Comments on: Mobile Learning at Durham College dead, UOIT next?

By: avi@uoit

avi@uoit — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:01:00 +0000

I think you get all these softwares are included in your laptop when you get it.

Avi

By: Kay

Kay — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 23:30:10 +0000

Andrewkelly, I am doing my first year in this program! Trying to save cost on which software I will need....can you please tell me if I will absoluetly need all these programs!
•Windows 7 Professional 32-Bit;
•Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007;
•Microsoft Visio Standard 2007
•Adobe CS5 Web Premium (Windows);
•Microsoft Project Standard 2007;
•Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2008; and
•Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 or equivalent.

Thank you!!!!

By: Port Hope Police apply for micro-station funds – Northumberland … | Car Classifications Automotive Wisdom

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:28:42 +0000

[...] Mobile Learning at Durham College dead, UOIT next? [...]

By: Ted Avery

Ted Avery — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:43:04 +0000

Thanks for the explanation, Amy! Glad to hear you thought out so many important factors in this transition.

Could you tell us at all about any plans to change UOIT's mobile learning program?

By: Amy England

Amy England — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:35:26 +0000

As a recent graduate of the Durham College Journalism program I know how expensive it is for Mac users. I lobbied to make sure students currently enrolled in a lap top based program could continue on the lease program until they graduate if they wanted. This was important because I didnt want students in financial need to be affected if they benefit from the current program. This was the first recommendation made by the Student Association if the school was to move to a buy program for laptops.

Also it was recommended that students who are on financial aid should not be affected in terms of getting their osap to cover the cost of purchasing a laptop, this important factor needed to be considered before it was possible to move to a model of student buying their computer instead of leasing it.

Another recommendation that was made was that students in programs which are Mac based would have the ability to buy their own software from the school bookstore at very low prices. This was based out of student concerns that when they graduate the do not have ownership over their software.

These recommendations were just some of the things we discussed with the School administration before we believed it would be possible to move to a model where students purchased their own laptop.

So hopefully it would clear up some of the headaches students would face.

Amy England

By: Ted Avery

Ted Avery — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:43:04 +0000

Thanks for the explanation, Amy! Glad to hear you thought out so many important factors in this transition.

Could you tell us at all about any plans to change UOIT's mobile learning program?

By: Amy England

Amy England — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:35:26 +0000

By: Ted Avery

Ted Avery — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:07:53 +0000

Unfortunately programs like yours were few and far between, and it's not really fair for the entire school (at UOIT anyway) to bear the burden for the few programs that do require special software.

I would say Adobe Creative Suite should run on any computer even in the last 5 or 6 years. And if it didn't, buying a laptop that would run it can still be done once for less than $1500. Not to mention the fact that there are plenty of other graphic and web design programs at other institutions that survive without this laptop fee.

I spent a semester at Ryerson in the Graphic Communications Management program and we worked regularly with Adobe and Quark software. Our student IDs gave us access to the labs whenever the school grounds were open, I got all my work done there. If you needed your own copy, you could pay for a cheap educational version at the campus bookstore. There are plenty of really great alternatives.

By: andrewkelly

andrewkelly — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:34:01 +0000

Personally, as a Web Design Student that once attended Durham College, this is both a good thing and a bad thing. I like that there's control, but in my program the Adobe Suite was required for pretty much all my courses.

I think its cool to offer choice, but I do hope that there's some sort of plan in place for future programs that require mandatory software. Even if the course costs include a copy of the Adobe Suite, not every person will be bringing in the same machine. Some students will work off older, hand me down machines that might not support the software, or work off Apple's when it's Window's software provided.

I see there being a lot of headaches moving forward as a result of these decisions. I think it's great for some programs, but I fear for others it'll open up a whole new can of worms.

By: Aaron Tait

Aaron Tait — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:42:33 +0000

There is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes with UOIT and Lenovo. Currently, UOIT does not have the ability (contractually) to not force students to use a Lenovo laptop. It is my understanding that this will change in 2010.

By: Jids

Jids — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:33:37 +0000

Even if they do get rid of the program, the school can still /sell/ the software. It's not as if the end of the mobile learning program will spell death for the ability to sell software that isn't pre-installed. In any case, I can't wait for the mobile program to end… it's pointless and waaaaaay too costly.

By: Ted Avery

Ted Avery — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:46:56 +0000

Haha well I didn't want to imply that directly but it's a good point there are also many open source alternatives to a lot of the paid software we use

By: Adwin Lam

Adwin Lam — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:58:47 +0000

Of course, engineers-in-training can obtain MATLAB and AutoCAD somehow anyway…