"The friendships I've made at Thomas have been nothing short of amazing; in such an intimate, tight-knit community, you get to know other students quite well. These are the relationships that will last long after I graduate, some for a lifetime. I’m also really excited to think about ten years down the road and see what we’ve become, reflecting back on how our Thomas experience helped to shape and guide us." Missy White Presque Isle, Maine Psychology

Thomas College Mobile Computing Program

We strongly recommend all students purchase mobile computers.

For the past several years the College has funded computer network infrastructure projects to prepare our facilities for the inevitable use of laptop, notebook and handheld computers by the majority of our students. Fiber optic cabling, campus-wide wireless network access, high-speed Internet connections, and web-based applications are some of the projects implemented.

Many faculty class materials are online, and some courses are being delivered entirely over the Internet. We use Blackboard as our course management system for online, hybrid, and traditional courses.

Why do students need their own mobile computers?

Today's students, more than ever, are finding that to move into the work force of the next century, computers are needed as tools for communication, collaboration, and research. Schools that have implemented mobile computer programs are convinced that their students are more productive and have developed more advanced thinking skills.

Many educators feel that creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking are the three key areas which students need to master in order to be productive workers. Software bundled with mobile computers allows students the opportunity to write, rewrite, analyze and compare more easily and effectively than paper and pen. Finding up-to-date and useful information on a subject with a web browser, asking questions of others with an email or instant messaging program, writing about it in a word processor, collaborating with fellow students as part of a larger project and then giving a colorful animated presentation with presentation software is just one example. Collaborating in groups assists in critical thinking because students are quick to challenge each other's hypotheses.

Mobile computers give students the ability to adopt the anytime-anywhere computing model. When students can meet anywhere to collaborate on a course project, then go back to their dormitory room or home and continue working on the same project, projects can be completed much faster.

In the classroom, mobile computers are useful in business and arts and sciences courses. Students use them when appropriate during a class to take notes, reference instructor-supplied related materials, analyze information, write essays, communicate with text-book authors, perform experiments, and prepare presentations and reports, as well as for many other things. Many publishers are starting to provide multimedia materials online or on CD/DVD to supplement textbook materials. Materials include online quizzing, experiments, audio/video narrations, virtual "field-trips" and much more. Some materials can not be provided using the traditional printed textbook, and other materials weigh much less in CD/DVD format.

The economic benefit to a school using mobile computers is the ability to keep or perhaps gain additional classroom space. Currently many schools are adding fixed computer labs every few years, usually reducing the number of fixed classrooms available. When at least 1/3 or 1/2 of the students in a class use mobile computers, the classroom also becomes a mobile computer lab.

For specific computer recommendations, see http://www.thomas.edu/dell