Computer requirement brings changes, more attention to WCU

By Michelle Johnson

September 5, 2000 Web posted at: 2:43 PM EDT (1843 GMT)

CULLOWHEE, North Carolina (Winston-Salem Journal) -- Wake Forest University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill grab most of the headlines in the state for their efforts to get laptops into the hands of every student.

But Western Carolina University was the state's first public university to require students to buy personal computers. As the project begins its third year, school officials say it has changed the campus culture.

In 1995, faced with a stagnant enrollment and low SAT scores, Western implemented a plan to wire the entire campus and require students to bring personal computers to school. Like Winston-Salem State University, Western is one of the schools in the UNC system that is expected to absorb a big portion of a projected increase in enrollment in the coming years. The school of 5,000 will need to nearly double its enrollment and its faculty to satisfy the system's plan.

''This technology initiative is part of Western's attempt to reposition itself as the comprehensive university of choice in the UNC system. That is part of our plan,'' said Frank Prochaska, the associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at Western and an architect of the computer plan.

When Western's computer requirement took effect in 1998, enrollment dropped about 10 percent, something Prochaska expected. This year, the school attracted the same number of students as in 1998, but their average SAT score is higher.

''We're really attracting a larger number of better students,'' Prochaska said. ''Clearly the computer requirement is part of this.''

Before classes started Aug. 23, all new students were required to complete an orientation to the campus computer networks.

In a dimly lighted computer classroom, James Lean slouched over his keyboard, pecking at the keys and squinting up at the instructions on the screen during a computer orientation class. Lean, a freshman from Colfax, was learning how to use the university's new ''Pipeline'' software, which will eventually provide students access to everything from their financial-aid status to their grades, class schedules, library services and e-mail. Several UNC schools are installing the software. It's free, but users have to put up with advertisements on the screen.

Lean listened as Nory Prochaska, a professor of math and computer science and Frank Prochaska's ex-wife, told the class that Western is on the cutting edge of technology.

Lean said in an interview that he used computers when he was a student at Ridgefield Academy in Greensboro, but computers didn't play a big role in his decision to attend school there.

''They (Western Carolina) were the ones who accepted me,'' he said.

Michelle Hurlocker, a freshman from Concord, said she appreciated the computer requirement, but it wasn't a big draw for her either. ''I came here to get a music degree. I didn't care about computers,'' she said. ''They're here. They're helpful. I'm glad we have them.''

Frank Prochaska said that Western decided to emphasize learning, such as improving communication skills and learning to critically evaluate information on the Internet, rather than computer hardware.

''Students do not like to carry laptops,'' he said. ''Surprisingly, a number of faculty members do not like to be in class when you've got the clattering of keys.''

The majority of students at Western buy desktop computers, Prochaska said. They're cheaper, and because they aren't carried around, they're less likely to break.

''For less affluent universities, this is actually a quite affordable way to implement a computer requirement,'' he said.

Wake Forest and Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte added the cost of IBM Thinkpads to tuition. Western told students they needed computers that could hook up to the campus infrastructure.

''A third of our student body are first-generation college students,'' Prochaska said. ''For many of them, cost is an issue.''

The story of computers at Western is a story about timing, personalities and a keenly felt need for change, said Chancellor John Bardo. When he arrived on campus in 1995, the classrooms were wired, but the dormitories weren't. He saw an immediate need and a willingness among the faculty to embrace technology.

''You need to think about the process that got us here,'' Bardo said. ''Rather than try to impose the model, we let this happen from the inside. It was a building process. It fit us. It was right for this campus.''

It may have been right for the campus, but that did not make it easy, said Elizabeth Addison, a professor of English. She directed the freshman composition program the first year that Western moved all of its writing classes to a computer lab.

''There was some resentment, but most people were positive about it. I said: 'Take it easy. Just teach writing. Use the computers if they're useful,' '' she said.

''There were a few people who were hardcore negative. I just didn't worry about them. It just swept like a tide. There was no way for a diehard to stand in the way.''

Western's story is also about how it can distinguish itself from UNC's other mountain university, Appalachian State University in Boone. Unlike Western, ASU has no problem recruiting students. The campus is in the middle of a town in a popular resort area. Cullowhee isn't even an incorporated town -- it's basically a few storefronts on private property in the middle of campus. ''We're not in the center of things. We didn't have a strong reputation, if we had one at all,'' Bardo said.

Western, which has one of the worst dropout rates in the UNC system, has done other things to improve its image and its ability to attract and retain good students.

It has established a residential honors college with nearly 600 students. It revamped its advising system to allow students to keep one adviser throughout their college career. The college beefed up its marketing campaign, buying billboards that advertise its status as a National Merit University and Cullowhee's designation by Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine as the nation's ''Most Wired Small Town.''

This spring, Western will experiment with wireless handheld computers, providing them to 30 students to take to class. The university is spending about $65,000 on the project, which will allow students to download material from the Internet, take notes in class and do other computing without carrying a laptop.

''The palm (computer) is not a replacement. It's a supplement,'' Frank Prochaska said. ''That laptop (or desktop) back in the residence hall will be the workhorse. The palm unit is simply a way to extend the benefits of the network into the classroom.''

If it works, the university may soon require students to buy handheld computers. ''We'd never have been positioned to do this if we didn't have the computer requirement,'' Prochaska said.

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