evo."
The "cool factor" is also important, Zabudsky added. "Users have told me they think the Evo looks pretty cool," he said. "Recruitment activities have been hugely aided by the fact that we are perceived to be highly linked to a global leader in technology."
In addition, HP ProLiant servers run NAIT's Learning Management System (LMS). "Prior to implementing our new ProLiant server environment last year, we had a lot of complaints from students about slow response times in the LMS," Zabudsky explained. "Those complaints have absolutely stopped. One day this past spring, which is our time for curriculum development, we had 600 of our 1,000 instructors accessing the system and had no help desk complaints."
Zabudsky believes benefits of the HP-NAIT relationship are mutual. "Our board of governors is a very high-profile group from business and the industry," he said. "HP has been able to leverage a number of those contacts, as the oil patch is very large in Northern Alberta and some of the big oil companies have adopted HP technology as a direct result of NAIT's contract with the company."
NAIT opens doors to HP Centre
NAIT celebrated the grand opening of the Cnd$50 million HP Centre for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) on October 15. The facility offers a high-tech teaching environment and allows NAIT to increase enrollment in its technology program by 700 full-time students.In 2001, HP and NAIT signed a 10-year agreement totaling $40 million, including a $4.2 million contribution to help build the technology center. HP technology, including ProLiant servers and Evo desktops, is used throughout the facility. The center includes:· 56 computer labs;· A wireless network for students to connect to the Internet with laptops or handheld devices;· Gigabit Ethernet backbone;· Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), moving voice and computer data over one network;· An applied research and business enterprise activities area for activities such as software development and e-business; and· A state-of-the-art video conferencing center. "The Centre will boost enrollment in NAIT's IT and Communications program by a whopping 75 percent," said Paul Tsaparis, HP Canada president, at the dedication ceremony. "When these new students graduate they will join the ranks of the nearly 90,000 NAIT alumni around the globe who are making exceptional contributions to the regions and countries in which they live." More information about the HP Centre is available on the NAIT website.
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