The Technology Question

[Anonymous]

Just returned from dropping my DD off for her first year at one of the top private colleges in the country. While everything else was as expected (or better), I was appalled by the poor internet connectivity. We were at various locations around the campus for the better part of three days and Wi-Fi connectivity ranged from poor to not available. This a school that has spent a fortune building posh dorms, facilities and new classroom buildings and yet they can’t provide suitable internet capacity. In this day and age, internet connectivity is nearly as important as water. For a school to fall short on providing such as basic tool is unacceptable. I had to bite my tongue to avoid embarrassing DD, but I’d strongly recommend that those looking at college make sure that schools have invested to providing fast Wi-Fi with suitable capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In this day and age, internet connectivity is nearly as important as water.

Huh?

[Anonymous]

Queston: Were you trying to get on the netowrk or was it your DD AFTER she looged on to the school's Wi-Fi network.

Not being snarky, but I had the same issue when I was trying to connect to the free public network using an iPad in the student center lobby. However when DD logged on to the campus-wide student network using her credentials, the connectivity was off the charts. What has DD reported since then?

[Anonymous]

IT person here. It could be that the official campus WiFi is actually hidden (doesn't show up in the list of networks) and so you have to manually set it up and have login info. Any member of the university will have this all set up so they'll be on this hidden network without issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Queston: Were you trying to get on the netowrk or was it your DD AFTER she looged on to the school's Wi-Fi network.

Not being snarky, but I had the same issue when I was trying to connect to the free public network using an iPad in the student center lobby. However when DD logged on to the campus-wide student network using her credentials, the connectivity was off the charts. What has DD reported since then?

Both Public and Private were horrendous on move in and first day of classes. DD reports it is better now, but not blazing fast as it should be. Fast internet infrastructure should not be overlooked.

Does anyone know of a Top 25 school with exceptionally good or bad Wi-Fi service?

[Anonymous]

In general, the best schools have the best resources and wifi is obviously very important:

https://colleges.niche.com/rankings/best-technology/

I wonder what "elite" school has inadequate internet service?

[Anonymous]

Here's an article about cellular data service. It is deplorable that some schools that consider themselves elite have such poor connectivity. Do they understand how college age kids acquire information and communicate?

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303369904579423792725267978

I wish there was a ranking of connectivity (cell+wifi).

[Anonymous]

OP, what do you mean by WiFi availability? You say it was available some places, but not other places. Was it available in the dorm and in the library, but not at the tiny cafe that doesn't even have tables?

For me this wouldn't be a deal breaker. A ranking of connectivity? Ppphhhtttt. My kid attends one of the very top private universities, and we never even checked into WiFi connectivity. Tell me instead about the professors in DC's intended major, and whether they can teach and make themselves available to students.

[Anonymous]

Thanks to Larry Page and Google the University of Michigan has Google fiber and supposedly great capacity and connectivity.

[Anonymous]

I'd worry about this only if DC was majoring in STEM. If bad WiFi means DC spends less time on Instagram, that's fine with me. How many kids are using WiFi for major research papers as opposed to snapchat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd worry about this only if DC was majoring in STEM. If bad WiFi means DC spends less time on Instagram, that's fine with me. How many kids are using WiFi for major research papers as opposed to snapchat?

I don't think you appreciate how important internet access is on most campuses. Student portals and systems like BLACKBOARD on the heart of the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd worry about this only if DC was majoring in STEM. If bad WiFi means DC spends less time on Instagram, that's fine with me. How many kids are using WiFi for major research papers as opposed to snapchat?

I don't think you appreciate how important internet access is on most campuses. Student portals and systems like BLACKBOARD on the heart of the process.

That was my post. Right, but even at schools with great systems (and DC's school is one of these), the course registration system crashes the morning that course registration opens. DC deals with it. Are our snowflakes really so special that they can't deal with stuff like this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In general, the best schools have the best resources and wifi is obviously very important:

https://colleges.niche.com/rankings/best-technology/

I wonder what "elite" school has inadequate internet service?

I've taught at a couple elite universities and at both we have had internal conversations about how top community colleges often have better technology resources than top universities. Very frustrating to teach in a classroom with intermittent internet access and an LCD projector from 2001 where it's 98 degrees on the first warm day of spring and 55 degrees on the first cold day of fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In general, the best schools have the best resources and wifi is obviously very important:

https://colleges.niche.com/rankings/best-technology/

I wonder what "elite" school has inadequate internet service?

I've taught at a couple elite universities and at both we have had internal conversations about how top community colleges often have better technology resources than top universities. Very frustrating to teach in a classroom with intermittent internet access and an LCD projector from 2001 where it's 98 degrees on the first warm day of spring and 55 degrees on the first cold day of fall.

I'd avoid any school that can't get technology right. Apart from the importance of technology highlighted by the PP, the failure to grasp the role of modern technology in education is a disqualifier for me. Anyone can make excuses, but if you can't get connectivity right, you are in the wrong century.