DSU Center of Excellence creates wireless classroom

With the addition of wireless technology on the Dakota State University campus, a classroom devoted to the technology has been established.

A Wireless Lab has been created in East Hall Room 2. The new classroom, setup for 20 students and one faculty member, will serve four main purposes for Dakota State:

1. To serve as the facility in which wireless technology sections of undergraduate classes will be held

2. To serve as the location for the membership of the Center of Excellence to do research and application development for the general use of all DSU students

3. To serve as the focal point of the wireless network, a physical location that can be thought of as the hub of activities regarding the wireless network

4. To serve as an enticement for further exploration of wireless technology, and to convince more students to become involved with the Center of Excellence and with the wireless network in general.

The wireless classroom came about thanks in part to a 300 percent increase in enrollment in the Center of Excellence during the 2001-02 academic school year. There are currently 52 members in the Center of Excellence in Computer Information Systems on the DSU campus.

Other factors that contributed to the development of the Wireless Laboratory were the continued desire by the Center of Excellence to be a leadership group on the DSU campus and the College of Business and Information Systems’ desire to be active with further development of the wireless network.

Center of Excellence Director, Wayne E. Pauli, placed the creation of a Wireless Laboratory on the planning board early last year after it became evident that a wireless network would be a reality on the Dakota State campus.

Funding for the creation of this lab was made possible by the Center of Excellence, as all furnishings and upgrades to the facility are a gift to the student body by Center of Excellence funds. The lab is also equipped with a networked printer, a scanner, external zip drives for laptop use, a digital camera, and plans are in place for a laptop cart with 16 to 24 laptops that can be used in the lab.

“The Center of Excellence Wireless Laboratory is a physical representation of the pride that the Center takes in being part of the academic makeup of Dakota State University,” Pauli said. “The Center is all about technology, and the Center is all about creating leaders that can experiment, learn, and share those experiences with the entire student body as well as the private sector in which they will one day be employed in.”

The users of the wireless network will have the same connection to the Local Area Network of DSU, so the same capabilities exist using a laptop as using a desktop computer in one of the hardwired labs.

For the 2002 Fall semester, a section of Introduction to Computers, taught by Melissa Gioglio and a section of Basic Programming taught by Pauli will be held in the wireless Lab. Other courses that will be offered in the wireless lab during the 2002-03 academic year include Composition I, Principles of Programming, Business Applications Programming and Web Programming I.

The Center of Excellence earmarked their $20,000 of faculty development grants in 2002 for curriculum development in the wireless environment. The 2003 grants of the same dollar amount will also be used to develop this type of curriculum presentation. In addition, $80,000 has been budgeted to complete phase two of the wireless network, which includes all buildings on the main campus and the north campus except the dorms and apartments. This phase will be completed Fall Semester.