punia@uvm-cs.UUCP (David T. Punia) (05/03/85)
Much as the pocket calculator became the technical tool of choice during the 70's, the personal computer is becoming the tool of choice in the 80's. Granted, the costs are drastically different, but so are the capabilities. When you get right down to it, the micro can be a fantastic productivity enhancer. Given the work load demanded of the typical student in an engineering curriculum (as I once was), I would grasp any affordable opportunity to improve my personal productivity. I can't count the hours I could have saved had I owned a micro with a decent graphics package and word processor. Students in the engineering and business disciplines will find themselves inexorably involved with personal workstations, should they choose to remain with their chosen carreer paths. The sooner they become comfortable and conversant with the technology, the sooner they will make it work more effectively for them. As an educational tool, the micro can open new worlds to a student (am I getting carried away?). There is no questioning the old axiom about pictures and words. We are already using computer based instruction in some of our curricula. The degree of comprehension and the speed at which one rises on the learning curve seems greatly enhanced in an environment where, for example, a math student can type a function into a micro, see the curve immediately (almost), change a variable, and see the effect right away. Integration? Gee, look how the computer fills in the area under the curve and tells me what it is! Numerical analysis? etc. etc. The real power of the machine comes into play in quickly evaluating the "what if's" . All this without having to deal with queueing, load averages >50, and the lack of privacy inherent in public terminal rooms. For what students are paying to go to college these days, I think they need to get the greatest possible return on their money, hard-earned or otherwise. The extra cost of a personal workstation and the improved productivity it allows makes it attractive purely from a cost/benefit viewpoint. That it can be used to significantly improve the process of learning (given the right software), and that it is not a resource that is paid for and left behind makes it a valuable addition to the chest of tools these future professionals will leave here with. Or they can sell it at the end of four years and recoup some of the investment. -- REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR FAVORITE DISCLAIMER David T. Punia, Dept. of Computer Science & Electrical Engineering, The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405 802-656-3330 USENET --> ....!decvax!dartvax!uvm-gen!punia CSNET ---> punia@uvm
scott@gitpyr.UUCP (Scott Holt) (05/11/85)
> > Students in the engineering and business disciplines will find > themselves inexorably involved with personal workstations, should they > choose to remain with their chosen carreer paths. The sooner they become > comfortable and conversant with the technology, the sooner they will > make it work more effectively for them. > Its not a question of whether or not having access to a personal computer would be benificial to students, obviously it would. It is a question of who should pay. Personally, I feel the institutes should pay...do we ask chemisty students to buy all their lab equipment? Mabey in the form of a lab fee, but it would be crazy to ask them to pay for it all...it should be the same for any expensive piece of equipment. > > For what students are paying to go to college these days, I > think they need to get the greatest possible return on their money, > hard-earned or otherwise. The extra cost of a personal workstation and > the improved productivity it allows makes it attractive purely from a > cost/benefit viewpoint. There are many of us who cannot afford the cost, whatever the benifit, we just dont have the cash. I know that if my school had required me to buy a PC when I came here, I would not have come here...it would have been too expensive. I would have had to go out of state, probably very far away, to get a similar education...that would have been just as expensive as buying the PC...forget about financial aid, my parents make just too much...the ONLY good part about the entire thing would have been that upon graduation, I could have passed the computer on to my little brother, who starts just after I graduate. > > Or they can sell it at the end of four years and recoup some > of the investment. > -- Now just what is the value of a PC depriciated over 4 years? -- --------- "Its better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!" Scott Holt Georgia Tech Po Box 36199 Atlanta, GA 30332 ...!{akgua,allegra,amd,hplabs,ihnp4,masscomp,ut-ngp}!gatech!gitpyr!scott ...!{rlgvax,sb1,uf-cgrl,unmvax,ut-sally}!gatech!gitpyr!scott
djb@gatech.CSNET (David J. Buechner) (05/17/85)
In article <378@uvm-cs.UUCP> punia@uvm-cs.UUCP (David T. Punia) writes: > > Much as the pocket calculator became the technical tool of choice >during the 70's, the personal computer is becoming the tool of choice in >the 80's. Granted, the costs are drastically different, but so are the >capabilities. When you get right down to it, the micro can be a fantastic >productivity enhancer. Given the work load demanded of the typical student >in an engineering curriculum (as I once was), I would grasp any affordable >opportunity to improve my personal productivity. I can't count the hours >I could have saved had I owned a micro with a decent graphics package and >word processor. > I could not agree with you more, but.... I can safely say that I have saved MANY hours by having a micro of my own which has stand-alone as well as terminal emulation capabilities. But I also feel that it is very important that I was able (as in your calculator analogy) to pick the kind of pc that *I* wanted. Having disagreed with some official opinions in the past as to what is best I feel that I am most qualified to decide what kind of machine fits my needs while in school and beyond. >The extra cost of a personal workstation and >the improved productivity it allows makes it attractive purely from a >cost/benefit viewpoint. Wonderful cost/benefit aside - for those of us struggling to pay our own way through school any additional required cost can be unacceptable. Financial aid covering the required pc (as is apparently the case at UVM) is all fine and well except in cases such as mine where people don't qualify for financial aid. > Or they can sell it at the end of four years and recoup some >of the investment. Not an option. At the end of four years the machines available will have made the machine purchased so obsolete as to render it virtually impossible to regain any significant portion of the original investment. --------------------------------- David Buechner UUCP : ...!{akgua,allegra,emory,rlgvax,sb1,ut-ngp,ut-sally}!gatech!djb ARPA : djb.gatech@CSNet-Relay CSNET : djb@gatech Federal snail : Ga. Tech P.O. Box 33336, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 These opinions are of course mine, but nobody else in their right mind would adapt them as their own so please don't attribute anything I said to anyone else. (insert more generic legal mumble-jumbo for a disclaimer)