Between e-mail, Facebook.com, Blackboard and Tuftslife.com, it seems that students can - and do - use the Internet for virtually everything.
But at Tufts, they can't yet use it virtually everywhere. While some on-campus buildings, such as the Olin Center and the Tisch Library, do have wireless Internet, many classrooms and residence halls remain unconnected.
Some students and professors expressed frustration with the lack of wireless access in some campus locations, while others were indifferent.
"Faculty have differing feelings on wireless connectivity in the classroom," Associate Director of Outreach of University Information Technology (UIT) Dawn Irish said in an e-mail. "Some would welcome it as a way to conveniently include technology in their teaching, while others feel that it would serve as a distraction from the learning that takes place in the classroom."
But sophomore Nelson Leese said he thinks expanded wireless access is essential for Tufts.
"It doesn't make any sense," he said. "It's a nice technology that would be relatively easy for the school to provide."
Freshman Jake Chiam agreed, saying that the lack of universal wireless access makes Tufts seem "technologically backwards" to prospective students. "This is a top university; we should have wireless everywhere," he said. "In Singapore, where I'm from, all of the universities are universally wireless."
According to UIT Vice President and Chief Information Officer Mely Tynan, the university is pushing to increase wireless access on campus but has not made any concrete decisions.
"We continue to plan for the expansion of wireless across all of Tufts," Tynan said in an e-mail. "We've completed an engineering study of the Medford campus but we're still working on funding and prioritization which will be determined by the schools. Facilities are currently being reviewed in Arts and Sciences and Engineering and we hope wireless will become part of the modernization efforts."
"Anytime, anywhere connectivity is now expected everywhere and we are aware of the students' desire to have ubiquitous connectivity," she said.
Tynan said Tufts is looking to catch up with other universities who have complete access, but that there are many obstacles.
"While it's true that many universities do have broader wireless access, significant issues with bandwidth, security, and service reliability, especially in older buildings, have been widespread," she said.
Associate Professor of Computer Science Alva Couch said wireless is not as easy to provide as many students believe.
"In order to have wireless throughout lecture halls, you have to have a certain number of access points, which are difficult to install, maintain, and coordinate," he said. "Access points for your home or dorm room are not robust enough for classrooms."
Some students have also expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of wireless access in dorm buildings. While all students have landline Internet connections in their dorm rooms, Tufts also does not allow students to create their own local wireless networks using wireless routers in their dorms.
"There are a few problems with allowing students to set up their own wireless systems," said Wilson Dillaway, the head of infrastructure planning for UIT, in an e-mail. "First, there is no way for Tufts to ensure that the students' wireless access points are securely configured. If the points are not configured properly, unauthorized individuals could easily access the data being transmitted."
"In addition," he said, "the radio spectrum, on which wireless signals are transmitted, is a shared resource. If there are more access points in a geographic area than the broadcast channels can support, the performance of everyone's wireless connection suffers. In a residence hall, many self-provisioned access points would cause serious performance problems for everyone in range."
Tufts' main wireless network is a "closed" network, which means that it requires students and faculty to sign in using a password in areas around campus. According to Couch, allowing students to create their own networks would negate this measure.
"The policy is not against wireless; it is against open wireless," he said. "As a university, we have to answer for what our students do on the Internet, and this is easier to do with wired internet connections."
According to Associate Professor of Sociology James Ennis, though, even access in lecture halls could be problematic.
"One of the ways in which it's going to require some building on social issues is that some classrooms have wireless," he said. "It's not okay for students to be on MySpace or Facebook during class. People don't talk on their cell phones during class or a meeting, so they shouldn't text message or be on the Internet."
Ennis says that students began using the Internet during his class last semester, which frustrated him. "At first I joked about it, then I addressed it more seriously, then I began to snarl at people who I suspected were on the Internet," he said.
This semester, he has been more proactive.
"I told my students on the first day that I did not want them to be on Facebook or comparable sites during class," he said. "So far I've been happy with what I've seen."
Ennis added that, while he sees the potential for problems as Tufts increases its wireless access in classrooms, he isn't concerned.
"Overall, I think that the social norms will get worked out," he said.
Leese said that while the implementation of wireless networking would lead to distraction during class, it is not the teacher's responsibility to prevent students from using the Internet, but the students' duty to pay attention during lecture.
"I think that at a university where students are paying a ton of money to attend class, it's their own fault for wasting their money by allowing themselves to get distracted," he said. "Unless a student is being particularly disruptive, it is not up to a professor to discipline students on the matter."
Chiam said he feels it is the professor's responsibility to keep students engaged during class.
"If the teacher is concerned that students are using the Internet during class, then he or she should make lectures more interesting," Chiam said.
Couch agreed.
"When I see someone on the Internet during class, I take it as an indication that things aren't going so well," he said. "The student is saying something to me that I need to pay attention to. It's a call to action, not an insult."
