Wireless Networking

at Dartmouth College
Paul Arabasz, IDC
Judith Pirani, Sheep Pond Associates

ECAR Case Study 9, 2002

Case Study from the

EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research

4772 Walnut Street, Suite 206

Boulder, Colorado 80301
www.educause.edu/ecar/

Wireless Networking
at Dartmouth College

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher

edu-cation by promoting the intelligent use of information technology.
The mission of the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research is to foster
better decision making by conducting and disseminating research and
analysis about the role and implications of information technology in
higher education. ECAR will systematically address many of the
challenges brought more sharply into focus by information technologies.
Copyright 2002 EDUCAUSE. All rights reserved. This ECAR Research Study is
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Wireless Networking in Higher Education

Case Study 9, 2002

Wireless Networking
at Dartmouth College

Preface
The EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Re-search (ECAR)
produces

research

regarding

the

to

promote

selection,

effective

development,

decisions

deployment,

management, socialization, and use of information technology (IT) in higher education. ECAR re-search includes
research bulletins, short summary analyses of key IT
issues; research studies, in-depth applied research on
com-plex and consequential technologies and practices;
and case studies designed to ex-emplify important themes,
trends, and ex-periences in the management of IT
investments and activities.

ECAR has investigated the state of wire-less

networking in higher education and has issued
Wireless Networking in Higher Edu-cation. This
research was undertaken in three phases:
an online survey of 391 EDUCAUSE members to
establish the state of wire-less networking in
higher education and to understand its
implementation char-acteristics;
follow-up,
in-depth telephone and on-site
interviews, covering 17 selected in-stitutions, with
IT personnel and univer-sity members who are
directly involved with the creation, operation, or
use of wireless networks; and

best practices cases studies with six higher

education institutions about their wireless network
implementations.

Between March and May 2002, ECAR

and IDC began with a list of approximately 150 colleges
and universities that had ex-perience implementing
wireless networks. From this list, 20 were interviewed
exten-sively by telephone, and six were selected for either
on-site visits or extensive telephone follow-up. On-site
visits are rigorous and in-volve nearly two days of
interviews and meetings with the widest variety of institutional representatives associated withor affected bythe
technologies or practices being investigated.

This case study was undertaken to draw on the

direct experience of others to pro-vide insights into
what hasand, as appro-priate, what hasnt
worked in wireless implementations. It is assumed
that readers of the case studies will also read the
main report, which incorporates the findings of the
case studies within the generalized con-text of the
report.
ECAR wishes to thank the leadership of Dartmouth
College for their time, assistance, and diligence in
support of this research. We hope readers of this ECAR
case study will learn from their experiences.

2002 EDUCAUSE. Reproduction by permission only.

EDUCAUSE CENTER FOR APPLIED RESEARCH

1

Wireless Networking in Higher Education

Located

in

Hanover,

New

Hampshire,
Dartmouth

Introduction

College

is

Case Study 9,
2002

private four-year college with an enrollment

of 4,200 under-graduates in the liberal arts
and 1,500 graduate students. With an annual
budget of approximately $425 million (for
fiscal

year

2000),

Dartmouth

employs

approximately 3,115 staff and 2,250 faculty. A

member of the Ivy League, Dartmouth offers
16 gradu-ate programs in the arts and
sciences, as well as a medical school
(Dartmouth Medical School), a professional
school of engineer-ing (Thayer School of
Engineering), and a graduate school of
management (Tuck School of Business).
Dartmouth

College

is

also

intimately

associated with the Dartmouth Hitchcock

Medical Center, of which the College and the
Medical School are members. In terms of
information

tech-nology,

environments

are

close

the
peers,

two
sharing

various services, although DHMC maintains

separate networking.

Consistent with its size, Dartmouth

main-tains a highly centralized IT
organization, known as Peter Kiewit
Computing Services. In addition, there
are smaller IT organiza-tions affiliated
with each of the three pro-fessional
schools. With a staff of approximately
150, Computing Services con-sists of
Academic Computing
Administrative Computing
Computing Support
Technical Services
Academic Computing focuses on provid-

ing services to the student and faculty

popu-lation. It includes three subgroups.
The Academic Consulting Services group
pro-vides general consulting assistance to
fac-ulty and
staff. The Research
Computing group supports and develops
computing applications and information
resources with a primary focus on
supporting research. The Curricular
Computing group assists the Dartmouth
faculty in the use of information

technology for research and instruction.

The focal point of support for most institutional administrative systems, Administrative Computing provides systems needs
analysis, design, development or procurement, operations, and maintenance; data
administration; information systems and
capacity planning; system security; and
con-sulting on system use. This division
forms close partnerships with institutional
efforts to improve the effectiveness and
efficien-cies of local or campus-wide
administrative processes.
Computing Support includes Computer
Sales, Service, and Support and
Communi-cations and Telephone Services.
Technical Services develops and
supports
Dartmouths
technical
infrastructure for data networking and
computing. The Technical Services division
supports the schools Ethernet backbone
and servers, connection of the backbone to
the Internet, and net-work applications.
The core of Dartmouths computing infrastructure is an Ethernet backbone employing Nortel routers that links all 161 of the
schools

buildings.

Dartmouth

supports

approximately 20 public computing clusters

across the campus, the largest of which are
located in the Kiewit Computation Center and
the Baker-Berry Library. The school also
provides extensive computing facilities for
faculty, graduate students, and researchers,
including several multiprocessor Unix and
Linux servers for computational, statistical,
and visualization applications.

Drivers of Dartmouths
Wireless Deployment
Dartmouths

wireless

initiative

began

early in the fall of 2000 with a series of small

department-level pilot programs in the Engineering and Computer Science departments as well as parts of the student union
and library. While Computing Services had
some involvement in the wireless initiative,

Wireless Networking in Higher Education

it was by and large a decentralized effort,

enabled by the departments willingness
to take ownership in the early stages.
This meant not only installation,
maintenance, and management of the 20
to 30 access points (APs) that were
initially deployed, but also providing early
funding from depart-ment budgets.

Case Study 9, 2002

campus. According to Larry Levine, Direc-tor

of Computing, the core value proposi-tion for
wireless was its ability to enable networking
for everybody, everywhere. We made the

Since Dartmouths wireless initiative

started out as a bottom up deployment,
many factors are cited as drivers. However,
the one basic driver common to all was the
increasing rate of laptop computer ownership in both the student and faculty populations. For instance, from 1999 to 2001,
the laptop share of computers purchased
by students through the campus computer
store rose from 27 percent to 45 percent to
70 percent. (At present, approximately 40
percent of undergraduate students own a
laptop.) Coupled with the fact that all
laptops sold in 2001 were factory-equipped
with wireless cards, a consensus began to
emerge that wireless computing was
becom-ing a viable option on campus.

case that wireless would produce abundant

Within Dartmouths Thayer School of

Dartmouths IT environment strongly en-

Engineering, the deployment of wireless was

benefits to the overall academic process,

said Levine. For faculty, we saw clear value
for both teaching and research. Under
Levines vision, the role of Dartmouths IT
organization was to work with faculty to
facilitate innovation, but leave it to faculty to
drive innovation.
While presenting the benefits of wire-less
in the lofty terms of the overall com-puting
and

communications

environment,

Computing Services also sought to provide

practical demonstrations. In this way, key
Dartmouth decision makers (principally the
provost) could see the value of wireless in
action. In addition, alumni from various IT
sectors

who

serve

as

advisors

to

dorsed the notion of a wireless campus.

seen as a low-cost means of expanding com-

In October 2000, the provost gave the

puting resources for its 400 undergraduate

green light to expanding the initiative under

and 150 graduate students. As enrollment in

the condition that most of the deployment be

the school grew, the School of Engineer-ing

completed by spring of 2001. Underlying this

could not accommodatefor reasons related

speedy timetable was the idea that the

to both cost and physical space the

sooner a leading-edge wireless environment

demand for more workstations. The logic of

was established, the sooner Dartmouths

providing wireless access in Engi-neering was

stu-dents and faculty would begin deriving

further buttressed by the fact that students in

ben-efits. This, in

technical disciplines are more likely to use

Dartmouth an opportunity to showcase these

laptops and thus would be well positioned to

benefits to the broader academic community.

take advantage of it.

Indeed, the increasing press coverage and

Dartmouths

pilot

deployments

were

turn, would

provide

buzz cre-ated by the issue of campus

judged a clear success by virtue of their popu-

wireless

larity with students and faculty. Determined to

decision to move ahead aggressively.

were

factors

in

Dartmouths

build on this success, staff from Computuing

Services began discussions with the Deputy
Provost for Academic Affairs about making
wireless ubiquitous across the

EDUCAUSE CENTER FOR APPLIED RESEARCH

Wireless Deployment
Issues
In planning for its wireless expansion,
Levines team consulted with schools (for
ex-ample, Carnegie Mellon University)
that already had advanced wireless
implemen-tations, with the aim of sharing
best prac-

3
Case Study 9,
2002

Wireless Networking in Higher Education

tices and lessons learned. The most valuable

feedback related to network topology, espe-

was seen as a more stable player. The most

cially the placement and configuration of

important factor working in Ciscos favor was

wireless APs. Of particular interest were is-

its willingness to underwrite a major share of

sues surrounding edge effectsspecifi-

Dartmouths infrastructure costs through do-

cally, understanding how wireless networks

nations and deep discounts. The influence of

behaved at the boundaries of coverage ar-

a large contingent of Dartmouth alumni within

eas between access points. The issue of

Cisco also played a major role in the deal.

edge effects was most relevant to how

reassociate

802.11b as the most practical near-term op-

(hand-off) from one AP to another. One of the

tion. 802.11b was the most well-understood,

key les-sons in this area, noted Levine, is the

most prevalent technology at the time we

impor-tance of calibrating the transmission

deployed wireless, noted Levine. We found

power of APs in order to limit instability

it to be a robust and easy-to-deploy technol-

between subnets or coverage zones. A

ogy, with good end-user experiences.

wireless

end-user

devices

message that came through loud and clear

While currently examining the next gen-

was that AP placement is more of an art than

eration of standards, Dartmouth has voiced

a sci-ence, said Levine. We learned that

early support for deploying 802.11g (versus

when it comes to signal power, less can be

802.11a) by virtue of its support for 802.11b.

more which wasnt intuitive to us at first.

The major issue driving the move to the next

In the weeks leading up to the roll-out,

Computing Services took a hands-on approach to AP placement, with teams fan-ning
out across the campus to identify the best
locations. These teamscomposed of staff
and students using laptops, APs, and walkietalkiesemployed a trial-and-error method
that involved measuring signal strengths
under different placement options.

Technology and
Standards Selection
Another key lesson Dartmouth learned from
peer institutions was that wireless stan-dards
had not fully evolved. For Dartmouths planners
this implied that, for the immediate future, a
single-vendor solution made the most sense. At
the outset of the project, Dartmouth had shortlisted Lucent, Cisco, and 3Com. Al-though
Lucents WaveLAN AP was used in the initial
trial, Lucent was dropped from consid-eration
due largely to delays in delivering its nextgeneration wireless local-area network (WLAN)
products. Cisco, on the other hand, was viewed
favorably by virtue of its recent acquisition of
Aironet (a WLAN vendor) and

On the standards front, Levine saw IEEE

standard will be increased user demands for

higher bandwidth and collaboration.

Funding Wireless
Dartmouths wireless expansion was
originally projected to cost approximately
$400,000, with funds provided by the provost and donations from Cisco. Going forward, Dartmouth has rolled the cost of
maintaining the wireless network into its
general IT budgeting practices. Under
these practices, Dartmouths five major
budget centers (consisting of its three
professional schools, the Office of
Residential Life, and all other areas) are
charged on a cost-per-port basis. Wireless
costs, which include added support costs,
are embedded in these cost-per-port
estimates.

Profile of Dartmouths
Wireless Deployment
Dartmouths wireless network provides
100 percent coverage through a network of
476 Cisco Aironet APs. These include a
mix of APs powered over the network
(through injectors) and separately powered
units. Dartmouths wireless network
extends

Case Study 9, 2002

Wireless Networking in Higher Education

over 161 buildings and all major outdoor

areas and off-campus facilities (the stadium,
boathouse, and facilities). Dartmouths APs
operate chiefly under an omnidirectional
antenna scheme and are arrayed in a mi-crocell pattern to enable frequency reuse and to
mitigate range-related problems. Each access
point connects directly to a lo-cal buildings
wired subnet rather than into a campus-wide
wireless

virtual

LAN

(VLAN). This

was

necessary due to the current archi-tecture of

the campus backbone, and may change when
the campus wired network is upgraded during
the coming year. The wire-less network
delivers 11 Mbps coverage.

While its network is effectively fully deployed, Dartmouths wireless strategy is far
from static. Computing Services constantly
modifies the network to maximize performance by either adjusting transmitter signal strengths or moving APs. While
Computing Services monitors the operational status of the wireless network remotely, most feedback comes from
students and faculty.

Applications Supported
By and large, Dartmouths wireless appli-

Levine sees the present weak security

regime as a temporaryyet necessary
fact of life in what is now the early phase
of Dartmouths wireless history. We didnt
want a solution where everyone has to register a MAC [media access control]
address, mostly because the MAC address
can change frequently, explained Levine.
Ul-timately were moving toward using our
LDAP
[lightweight
directory
access
protocol] name directory for sign on, but a
cross-ven-dor standard does not exist for
that right now. Levine does not see
unauthorized access as a problem right
now, although Dartmouth will nonetheless
move swiftly toward required login and
other security measures.
Dartmouth does not plan to deploy a
campus-wide virtual private network (VPN)
because of the difficulties and complexi-ties
of providing client software for all cli-ents. In
the area of encryption, wired equivalent
privacy (WEP) is enabled and optional on
the wireless network. Dartmouth chose to
make it available be-cause it was supported
by the access points, yet chose to make it
optional because it was not supported by all
wireless cards.

cations mirror those used on the wired network. Among general-purpose applications,
messaging, Web browsing, and productivity
applications constitute the most widely used
applications. Within the Thayer School of Engineering, key applications supported (both
wired and wireless) include computer-aided
design

(CAD)

applications

such

as

ProENGINEER and MathLab. Likewise, at the

Tuck School of Business, students use wireless to access e-mail, the Web, and a comprehensive array of intranet services.

Wireless Security Profile

At present, Dartmouths wireless network
security is token at best. To access the wireless network, a user needs to enter a non
user-specific service set identifier (SSID).

EDUCAUSE CENTER FOR APPLIED RESEARCH

Wireless Usage
Patterns
At present, wireless use on campus falls
under two broadly defined categories: general-purpose access (the vast majority) and
targeted, customized wireless applications.
Based on incidence of use, the most common usage of wireless is for student-to-student and student-to-professor e-mail,
principally through Dartmouths BlitzMail
messaging platform (discussed below).
This is followed closely by Web browsing,
includ-ing the use of the Web to conduct
library-based research. Some other general
observations about wireless usage on the
Dartmouth campus, drawn from a March
2002 study, follow:

Wireless Networking in Higher Education

Case Study 9,
2002

Roaming is limited, with most users

lim-iting their activities to a few key
sites in their daily routine.
Overall, residential activity dominates,
with most usage coming from
residence hall rooms, even though all
residence halls are also wired.
Residential and social-space use is
heavier in the evening hours,
academic and ad-ministrative usage
is highest during the day, and librarybased use is spread more evenly.
Most sessions are short (with a
median of 16 minutes), probably
reflecting stu-dents checking e-mail at
periodic inter-vals.
Buildings with large lecture halls and
the Baker-Berry Library have the most
con-centrated activity, implying the need
to

configure APs accordingly.

The next two sections profile two of
the more prominent department-specific
wire-less applications deployed at
Dartmouth, one fostering engagement
and the other, collaboration.

Increasing
Engagement through
Wireless
One of the earliest and most innovative
enabling

all

students

to

simultaneously re-spond to a professors

question. Under the application, which was
developed
professor

by
of

G.

Christian

psychologi-cal

Jernstedts wireless application was derived

from an older wired system that had proven
unmanageable due to the need to string wires in
the classroom. The emergence of suitable
wireless technology allowed Jernstedt to get
around these issues. A grant from Handspring,
which donated 80 Visor PDAs for the class,
helped him make it happen.

Jernstedt noted that while wireless in

the classroom can lead to distraction in
classes with low levels of engagement, the
converse holds true in classes with good
engagement. When the class is taught in
an engaging manner, the issue of wireless
distraction is a non-issue, stated Jernstedt.
Wireless tends to amplify the existing
climate of learn-ing in a particular
classroomnot change its direction.

uses of wireless at Dartmouth involved

PDAs,

lecture environments, students are very often not actively engaged, since taking notes
amounts to passively receiving and storing
information, said Jernstedt. This approach
provides students with truly interactive experience, thus increasing the overall quality
of the time spent in the classroom.

Jernstedt,
and

brain

sciences, students can direct their answers

to a Jernstedt question onto a large screen.
The application also enables Jernstedt to
continually ask students ques-tions during
class and have every student answer every
question (with anonymity where appropriate).
Jernstedt sees the main benefit of his
application as a marked increase in students
level of engagement in the classroom experience. Research shows that in traditional

Fueling Team-based Collaboration

Dartmouths Thayer School of Thayer School of Engineering, an

process more compelling.

Ted Cooley, Director of Computing for the

early pioneer, has woven wireless tightly into its curriculum.

Thayer School of Engineering, also sees an

Some of the more common applications in-clude using PDAs to

download course-re-lated materials and lecture notes, and to view
relevant Web content (such as the lat-est semiconductor technology
from IBM). Engineering has deployed wireless to make the learning

ideal

platform

for

supporting

research.

Wireless enables students to work more

productively in a laboratory setting because it
leverages the inherent collaborative strengths
of wireless and the teamwork ori-

Wireless Networking in Higher Education

theme cutting across the different uses of wireless messaging is an

increase in control of their social and academic agendas.

entation that tends to prevail in a research

environment, said Cooley. Students can
input data as they generate it, download
data to the laptop, crunch numbers, and
write their laboratory report in real time.
Thats a real improvement in efficiency.
Cooley also pointed to the more general
benefits of wireless in the classroommost
notably the efficiency with which professors
can deliver data to students. Wireless benefits the teaching process because it allows
students to focus less on transcribing lec-ture
content

and

more

on

learning

through

compelling presentation, explained Cooley.

But to capitalize on wirelesss capabilities,
instructors will need to change their teach-ing
stylesenabling more flexibility and flu-idity in
the student-teacher exchange. Examples
cited by Cooley include the down-loading of
class notes, so students can go along with
and make annotations toa presentation as a
professor delivers it.

Gauging the Impact of

Wireless
While still a relatively new phenomenon,
wireless has already had a marked impact on
communication,

learning,

and

teaching

practices across the university. Of these three

domains,

communications

dent-to-student

and

practicesstu-

student-to-professor

has undergone the most significant evolution

since

the

introduction

of

wireless.

Not

surprisingly, the frequency and ease with

which messages can be checked and sent
enabled (and catalyzed) this evolution.
Discussing their use of wireless on campus, Dartmouth undergraduate students saw
messaging (via the BlitzMail system) as
having the most pervasive impact on their
academic and social lives. The common

Case Study 9, 2002

elected

to

keep

their

planning

horizons short (hours) and avoid

excessive

longer-term

scheduling

commitments. This is seen as a

reflection of the greater flexibility af-

Some key
observations on the
impact of wireless
messaging follow:

forded by wireless messaging. Some

other

common

mes-saging

scheduling-related
practices

Scheduling.

sending

persis-tent

Wireless

oneself

and

messaging

notifications via BlitzMail.

allows
students

fine

tune

their
it

enables

much shorter

More intensive, but less intrusive,

mes-saging. Wireless messaging
leads to more intensive (that is,
frequent) mes-saging than would
occur using cell phones (the
equivalent channel for ubiq-uitous
messaging). In short, students feel
unconstrained in sending frequent
(or re-current) e-mails without
inducing mes-sage fatigue.

RSVP.

planning
horizon. This
affects

both

the academic
sphere

(for

example, how
study groups
congregate
and inter-act)
and the social
sphere.

event

Collaboration.
Wireless
messaging has made it easier for
work groups to col-laborate on
projects. Message threads are
seen as a useful way of tracking
the history, direction, and flow of
a subject matter discussion.

schedules
because

receiving

to

to

better

include
e-mail

The

pervasiveness

of

messaging has given rise to a

One

seren-

messaging

dipitous

Dartmouth

finding

important element of which is a

was

campus,

on
the

the
most

prompt response to messages.

that intensive

In addition to messaging, wireless has

also led to an increase in students mobility
as they conduct nonmessaging wireless applications. While the ability to do remote

wire-less
messaging
users

etiquette

often

EDUCAUSE CENTER FOR APPLIED RESEARCH

7
Wireless Networking in Higher Education

perform work in a
common-area
setting, such as
the Green or in

work is more a function of portable com-

social and dining

puting capability (like having a laptop), the

spaces.

wireless component provides students with

words

the all-important ability to stay plugged in.

student, wire-less

Among students interviewed, one of the key

computing breaks

values of wireless computing is the ability to

the

In
of

the
one

trade-off

Case Study 9,
2002

between having to get work done and being

around peers. With a wireless laptop,
students can now work in a social setting,
which is seen as very desirable, said the
student. Over-all, its a better experience
because

and

tors have more flexibility as to where or when

happiness in the work process. Ironically,

they answer students questions (in the of-

students working in so-cial settings point to

fice, at home, in class, or while traveling).

the need for music to drown out background

Professor Cooley sees the use of wireless messaging as a variant on the

customer relationship management (CRM)
model. Like CRM, messaging allows me
to address more routine queries as they
come in so that I can focus on more
involved inquiries or problems during office
hours, said Cooley. Overall, it makes my
office
hours
more
valu-able
and
manageable.

or

theres

crowd

downloading

more

noisea

freedom

need

streaming

satisfied

music

via

by
their

wireless laptop.

Wireless is also seen as a powerful

tool in library research, with the killer app
be-ing research in the stacks and
accessing of digital media (such as
netLibrary, which lets students obtain
digital versions of certain books). Under
one of the more collabora-tive scenarios,
students can find research materials via
the Web, mark it, and forward it either to
themselves or to others on their research
team.
Wireless has also radically changed the
way students communicate with their professors by making such communication virtually 24 7. For students, the key benefit has
been increased accessibility and faster problem

The second key benefit for faculty

has been the feedback that wireless
inquiries provide. Professors can infer
from the con-tent of messages which
areas or subjects need clarification. More
broadly, professors can use this
feedback as a way to reshape their
teaching curriculum.

Lessons Learned

solving, as well as a more conve-nient and

Many of Dartmouths lessons learned

efficient way to schedule time with professors.

relate to technology or deployment issues.

For faculty, the key benefits are two-fold. First,

Among the more practical observations is the

wireless messaging improves management

need to more accurately account for electrical

because instructors can bulk mail answers to a

and wiring costs in the develop-ment of the

class as a whole, share ques-tion threads, and

wireless

infrastructure.

so forth. Second, instruc-

outspent

its

original

Dartmouth
budget

far

($400,000)

largely because wiring costs (the need to

prepare sites for APs) far exceeded original
expectations. However, more than

100 APs were donated by Dartmouth

alumni at Cisco and by the Dartmouth
Alumni As-sociation of Silicon Valley,
which greatly helped in keeping the
project a financial success.
Ted Cooley sees a broader lesson
learned during Dartmouths wireless initiative
as the need to acknowledge the subsidiary
role of wireless vis--vis the wired network.
Its im-portant in the design stage to realize
that wireless should not be considered a
replace-ment for the wired network, said
Cooley.

Wireless Networking in Higher Education

In our case, its truly a supplemental networkwith bandwidth capabilities being

the major factor.

Case Study 9, 2002

On the usage front, a key lesson learned

is that students often choose wireless network access even when wired network ports
are available. Stan Pyc, IT Director for the
Tuck School of Business, pointed out that
even though Tucks facilities are some of the
most heavily wired on campus, MBA stu-dents
find the wireless network very conve-nient.
All Tuck students are required to own a
notebook computer, and the wireless net-work
enables them to move from room to room
very easily without regard for the avail-ability
of wired network ports. Its amazing to
observe just how popular the wireless network
has become in such a short period of time,
observed Pyc. All of the students arriving
next fall will have notebook com-puters with
wireless networking, so we ex-pect usage to
double. Pyc sees the main challenge arising
from

this

management

projected
of

increase

expectations

as

the

regard-ing

network performance.

The Future of Wireless at

Dartmouth
With its infrastructure roll-out practically
complete, Dartmouth plans to focus on the
continuing task of optimizing coverage
adding, adjusting, and reconfiguring APs as
needed. Consistent with its long-held policy,
Computing Services will continue to work
with Dartmouths academic departments to
facilitate their plans for using wireless to enhance teaching practices.
The two biggest items on Dartmouths
wireless agendalikely to take place over
the next 12 to 18 monthswill be a move
toward a more robust security framework
and a migration to the next-generation
WLAN standard (most likely 802.11g). The
latter anticipates the significant growth in
higher bandwidth activities, such as streaming video, that is likely to characterize
Dartmouths wireless network

Pengantar
Terletak di Hanover, New Hampshire, Dartmouth College adalah pribadi empat tahun kuliah dengan
pendaftaran 4200 di bawah-lulusan dalam seni liberal dan 1.500 mahasiswa pascasarjana. Dengan
anggaran tahunan sekitar $ 425.000.000 (untuk tahun fiskal 2000), Dartmouth mempekerjakan sekitar
3.115 staf dan 2.250 dosen. Seorang anggota Ivy League, Dartmouth menawarkan 16 program gradumakan di seni dan ilmu pengetahuan, serta sekolah kedokteran (Dartmouth Medical School), sebuah
sekolah profesional engineer-ing (Thayer Sekolah Teknik), dan lulusan sekolah manajemen (Tuck
School of Business). Dartmouth College juga berkaitan erat dengan Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical
Center, yang College dan Sekolah Kedokteran adalah anggota. Dalam hal informasi teknologi-nology,
dua

lingkungan

yang

rekan-rekan

dekat,

berbagi

berbagai

layanan,

meskipun

DHMC

mempertahankan jaringan yang terpisah.

Konsisten dengan ukurannya, Dartmouth main-tains organisasi IT yang sangat terpusat, yang dikenal
sebagai Peter Kiewit Computing Services. Selain itu, ada lebih kecil organizasi-tions IT berafiliasi
dengan masing-masing tiga sekolah pro-fessional. Dengan staf sekitar 150, Layanan Komputasi consists dari
Akademik Computing
Computing Administrasi

 Computing Dukungan
Layanan Teknis
Computing Akademik berfokus pada penyediaan layanan kepada populasi mahasiswa dan fakultas. Ini
mencakup tiga subkelompok. Akademik Consulting Services kelompok menyediakan bantuan
konsultasi umum untuk fakultas dan staf. Kelompok Penelitian Computing mendukung dan
mengembangkan aplikasi komputasi dan sumber daya informasi dengan fokus utama pada
mendukung penelitian. Kelompok Kurikuler Computing membantu fakultas Dartmouth dalam
penggunaan informasi
teknologi untuk penelitian dan pengajaran. Titik fokus dari dukungan untuk sebagian besar dikonstitusional sistem administrasi, Computing Adminis-trative menyediakan sistem analisis
kebutuhan, desain, pengembangan atau pengadaan-ment, operasi, dan pemeliharaan; administrasi
data; sistem informasi dan perencanaan kapasitas; sistem keamanan; dan konsultasi pada penggunaan
sistem. Bentuk divisi ini kemitraan yang erat dengan upaya kelembagaan untuk meningkatkan
efektivitas dan efisien-species dari proses administrasi lokal atau kampus-lebar.
Komputasi Dukungan termasuk Penjualan Komputer, Layanan, dan Dukungan dan Communi-kation
dan Jasa Telepon.
Layanan Teknis mengembangkan dan mendukung infrastruktur teknis Dartmouth untuk data jaringan
dan komputasi. Layanan Teknis Divisi mendukung backbone sekolah Ethernet dan server, koneksi
backbone untuk internet, dan aplikasi net-kerja.
Inti dari komputasi Dartmouth di-frastructure merupakan tulang punggung Ethernet em-ploying
Nortel router yang menghubungkan semua 161 gedung sekolah. Dartmouth mendukung sekitar 20
cluster komputasi umum di kampus, yang terbesar berada di Kiewit Perhitungan Center dan
Perpustakaan Baker-Berry. Sekolah juga menyediakan fasilitas yang luas komputasi untuk fakultas,
mahasiswa pascasarjana, dan peneliti, termasuk beberapa multiprosesor Unix dan Linux server untuk
aplikasi komputasi, statistik, dan visualisasi.
Driver dari Dartmouth Wireless Deployment
Inisiatif nirkabel Dartmouth mulai awal musim gugur tahun 2000 dengan serangkaian program
percontohan tingkat departemen kecil di En-gineering dan Ilmu Komputer pergi-KASIH serta bagian
dari serikat mahasiswa dan perpustakaan. Sementara Layanan Komputasi memiliki beberapa
keterlibatan dalam inisiatif nirkabel
itu pada umumnya upaya desentralisasi, diaktifkan oleh kemauan departemen 'untuk mengambil
kepemilikan pada tahap awal. Ini berarti tidak hanya instalasi, pemeliharaan, dan pengelolaan 20
sampai 30 titik akses (AP) yang awalnya dikerahkan, tetapi juga menyediakan dana awal dari
anggaran pemerintah berangkat.
Sejak inisiatif nirkabel Dartmouth dimulai sebagai "bottom up" penyebaran, banyak faktor yang

dikutip sebagai driver. Namun, salah satu sopir dasar umum untuk semua adalah tingkat peningkatan
komputer laptop pemilik kapal di kedua mahasiswa dan fakultas popu-lations. Misalnya, 1999-2001,
pangsa laptop komputer dibeli oleh siswa melalui toko komputer kampus naik dari 27 persen menjadi
45 persen menjadi 70 persen. (Saat ini, sekitar 40 persen dari mahasiswa memiliki laptop.) Ditambah
dengan fakta bahwa semua laptop yang dijual pada tahun 2001 pabrik-dilengkapi dengan kartu
nirkabel, konsensus mulai muncul bahwa komputasi nirkabel becom-ing pilihan yang layak di
kampus .
Dalam Dartmouth Thayer School of Engineering, penyebaran nirkabel dipandang sebagai cara murah
untuk memperluas sumber daya komputasi untuk yang 400 sarjana dan 150 mahasiswa pascasarjana.
Seperti pendaftaran di sekolah tumbuh, Sekolah Insinyur-ing tidak bisa menampung-alasan yang
berkaitan dengan biaya dan fisik ruang-permintaan lebih workstation. Logika menyediakan akses
nirkabel Teknik semakin ditopang oleh fakta bahwa siswa dalam disiplin teknis lebih cenderung
menggunakan laptop dan dengan demikian akan posisi yang baik untuk mengambil keuntungan dari
itu.
Penyebaran percontohan Dartmouth dihakimi sukses yang jelas berdasarkan mereka popu-larity
dengan mahasiswa dan fakultas. Bertekad untuk membangun kesuksesan ini, staf dari Computuing
Layanan mulai diskusi dengan Wakil Provost Bidang Akademik tentang membuat nirkabel di manamana di seluruh kampus. Menurut Larry Levine, Direc tor-of Computing, nilai inti proposi-tion untuk
nirkabel adalah kemampuannya untuk memungkinkan jaringan untuk semua orang, di mana-mana.
"Kami membuat kasus yang nirkabel akan menghasilkan manfaat berlimpah untuk proses akademik
secara keseluruhan," kata Levine. "Untuk fakultas, kami melihat nilai yang jelas untuk kedua
pengajaran dan penelitian." Dalam visi Levine, peran organisasi TI Dartmouth adalah untuk bekerja
dengan fakultas untuk memfasilitasi inovasi, tetapi menyerahkan kepada fakultas untuk mendorong
inovasi.
Sementara presentasi manfaat kawat-kurang dalam hal tinggi dari keseluruhan com-puting dan
komunikasi lingkungan, Jasa Computing juga berusaha untuk memberikan demonstrasi praktis.
Dengan cara ini, kunci pengambil keputusan Dartmouth (terutama pembantu rektor) bisa melihat nilai
nirkabel dalam tindakan. Selain itu, alumni dari berbagai sektor IT yang melayani sebagai penasehat
untuk lingkungan TI Dartmouth kuat en-dorsed gagasan dari kampus nirkabel.
Pada bulan Oktober 2000, provost memberi lampu hijau untuk memperluas inisiatif di bawah kondisi
bahwa sebagian besar penyebaran akan selesai musim semi 2001. Mendasari jadwal speedy ini
gagasan bahwa lingkungan nirkabel cepat yang terdepan didirikan, semakin cepat stu-penyok dan
fakultas Dartmouth akan mulai menurunkan ben-ben-. Hal ini, pada gilirannya, akan memberikan
Dartmouth kesempatan untuk menampilkan manfaat bagi masyarakat akademik yang lebih luas.
Memang, meningkatnya liputan pers dan buzz CRE-diciptakan oleh isu kampus nirkabel merupakan
faktor dalam keputusan Dartmouth untuk bergerak maju agresif.

Wireless Deployment Isu

Dalam perencanaan untuk ekspansi nirkabel, tim Levine berkonsultasi dengan sekolah (misalnya,
Carnegie Mellon University) yang sudah memiliki implementasi nirkabel canggih, dengan tujuan
berbagi praktik terbaik dan pelajaran. Umpan balik yang paling berharga yang berkaitan dengan
topologi jaringan, espe-cially penempatan dan konfigurasi AP nirkabel. Yang menarik adalah adalahGugat sekitarnya "efek tepi" -specifi-Cally, memahami jaringan nirkabel bagaimana berperilaku pada
batas cakupan ar-EAS antara titik akses. Isu efek tepi paling relevan dengan bagaimana perangkat
nirkabel pengguna akhir "reassociate" (tangan-off) dari satu AP ke yang lain. Salah satu kunci lesanak di daerah ini, mencatat Levine, adalah impor-dikan kalibrasi kekuatan transmisi AP untuk
membatasi ketidakstabilan antara "subnet" atau zona cakupan. "Sebuah pesan yang datang melalui
keras dan jelas adalah bahwa penempatan AP lebih dari sebuah seni daripada sci-ence," kata Levine.
"Kami belajar bahwa ketika datang ke daya sinyal, kurang bisa lebih-yang tidak intuitif untuk kami
pada awalnya."
Dalam minggu-minggu menjelang roll-out, Layanan Komputasi mengambil tangan-ap-proach untuk
penempatan AP, dengan tim fan-ning di seluruh kampus untuk mengidentifikasi lokasi terbaik. -Tim
yang terdiri dari ini staf dan mahasiswa menggunakan laptop, AP, dan walkie talkie-mempekerjakan
metode trial-and-error yang melibatkan mengukur kekuatan sinyal di bawah pilihan penempatan yang
berbeda.
Teknologi dan Standar Seleksi
Pelajaran kunci lain Dartmouth belajar dari lembaga rekan adalah bahwa nirkabel stan-dards belum
sepenuhnya berkembang. Untuk perencana Dartmouth ini tersirat bahwa, untuk waktu dekat, solusi
tunggal-vendor membuat paling masuk akal. Pada awal proyek, Dartmouth memiliki terpilih Lucent,
Cisco, dan 3Com. Al-meskipun Lucent WaveLAN AP digunakan dalam percobaan awal, Lucent
dijatuhkan dari bahan pertimbangan-timbangkan karena sebagian besar untuk keterlambatan dalam
menyampaikan jaringan generasi area lokal nirkabel (WLAN) produk. Cisco, di sisi lain, dipandang
positif berdasarkan akuisisi baru-baru Aironet (vendor WLAN) dan dipandang sebagai pemain yang
lebih stabil. Faktor yang paling penting bekerja dalam mendukung Cisco adalah kesediaannya untuk
menanggung bagian terbesar dari biaya infrastruktur Dartmouth melalui do-bangsa dan diskon besar.
Pengaruh kontingen besar alumni Dartmouth dalam Cisco juga memainkan peran utama dalam
kesepakatan.
Pada standar depan, Levine melihat IEEE 802.11b sebagai yang paling praktis jangka pendek op-tion.
"802.11b adalah yang paling baik dipahami, teknologi yang paling lazim pada saat kita dikerahkan
nirkabel," kata Levine. "Kami menemukan itu menjadi technol-ogy kuat dan mudah menyebarkan,
dengan pengalaman pengguna akhir yang baik."
Sementara sedang meneliti gen berikutnya-timbangkan standar, Dartmouth telah menyuarakan

dukungan awal untuk menyebarkan 802.11g (versus 802.11a) berdasarkan dukungan untuk 802.11b.
Masalah utama mengemudi pindah ke standar berikutnya akan meningkat permintaan pengguna untuk
bandwidth yang lebih tinggi dan kolaborasi.
Wireless pendanaan
Ekspansi nirkabel Dartmouth awalnya diproyeksikan menelan biaya sekitar $ 400.000, dengan dana
yang disediakan oleh pro-vost dan sumbangan dari Cisco. Pergi untuk-bangsal, Dartmouth telah
bergulir biaya pemeliharaan jaringan nirkabel ke dalam praktek penganggaran umum TI. Berdasarkan
praktek-praktek ini, lima pusat anggaran utama Dartmouth (terdiri dari tiga sekolah yang profesional,
Kantor Residential Life, dan semua daerah lain) dibebankan atas dasar biaya per-port. Biaya nirkabel,
yang meliputi menambahkan biaya dukungan, yang tertanam dalam perkiraan biaya per-port.
Profil dari Dartmouth Wireless Deployment
Jaringan nirkabel Dartmouth menyediakan cakupan 100 persen melalui jaringan 476 Cisco Aironet
AP. Ini termasuk campuran AP didukung melalui jaringan (melalui injector) dan unit bertenaga secara
terpisah. Jaringan nirkabel Dartmouth meluas
lebih 161 bangunan dan semua daerah luar utama dan di luar kampus fasilitas (stadion, perahu, dan
fasilitas). AP Dartmouth beroperasi terutama di bawah skema antena omnidirectional dan tersusun
dalam pola mikro untuk memungkinkan penggunaan kembali frekuensi dan untuk mengurangi
masalah-range terkait. Setiap titik akses terhubung langsung ke subnet bangunan lo-kal ini kabel
daripada menjadi wireless LAN virtual (VLAN) kampus-lebar. Hal ini diperlukan karena arsitektur
saat ini backbone kampus, dan dapat berubah ketika jaringan kabel kampus-upgrade selama tahun
mendatang. Jaringan nirkabel memberikan cakupan 11 Mbps.
Sementara jaringan secara efektif sepenuhnya de-dipekerjakan, strategi nirkabel Dartmouth adalah
jauh dari statis. Komputasi Layanan terus memodifikasi jaringan untuk memaksimalkan kinerja
dengan baik menyesuaikan pemancar sig-nal kekuatan atau bergerak AP. Sementara Layanan
Komputasi memonitor status opera-nasional dari jaringan nirkabel re-motely, paling umpan balik
berasal dari mahasiswa dan fakultas.
Aplikasi yang didukung
Pada umumnya, aplikasi nirkabel Dartmouth cermin yang digunakan pada jaringan kabel. Di antara
aplikasi tujuan umum, pesan, Web browsing, dan aplikasi produktivitas merupakan aplikasi yang
paling banyak digunakan. Dalam Thayer School of Engineering, aplikasi kunci didukung (baik kabel
dan nirkabel) meliputi desain dibantu komputer (CAD) aplikasi seperti ProENGINEER dan mathlab.
Demikian juga, di Tuck School of Business, siswa menggunakan kawat-kurang untuk mengakses email, Web, dan array com-prehensif layanan intranet.
Keamanan Wireless Profil
Saat ini, keamanan jaringan nirkabel Dartmouth adalah tanda yang terbaik. Untuk mengakses jaringan
nirkabel, pengguna perlu untuk memasukkan pengguna tertentu service set identifier non (SSID).

Levine melihat ini rezim keamanan yang lemah sebagai diperlukan-fakta sementara-belum hidup di
tempat yang sekarang "fase awal" sejarah nirkabel Dartmouth. "Kami tidak ingin solusi di mana
setiap orang harus reg-ister MAC [media access control] alamat, terutama karena alamat MAC dapat
sering berubah," jelas Levine. "Ul-timately kita bergerak ke arah menggunakan LDAP kami [direktori
ringan protokol akses] nama direktori untuk tanda, tapi standar cross-ven-dor tidak ada untuk itu
sekarang." Levine tidak melihat akses yang tidak sah sebagai masalah sekarang, meskipun Dartmouth
tetap akan bergerak cepat menuju diperlukan login dan langkah-langkah keamanan lainnya.
Dartmouth tidak berencana untuk menyebarkan kampus maya jaringan pribadi yang luas (VPN)
karena kesulitan dan complexi-ikatan menyediakan perangkat lunak klien untuk semua cli-Ent. Di
daerah enkripsi, privasi setara kabel (WEP) diaktifkan dan opsional pada jaringan nirkabel.
Dartmouth memilih untuk membuatnya tersedia menjadi penyebabnya itu didukung oleh akses poin,
namun memilih untuk membuatnya opsional karena tidak didukung oleh semua kartu nirkabel.
Pola Penggunaan Wireless
Saat ini, penggunaan nirkabel di kampus berada di bawah dua kategori didefinisikan secara luas:
akses untuk keperluan umum (sebagian besar) dan ditargetkan, aplikasi nirkabel yang disesuaikan.
Berdasarkan kejadian penggunaan, penggunaan yang paling umum dari nirkabel untuk mahasiswastu-penyok dan e-mail mahasiswa-dosen, terutama melalui Dartmouth platform messaging BlitzMail
(dibahas di bawah). Hal ini diikuti oleh Web browsing, includ-ing penggunaan Web untuk melakukan
penelitian-perpustakaan berbasis. Beberapa pengamatan umum lainnya tentang penggunaan nirkabel
di kampus Dartmouth, diambil dari sebuah studi bulan Maret 2002, ikuti:
Roaming terbatas, dengan sebagian besar pengguna lim-iting kegiatan mereka ke situs kunci dalam
rutinitas sehari-hari mereka.
Secara keseluruhan, kegiatan perumahan mendominasi, dengan sebagian besar penggunaan datang
dari kamar asrama, meskipun semua asrama juga kabel.
penggunaan Residential dan sosial-ruang yang lebih berat di malam hari, penggunaan akademik
dan ad Birokrasi tertinggi pada siang hari, dan penggunaan-perpustakaan berbasis tersebar lebih
merata.
Kebanyakan sesi pendek (dengan rata-rata 16 menit), mungkin mencerminkan siswa memeriksa email pada interval periodik.
Bangunan dengan ruang kuliah besar dan Perpustakaan Baker-Berry memiliki aktivitas yang
paling terkonsentrasi, menyiratkan kebutuhan untuk mengkonfigurasi AP sesuai.
Dua bagian berikutnya profil dua dari kawat-kurang aplikasi lebih menonjol-departemen tertentu
dikerahkan di Dartmouth, satu membina keterlibatan dan lainnya, kolaborasi.
Meningkatkan Engagement melalui Wireless
Salah satu penggunaan yang paling awal dan paling inovatif nirkabel di Dartmouth terlibat PDA,

memungkinkan semua siswa untuk secara bersamaan kembali spond untuk pertanyaan profesor. Di
bawah aplikasi yang dikembangkan oleh G. Kristen Jernstedt, profesor psychologi-kal dan otak ilmu,
siswa dapat langsung jawaban mereka untuk pertanyaan Jernstedt ke layar besar. Aplikasi ini juga
memungkinkan Jernstedt terus-menerus meminta siswa ques-tions selama kelas dan memiliki setiap
siswa menjawab setiap pertanyaan (dengan anonimitas mana yang sesuai).
Jernstedt melihat manfaat utama dari aplikasi sebagai peningkatan yang ditandai dalam tingkat siswa
keterlibatan dalam kelas expe-expe. "Penelitian menunjukkan bahwa di lingkungan kuliah tradisional,
siswa sangat dari sepuluh tidak aktif terlibat, karena mencatat jumlah untuk pasif menerima dan
menyimpan informasi," kata Jernstedt. "Pendekatan ini memberikan siswa dengan benar-benar
interaktif mantan perience, sehingga meningkatkan kualitas keseluruhan waktu yang dihabiskan di
dalam kelas."
Aplikasi wireless Jernstedt ini berasal dari sistem kabel tua yang telah terbukti tidak terkendali karena
kebutuhan ke string kabel di dalam kelas. Munculnya teknologi nirkabel yang cocok memungkinkan
Jernstedt untuk berkeliling masalah ini. Dana bantuan dari Handspring, yang menyumbangkan 80
Visor PDA untuk kelas, membantu dia mewujudkannya.
Jernstedt mencatat bahwa sementara nirkabel di dalam kelas dapat menyebabkan gangguan di kelas
dengan rendahnya tingkat keterlibatan, sebaliknya berlaku di kelas dengan keterlibatan yang baik.
"Ketika kelas diajarkan secara menarik, masalah gangguan nirkabel adalah non-isu," kata Jernstedt.
"Wireless cenderung untuk memperkuat iklim yang ada belajar-ing di kelas-tidak mengubah arah
tertentu.
Memicu Kolaborasi Tim berbasis
Dartmouth Thayer School of Thayer School of Engineering, seorang pionir, telah dijalin nirkabel erat
ke kurikulum.
Beberapa aplikasi yang lebih umum di-clude menggunakan PDA untuk men-download program-ulang
lated bahan dan catatan kuliah, dan untuk melihat konten Web yang relevan (seperti teknologi
semikonduktor lat-est dari IBM). Rekayasa telah dikerahkan nirkabel untuk membuat proses belajar
lebih menarik.
Ted Cooley, Direktur Computing untuk Thayer School of Engineering, juga melihat platform yang
ideal untuk mendukung penelitian. "Wireless memungkinkan siswa untuk bekerja lebih produktif di
laboratorium karena memanfaatkan kekuatan kolaboratif melekat nirkabel dan orientasi kerja sama
tim yang cenderung berlaku di lingkungan penelitian," kata Cooley. "Siswa dapat input data karena
mereka menghasilkan itu, men-download data ke laptop, nomor crunch, dan menulis laporan
laboratorium mereka secara real time. Itu perbaikan nyata dalam efisiensi. "
Cooley juga menunjuk manfaat yang lebih umum nirkabel di kelas-terutama efisiensi dengan yang
profesor dapat memberikan data kepada siswa. "Wireless manfaat proses pengajaran karena
memungkinkan siswa untuk fokus kurang pada menyalin konten lec-ture dan lebih pada belajar

melalui presentasi yang menarik," jelas Cooley. "Tapi untuk memanfaatkan kemampuan nirkabel,
instruktur akan perlu mengubah ajaran mereka gaya-memungkinkan lebih banyak fleksibilitas dan flu
idity dalam pertukaran pelajar-guru." Contoh yang dikutip oleh Cooley termasuk down-loading
catatan kelas, sehingga siswa dapat pergi bersama dengan-dan membuat penjelasan untuk-presentasi
sebagai profesor memberikan itu.
Mengukur Dampak Wireless
Sementara masih fenomena yang relatif baru, nirkabel telah memiliki dampak yang nyata pada
komunikasi, belajar, dan praktek pengajaran di universitas. Dari jumlah tersebut tiga domain,
komunikasi praktik-mahasiswa-mahasiswa dan mahasiswa-professor- telah mengalami evolusi yang
paling signifikan sejak diperkenalkannya nirkabel. Tidak mengherankan, frekuensi dan kemudahan
dengan yang pesan dapat diperiksa dan terkirim diaktifkan (dan katalis) evolusi ini.
Membahas penggunaan nirkabel di cam-pus, mahasiswa Dartmouth melihat pesan (melalui sistem
BlitzMail) sebagai memiliki dampak paling luas pada kehidupan akademik dan sosial mereka. Tema
umum pemotongan seluruh kegunaan yang berbeda dari pesan nirkabel adalah peningkatan kendali
agenda sosial dan akademik.
Beberapa pengamatan kunci tentang dampak pesan nirkabel berikut:
Penjadwalan. Messaging nirkabel memungkinkan siswa untuk lebih "fine tune" jadwal mereka
karena memungkinkan cakrawala perencanaan jauh lebih pendek. Ini mempengaruhi baik lingkup
akademik (misalnya, bagaimana kelompok belajar berkumpul dan antar-tindakan) dan bidang sosial.
Satu seren-dipitous temuan adalah bahwa intensif pengguna pesan kawat-kurang sering terpilih untuk
menjaga cakrawala perencanaan mereka pendek (jam) dan menghindari komitmen penjadwalan
jangka panjang yang berlebihan. Hal ini dipandang sebagai refleksi dari fleksibilitas yang lebih besar
af-diarungi oleh pesan nirkabel. Beberapa penjadwalan terkait umum lainnya mes-Saging praktek
termasuk mengirim "Persis-tenda" e-mail ke diri sendiri dan menerima pemberitahuan acara melalui
BlitzMail.
Kolaborasi. Pesan nirkabel telah membuat lebih mudah bagi kelompok kerja untuk col-laborate
pada proyek-proyek. Benang pesan yang dilihat sebagai cara yang berguna untuk melacak sejarah,
arah, dan aliran diskusi materi pelajaran.
Lebih intensif, tapi kurang intrusif, mes-saging. Pesan nirkabel menyebabkan lebih intensif (yaitu,
sering) mes-Saging daripada yang terjadi dengan menggunakan ponsel (saluran setara untuk pesan
Ubiq-uitous). Singkatnya, siswa merasa dibatasi dalam mengirim sering (atau re-sekarang) e-mail
tanpa terjadi "mes-sage kelelahan."
RSVP. Pervasiveness pesan telah melahirkan sebuah "pesan etiket" di kampus Dartmouth, elemen
yang paling penting dari yang merupakan respon yang cepat untuk pesan.
Selain pesan, nirkabel juga menyebabkan peningkatan mobilitas siswa karena mereka melakukan
nonmessaging ap-komplikasi nirkabel. Sementara kemampuan untuk melakukan pekerjaan jauh lebih

merupakan fungsi dari portable kemampuan com-puting (seperti memiliki laptop), komponen nirkabel
memberikan siswa dengan kemampuan yang sangat penting untuk tetap "terpasang di." Di antara
siswa yang diwawancarai, salah satu kunci nilai komputasi nirkabel adalah kemampuan untuk
melakukan pekerjaan dalam pengaturan umum-daerah, seperti hijau atau di ruang-ruang sosial dan
makan. Dalam kata-kata seorang mahasiswa, kawat-kurang komputasi istirahat trade-off antara
memiliki untuk mendapatkan pekerjaan yang dilakukan dan berada di sekitar teman sebaya. "Dengan
laptop nirkabel, siswa sekarang dapat bekerja dalam lingkungan sosial, yang dipandang sebagai
sangat diinginkan," kata mahasiswa. "Over-semua, itu adalah pengalaman yang lebih baik karena ada
lebih banyak kebebasan dan kebahagiaan dalam proses kerja." Ironisnya, siswa bekerja dalam
pengaturan begitu-resmi menunjukkan perlunya untuk musik untuk meredam latar belakang atau
kebisingan kerumunan-kebutuhan puas dengan men-download streaming yang musik melalui laptop
nirkabel mereka.
Wireless juga dipandang sebagai alat yang ampuh dalam penelitian perpustakaan, dengan "killer app"
be-ing penelitian di tumpukan dan mengakses media digital (seperti netLibrary, yang memungkinkan
siswa memperoleh versi digital dari buku tertentu). Di bawah salah satu yang lebih collabora-tive
skenario, siswa dapat menemukan bahan penelitian melalui Web, menandainya, dan meneruskannya
baik untuk diri sendiri atau untuk orang lain dalam tim penelitian mereka.
Wireless juga secara radikal mengubah cara siswa berkomunikasi dengan pro-fessors mereka dengan
membuat komunikasi seperti vir-tually 24 7. Untuk siswa, manfaat utama telah peningkatan
aksesibilitas dan pemecahan masalah lebih cepat, serta lok-nient lebih dan cara yang efisien untuk
menjadwalkan waktu dengan dosen. Untuk fakultas, manfaat utama adalah dua kali lipat. Pertama,
pesan nirkabel meningkatkan manajemen karena instruktur dapat bulk email jawaban kelas sebagai
benang keseluruhan, pangsa ques-tion, dan sebagainya. Kedua, instruktur memiliki lebih banyak
fleksibilitas ke mana atau ketika mereka menjawab pertanyaan-pertanyaan siswa (dalam of-fice, di
rumah, di kelas, atau saat bepergian).
Profesor Cooley melihat penggunaan pesan kawat-kurang sebagai varian pada manajemen hubungan
pelanggan (CRM) Model. "Seperti CRM, pesan memungkinkan saya untuk mengatasi permintaan
yang lebih rutin karena mereka datang dalam sehingga saya bisa fokus pada pertanyaan lebih terlibat
atau masalah selama jam kerja," kata Cooley. "Secara keseluruhan, itu membuat jam kantor saya lebih
valu-mampu dan dikelola."
Manfaat utama kedua untuk fakultas telah umpan balik yang pertanyaan nirkabel memberikan.
Profesor dapat menyimpulkan dari con-tenda pesan yang daerah atau subyek memerlukan klarifikasi.
Lebih luas, profesor dapat menggunakan umpan balik ini sebagai cara untuk membentuk kembali
kurikulum pengajaran mereka.
Pelajaran
Banyak pelajaran Dartmouth belajar berhubungan dengan isu-isu teknologi atau penyebaran. Di

antara pengamatan lebih praktis adalah kebutuhan untuk lebih akurat memperhitungkan biaya listrik
dan kabel dalam mengembangkan-ment dari infrastruktur nirkabel. Dartmouth jauh outspent anggaran
aslinya ($ 400.000) sebagian besar karena biaya kabel (kebutuhan untuk mempersiapkan situs untuk
AP) jauh melebihi harapan asli. Namun, lebih dari
100 AP disumbangkan oleh Dartmouth alumni di Cisco dan oleh Dartmouth Alumni As-sociation dari
Silicon Valley, yang sangat membantu dalam menjaga proyek sukses keuangan.
Ted Cooley melihat pelajaran yang lebih luas dipelajari selama inisiatif nirkabel Dartmouth sebagai
kebutuhan untuk mengakui peran anak vis--vis jaringan kabel nirkabel. "Ini im-portant dalam tahap
desain untuk menyadari nirkabel yang tidak boleh dianggap sebagai ganti-ment untuk jaringan kabel,"
kata Cooley "Dalam kasus kami, itu benar-benar bersih-pekerjaan tambahan dengan kemampuan
bandwidth menjadi faktor utama."
Di depan penggunaan, pelajaran utama yang dipelajari adalah bahwa siswa sering memilih akses
jaringan nirkabel bahkan ketika port jaringan kabel tersedia. Stan Pyc, Direktur IT untuk Tuck School
of Business, menunjukkan bahwa meskipun fasilitas Tuck adalah beberapa yang paling berat kabel di
kampus, mahasiswa MBA menemukan jaringan nirkabel sangat nyaman. "Semua siswa Tuck
diwajibkan untuk memiliki komputer notebook, dan jaringan nirkabel memungkinkan mereka untuk
bergerak dari kamar ke kamar yang sangat mudah tanpa memperhatikan ketersediaan port jaringan
kabel. Sungguh menakjubkan untuk mengamati betapa populer jaringan nirkabel telah menjadi
sedemikian waktu singkat, "mengamati Pyc. "Semua siswa yang tiba musim gugur mendatang akan
memiliki notebook com-puters dengan jaringan nirkabel, sehingga kami penggunaan mantan pect
untuk menggandakan." Pyc melihat tantangan utama yang timbul dari ini diproyeksikan meningkat
sebagai pengelolaan ekspektasi kinerja jaringan sehubungan-ing.
Masa Depan Wireless di Dartmouth
Dengan infrastruktur roll-out praktis lengkap, Dartmouth berencana untuk fokus pada tugas terus
mengoptimalkan cakupan menambahkan, menyesuaikan, dan konfigurasi ulang AP yang diperlukan.
Konsisten dengan kebijakan lama dipegang nya, Computing Services akan terus bekerja sama dengan
departemen akademik Dartmouth untuk memfasilitasi rencana mereka untuk menggunakan nirkabel
untuk praktek mengajar en-hance.
Dua item terbesar di Dartmouth agenda-kemungkinan berlangsung selama 12 sampai 18 bulan
berikutnya wireless-akan menjadi langkah menuju kerangka keamanan yang lebih kuat dan migrasi ke
standar WLAN generasi berikutnya (kemungkinan besar 802.11g). Yang terakhir ini mengantisipasi
pertumbuhan yang signifikan dalam kegiatan bandwidth yang lebih tinggi, seperti aliran-ing video,
yang mungkin ciri jaringan nirkabel Dartmouth