This page last updated 10/13/09
Student computing is now mobile.
UVa students, like other college students around the nation, live in a world that is constantly moving and transforming. Convenient access to information anytime, anywhere is not only a priority for students, it is essential in their day-to-day lives. ITC’s first-year student computing inventory has found that an ever-increasing percentage of UVa’s incoming students come to school with a laptop: for the past two years, 99% of the incoming first-year classes arrived with a notebook computer. The number of students using other mobile computing devices is growing each year as well; fully 1/3 of the class of 2012 brought mobile devices and smartphones capable of checking email, surfing the Web, and more.
For the handful of students who do not own a computer, programs are in place to help through Access UVa and the Laptops for Students program (LFS). Founded in 1997 and run by UVa’s Office of Student Financial Services, LFS assists students each year who have financial need in acquiring a computer. These successful programs have contributed to the widespread rise of mobile computing throughout UVa’s student body.
To successfully serve the needs of this current generation of students, UVa and ITC must recognize emerging trends and align services accordingly. Students want easy access to what they need, when they need it. As they move from one place to another, mobile devices and wireless access free them from being tied to a physical space—such as a computing lab—for an Internet connection or specialized software.
Public computing lab usage is becoming redundant.
As we are able to decouple access to specialized software from the physical computing lab spaces, ITC is reevaluating the viability of maintaining the present function of the ITC-provisioned public labs. In researching this, we’ve carefully examined usage statistics, which reveal that almost all of the software used in the ITC-provisioned public computing labs is already on the students’ computers.
Lab software usage statistics from 2008 reveal that out of a total of 651,900 hours spent using software in the ITC-provisioned public computing labs, 95% of the time (over 619,500 hours), students were running commodity or free programs such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, Adobe Acrobat Reader, or Microsoft Office. All of these software programs come pre-loaded on student laptops or are available at low or no cost to UVa students.
In contrast, just 5% of the time spent running software in ITC-provisioned public labs was devoted to specialized packages such as MatLab, Eclipse, Mathcad, or SPSS.
For a more detailed breakdown of these statistics, please see 2008 Software Launches by Category and 2008 Software Usage in Hours by Category.
ITC is responding to these realities with forward-thinking solutions.
ITC is responding to these changing conditions with forward-thinking solutions that reflect trends in higher education. The plan is to move to a virtualized computing environment over the next few years. In working towards this goal, ITC has facilitated student laptop and mobile device usage by making the University’s secure wireless network more robust and by developing a more user-friendly automatic wireless configuration tool.
Similarly, the recent Campus Agreement with Microsoft has made essential office productivity software much more affordable and easily accessible (at just $10) for all UVa students.
ITC has convened a community, Software Solutions Beyond Labs, to jointly review potential software delivery solutions. The community hopes to facilitate UVa students’ access to the specialized software they need for academic purposes, freeing them from reliance on a public machine in a single physical location.
Two possible virtual solutions will be investigated, recognizing that one single software distribution model may not sufficiently meet the needs of all students. One option is for student laptops to connect to needed specialized software via an on-Grounds fileserver, while the other would be to connect remotely to one of multiple machines designated for that purpose. Yet another possibility would be to install a small application on students’ laptops that would enable software streaming from a master repository.
In the meantime, computing lab space will continue to remain available in proportion to the number of students currently needing access to specialized software.
Several peer institutions, including the University of Michigan, North Carolina State University, Clemson University, and George Mason University, use one or more of the solutions discussed above.
If you wish to share your thoughts about possible software delivery solutions, email the Software Solutions community.
Over the next 3 years, ITC computing labs will be reduced by about 375 seats.
The schedule has been determined through a review of current lab usage and upcoming expiration dates for computer leases, with smaller labs being phased out first. Until its transition date arrives, an individual lab will stay open for student use.
It is important to note that this document addresses only those labs run and provisioned by ITC.
Timetable
Current plans call for reducing public computing lab seating on Grounds by less than 375 seats over 3 years, through retirement of ITC-provisioned labs in:
- Small Hall 112, Ruffner 277, and the residence halls in 2009;
- Bryan Hall 235 in 2010; and
- Clemons Library 401 (the UVa Library removed the majority of public computers from Clemons in 2008), Chemistry 411, and Thornton Hall stacks in 2011.
Clark 140 (the ITC Brown Library Lab) will remain open for specialized software until we have identified a viable software delivery solution.
Additional Information & Contacts
The Scholars Lab in Alderman Library and the Research Computing Lab in Brown Library are under the purview of the University Library. View more about the Library's plan for budget cuts, including reduction of computers.
In addition, the space occupied by ITC labs is not owned by ITC. The decisions about space utilization will be made by the school or entity that owns the area. If you have suggestions about about how these spaces could best be utilized going forward, share them with the space owners.
More and more, formal and informal collaboration spaces are appearing all over Grounds as areas that were once labs are being repurposed and as new buildings are constructed with an eye towards fostering group collaboration and experimentation. For example, recognizing the student need for collaborative space, ITC consulted with the Library, the Office of the Provost, and Facilities to repurpose the fourth floor of Clemons Library in 2008. This space has been transformed into a technology-rich collaboration area where students can bring laptops and mobile devices to conduct group work, especially as the curriculum becomes increasingly team- and project-based.
Finally, although ITC does not run printing in the labs—UVa Printing & Copying Services (PCS) does—we recognize a real need for printing solutions, and we are committed to working with PCS on this issue.
Your Feedback Is Welcome
As ITC begins working to alleviate the physical constraints on student computing needs, we welcome participation in the discussion. We invite your input, comments, and questions; please send them to ITC Customer Communications via our Feedback form.