The mission of the Residential Computing program is to enable students to make effective and efficient use of information technologies in education. Central to the program is the belief that such technologies are best provided in the residence halls that serve as students' homes and are most effectively supported by student staff who live in these residences. Input from students and faculty as well as constant evaluation of high tech industry are the driving forces of future planning.
With its commitment to four years of guaranteed undergraduate housing and its high percentage of housed graduates, Stanford has a special opportunity to bring computing resources and support to a majority of students where they live. The residential computing program has undertaken, over the past seven years, to take advantage of this opportunity.
Our basic assumption is that information technologies will continue to be a critical and growing part of academic, administrative, and residential life at Stanford. The following principles have helped us to plan our support strategy regarding our student computing environments.
Principle #1: The University should provide adequate resources for those students who do not own computers. Providing a computer cluster in each living group helps ensure equitable access to information technology by making computing resources available in a way that simulates, as closely as possible, the convenience of owning a computer.
Principle #2: The University should leverage off of and add value to the computers that students own by providing resources in residences, such as laser printers and in-room network connections, that support those computers.
Principle #3: We believe that the most effective way to provide computer resource management, consulting, and education, both with respect to cost effectiveness and quality of support, is through student mentors who live in each house.
In support of these principles, the Residential Computing program now provides an extensive computing environment in residences and a staff of live-in Resident Computer Coordinators who support information technologies in a timely way, and with respect to changing technologies and the special needs of each house.
At this time, residentially based computer clusters are available in all of Stanford's living groups. These clusters provide over 350 computers in 71 locations, and serve all of Stanford's approximately 9000 housed students. The clusters consist of Macintosh and NeXT computers, with laser printers, scanners, CD ROM drives and limited multimedia capability. All clusters are connected to the Internet via the Stanford University Network (SUNet).
About 6000 of Stanford's 9000 housed students can also access the Internet from their rooms. Besides allowing students to use SUNet and Internet resources, these connections provide access to resources such as laser printers conveniently located in their residence clusters.
Resident Computer Coordinators are house staff members (along with RAs, Head AAs, TAs etc.) who manage computer clusters, provide computer skills education, and consult with residents on any and all computer related problems. RCCs teach the CS1c, Introduction to Micro Computing, course in each house, and provide other types of educational programs as necessary. Those RCCs who live in houses with in-room network connections are also responsible for supporting these networks. RCCs have become the primary campus consulting resource for Stanford's housed students, especially with respect to undergraduates. Our reliance on these expert students is the key to the efficiency and effectiveness of the program.
Where computing in residences is going.
There are a couple of trends which are driving the future of computing support in residences. First of all, more and more Students own their own computer. Whether this continues through a drop in prices or is accelerated through financial aids incentives, we will eventually come to expect that almost every student has a computer in his or her room. Secondly, students and faculty are becoming increasingly computer savvy and reliant. Computer activities such as word processing, electronic mail, reading news groups and searching for information over the internet have become commonplace. Faculty and students are beginning to explore advanced uses of technology in education.
We are moving in the direction of more support for individual computer owners in their rooms. We hope to have in-room wiring completed within 5 years in all living groups to support student-owned computers. We assume that students will purchase whatever is the low-cost computing technology of the day. In clusters we will provide higher-end computers and peripherals, like laser printers, scanners, and CD ROM drives, that both add value to the computers that students own and provide access to academically important technology that students can't afford. Of course, there is a limit to the level of technology we can provide in the residence clusters, either because the equipment is currently too expensive to distribute widely or because the technology is not yet needed by a large enough cross-section of students.