Oklahoma Christian University (OC) in Oklahamo City, OK, has announced the second phase of a technology initiative that will provide a new Dell Latitude D600 wireless notebook computer to every fulltime undergraduate student and faculty member. The alliance with Dell, Inc., is designed to offer students more benefits, including the ability to keep their computers after graduation from Oklahoma Christian.
Oklahoma Christian remains the only higher education institution in Oklahoma, and one of just a handful in the U.S., that provides students, faculty and staff members with the technological convenience and advantage of being able to connect to the university network, check email and log on to the Internet from anywhere on campus – indoors or outdoors – and from off-campus in homes and businesses equipped with wireless networks.
“Since we first put wireless laptops into our students’ hands three years ago, it has been our goal to use technology to enhance the educational experience across the board, promoting a unique level of interactivity with professors and class material, and maximizing students’ abilities to work on assignments anywhere on campus at any time,” said Dr. Mike O’Neal, Oklahoma Christian University president. “This alliance with Dell takes this program and our university to an even higher level and further enhances the value of an Oklahoma Christian education.”
Students have begun receiving their new Dell computers in conjunction with pre-enrollment for the fall 2004 semester. This new phase of OC’s technology initiative gives students the opportunity to own their laptops after graduation. Following a period of four semesters, students will be able to keep their computers upon graduation from Oklahoma Christian.
Students with less than four semesters left before they graduate will have the option to purchase their laptops at a prorated discount price. Seniors graduating in December 2004 have the option to keep their current IBM Thinkpad wireless laptops instead of purchasing one of the new Dell computers.
The Dell Latitude D600 notebooks selected for the OC students and faculty are powerful notebooks that can act as desktop replacement systems. They are equipped with Intel Centrino mobile technology and feature Intel Pentium M 1.4 GHz processors with 14.1-inch SXGA+ displays. The Dell Latitude notebooks, which come with a three-year warranty and Dell Complete Care, are designed to meet wide-ranging needs, including portability, flexibility and powerful performance. The Latitude D600 also includes the Dell TrueMobile wireless networking solution featuring the latest IEEE 802.11a/b/g dual-band wireless networking, DVD/CDRW combo drive, 512MB RAM, and a 40GB 5400RPM hard disk.
Software titles installed on the systems include; Microsoft XP Professional, Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft Outlook 2003, Microsoft Project and other popular Microsoft titles licensed through a Microsoft Campus Agreement. The base software installed also includes PC Study Bible, Adobe Acrobat Reader, RealAudio Player, McAfee VirusScan and other programs. Dell will install OC’s custom image on each of the systems to aid students in seamlessly connecting to the university’s network on day one.
Dell also will provide a customized Web site for all OC students, faculty and staff members to purchase computer accessories and other items at a discount. Dell will supplement the services provided by OC’s Information Technology department with technical support that will remain available through the length of each computer’s three-year warranty, even for students who graduate prior to the end of the warranty.
The university elected to protect the students’ notebooks from damage or loss by choosing Dell’s Complete Care service for the systems, which provides a replacement system if the system is lost, stolen or damaged. More information is available at www.oc.edu/dell.
Oklahoma Christian has integrated computer-enhanced instruction into the classroom for the past three years. When Oklahoma Christian launched its wireless laptop program in August 2001, it became the first university in the state of Oklahoma, and one of the few nationwide, to offer campus-wide wireless Internet and a laptop for each fulltime student.
After a thorough on-campus analysis last summer, Wake Forest University’s Dr. David G. Brown, a leading expert in the field of technology integration into university curricula, called Oklahoma Christian “the world leader in the use of laptops for in-classroom instruction.” In November, Kurt Snodgrass, vice chancellor for information technology and telecommunications for the Oklahoma State Board of Regents, said that Oklahoma Christian excels above all other Oklahoma universities in computer-based learning.
“The success of our technology initiative is a testimony to how important technology is to this generation of students,” said John Hermes, Director of Computer and Network Services. “Our goal as we move into a new phase of this initiative is to build a strong partnership with an established company like Dell while striving to provide our students, faculty, and staff with leading-edge technology.”
Oklahoma Christian, a private, four-year comprehensive university nationally ranked seventh overall in the 16-state Western region by U.S. News & World Report, offers degree programs in more than 60 fields of study in three colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Biblical Studies and the College of Professional Studies. The university also offers graduate degree programs in Biblical Studies and Business Administration.
