Computers In The Classroom

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Here's a lesson plan for VARs looking to expand into the mobile computing space: Get into the classroom. Take a look at the following opportunities in which higher education is spending big bucks.

• In Blacksburg, Va., Virginia Tech's engineering college is requiring all 1,400 incoming freshmen to purchase tablet PCs, and the college is recommending that they buy from Fujitsu. In 1984, the college became the first public one in the country to require engineering freshmen to own a PC. By 2002, it moved to laptops, and equipped many of its academic buildings with wireless access. The advantages have been more than academic: During the horrific shooting rampage that took place on campus in April, students were able to communicate wirelessly with needed urgency to each other, the school community and their families.

• Round Rock, Texas-based Dell planned to sell 1,900 notebook computers this year--and another 2,000 in fall 2008--for middle and high-school students at the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District near Los Angeles. The arrangement is intended to close a digital divide in the region, placing these young people on equal technological footing with students in wealthier school systems.

• At the University of California, San Diego (UCSD)--thanks to a Hewlett-Packard grant program--an academically focused blogging project has been launched to help computer-science students better grasp difficult lecture content. As the professors present their materials in class, students blog in realtime, using the pen function to highlight key points, provide alternative illustrations to peers and even offer simple encouragement to students.

Next: Getting Into A Routine

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