November 29, 2009
Posted by Ted Avery
Mobile Learning at Durham College dead, UOIT next?
Now here’s a big win for students at Durham College, and hopefully a step for the same change at UOIT. Starting next year, the mobile learning program at Durham College will be dead, and any required computer hardware or software will be the student’s responsibility to acquire. That means no more $1500 per year fee to basically borrow a laptop and its software from the school. It means you will have ownership over what you pay for, andchoice over the laptop and software you use.
Often, the only paid software an academic program needs is Microsoft Office, and paying a one-time fee for a laptop (which you own) and Microsoft Office (which the school bookstore sells for a mere $7 to students) is far cheaper than the recurring $1500/year mobile learning fee paid now. Even in my program, Information Technology, we have made no use of any software installed by the school aside from Microsoft Office. Almost all of our students have formatted their laptops and installed Windows 7 from scratch, and in no case would any of our software require special hardware that was only offered by the university.
Although once intended to be a high-tech advantage distinguishing UOIT/Durham College from other schools, laptops have been easy to come by for years now, and the mobile learning program has just been doing the school more harm than good. Having course material online via WebCT and offering wireless internet access across campus are standard features at all universities these days, and even prospective students know it and aren’t buying the hype. I have some contacts who have worked as tour guides for the schools that found themselves constantly trying to justify this obsolete fee to skeptical prospective students.
Unfortunately, this change only applies to the few Durham College programs that were part of the mobile learning program. Every academic program at UOIT is subject to the mobile learning fee, so we can only hope a similar review of the program is made there.
The related article in The Chronicle, the Durham College newspaper, states that part of the change was thanks to work from the Student Association, so kudos to Amy England and the rest of the SA team for working on this. Now if we can get UOIT’s mobile learning fee axed, students will save $6000 over the course of four years, and we can finally say goodbye to this outdated, costly program.