In 2000, the university was ranked No. 2 on Yahoo!'s list of the most-wired universities. However, when PC Magazine and The Princeton Review revealed the top 20 most-wired colleges of 2006, the university did not make the cut.
Villanova University and Temple University were among the top 15, causing university students to question the consistency of the university's technological development over the past few years.
According to Yahoo!'s article revealing the most wired universities of 2000, the colleges mentioned are judged and ranked based on many different aspects of technology found across campus, including "access and infrastructure, recent computer buys, wired classrooms, dorm equipment, wireless access, online registration/courses and tech support," among many others.
When ranking the most-wired campuses in 2006, The Princeton Review teamed up with PC Magazine and asked some of the country's top schools in the country to complete an online survey covering three major aspects of a university's technology. They received responses from about 220 out of the country's top 361 schools.
Susan Foster, vice president of information technologies, stated in an e-mail message that the university does not participate in such surveys because of questionable accuracy.
"UD does not supply information to these surveys as we are in agreement with many of our sister institutions that they are not sufficiently rigorous to give meaningful results," Foster said.
While the university's rank on the 2006 most-wired schools is not known, the survey that was filled out for the data collection team at The Princeton Review can be seen on PCmag.com. Foster said she does not know who submitted the survey online to PC Magazine and The Princeton Review.
The topics included in the online survey were academics, encompassing the university's access to online lectures and computer training, student resources, such as connections through a campus network and free online storage and infrastructure, including the availability of public-use computers and computer labs open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Based on the information gathered from the survey, The Princeton Review was able to release the top 20 most "wired" schools.
Erik Rhey, the senior editor for PC Magazine, participated in profiling the top wired schools and found the top colleges shared common technological advantages over unranked schools, such as a strong online network across campus.
"Many of the top-20 schools shared systems like test-taking and submitting course-notes online, as well as having a lot of online storage," Rhey said. "Tech support is a big factor as well when gathering the top-20 schools."
The approximate age of university computers in campus labs is two to three years old while top ranked school Villanova revealed in its survey that tuition included "hardware technology such as iPods, laptops and handhelds."
According to the article, Villanova provides "new laptops for all students distributed at the start of freshman year and at the end of sophomore year."
"Providing new laptops was a mixed bag," Rhey said of the schools which provided new hardware to their students. "Some schools like the University of Virginia will even help students find reliable laptops with possible discounts."
Another difference between Villanova and the university is the university's bandwith restrictions of 1 GB. Villanova has "no individual restriction."
No. 2-ranked Massachusetts Institute of Technology has expansive wireless capabilities. Theresa Regan, director of operations and infastructure services at M.I.T., stated in an e-mail message that wireless implementation at M.I.T. contains more than 3,000 wireless access points throughout the campus.
"The distribution of access points is from the basement to the top floor of each building," Regan said. "Coverage is dense."
The No. 4 school, Swathmore College, is a small-yet-mighty school when it comes to its technological support and availability to students, according to associate director and humanities coordinator Eric Behrens.
"We have 24/7 help desks that we're able to offer you even though we have a small school and a small staff," Behrens said. "We have wireless in all academic areas and outdoor areas as well."
The university has 100 locations on campus that receive wireless Internet and IT services offers support online and by phone, yet students question its availability.
Sophomore Christine Blair said she often has problems with the Internet in her room at the Christiana Towers.
"It'll just stop connecting and when I call IT services, it's hard to get the help I need to fix it sometimes," Blair said. "Plus the computer labs aren't even open 24/7 at the Christiana Commons."
Blair is not the only student who feels the IT network at the university is unreliable. Sophomore Julie Wigley said she has e-mailed IT before and never received a response.
Wigley also said the wireless connection on campus is not as accessible as it could be.
"My wireless doesn't work in Smith and I can't get it in my room in Harrington," she said. "I didn't get it last year in Rodney either."
According to the university UnpluggeD Web site, the list of buildings on campus that receive wireless Internet includes Rodney A through F and Harrington A through E, as well as Smith Hall.
However, IT services remains confident it is doing the best it can to maintain sufficient tech support for students despite numerous complaints.
"The help center monitors student, faculty and staff call volumes, problem types and problem responses and provides services accordingly," Foster said. "At present, the help center is handling reported problems in a timely fashion."
While the university's ranking among the most-wired campuses is no longer what it once was in 2000, the IT network still takes pride in the university's technological capabilities.
"UD is one of the most wired universities in the country," Foster said. "And it is also the case that more and more colleges and universities are achieving high standards of wired services as well."
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