Professor David Bennett walked into his Wednesday morning class in late September as he usually does. He stood at the front of the auditorium in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs as students filed in.

Before he began his lecture, he looked around the room.

‘I told you this at the beginning of the semester,’ Bennett said. ‘If you don’t want to be here then you don’t have to be. I really don’t want you to read your e-mails and do your instant messaging in class. Do that on your own time.’

Throughout the 30 years Bennett has been at Syracuse University, he has had to deal with a lot of classroom distractions – newspapers, note passing and crossword puzzles – but this year one of his colleagues in the computer science department told him of a new distraction: wireless Internet.

SU will unveil its new Air Orange wireless network today, allowing students and visitors on campus to access the Internet on their laptop computers. The difference between the existing wireless network and Air Orange is that there will be three levels of access for users.

Before today, users needed an SU identification and password to log in. If a visitor to campus wanted to use the Internet, they would need to set up an account through a student, faculty or staff member before arriving on campus.

Now, anyone with a laptop computer and wireless card can use the Internet on campus. Visitors can either sign on with a friend’s SUID and password, or they can log on as a guest, which allows limited Internet access and bandwidth at their own risk.

‘The onus is on the user to know a little bit about what they’re doing,’ said Lee Badman, an information technology analyst for Computing and Media Services. ‘We still want Syracuse students to access the Internet through the VPN (a secure program students can download for free), but this is another option.’

There are 207 access points where students can pick up a wireless signal on Main Campus and South Campus. Though the network has gradually increased in range, SU recently added large clusters of access points in the new Martin J. Whitman School of Management and the renovated Dunk and Bright Warehouse in downtown Syracuse near Armory Square. Each access point costs about $1,000 to install and maintain, Badman said.

Though Bennett said he hasn’t had any problems with students surfing the Internet during his classes, he’s bracing for the worst. SU’s wireless network, which has been in limited existence for several years, is quickly expanding to cover all of campus.

To combat the negative effects of wireless, some schools have promoted the use of Internet in the classroom.

At the State University of New York at Morrisville, a leading college in wireless technology, the school’s administration has encouraged the use of its wireless network by promoting interactive classes.

Morrisville set up a program with IBM where students are given state-of-the-art laptops when they first arrive on campus. Over the ensuing four semesters, students pay them off in installments.

Jean Boland, the vice president of information technology services, said two-thirds of all professors require students to bring a wireless computer to class as a teaching tool and that the result has been successful.

‘It’s an integral part of the class,’ she said. ‘Some faculty members have encouraged these types of lessons, some don’t use them at all. No professors have banned laptops as a result of the wireless, though.’

At SU, laptop users remain sparse in classrooms. Economics professor Jerry Evensky said few of his students use them to take notes and most ask him before bringing them to class. Though he’s heard of the potential problems wireless Internet can create, he’s not concerned.

‘I can picture the possibilities,’ Evensky said. ‘It can be a very constructive piece of equipment. It goes without saying that some students will use it to surf the Internet, but they’d be more sensible to use the Internet in their rooms or on the Quad.’

Paul Gandel, the vice president for Information Technology and Services at SU, said while Air Orange is a positive step for Syracuse University, there is still much more that needs to be done.

‘Seventy percent of our entire network and infrastructure needs to be replaced,’ he said. ‘In order to make wireless work, we need a strong wired network in place. The university is looking and needs a major upgrade.

‘Air Orange is trying to make use of the best use possible of our current limited resources.’

Published on October 3, 2005 at 12:00 pm