According to a Marketing Charts study,
students now own an average of seven mobile devices and spend 3.6 hours each
day on their smartphones. But smartphones are not the biggest concern for
campus IT officials, according to the 2013 State of ResNet report.
The report, the second part of a five-year
tracking study from the Association of Information Communications Technology
Professions in Higher Education (ACUTA) and the National Association of College
University Business Officers (NACUBO), found that 84% of the IT officials on
more than 250 campuses across the country said tablets are going to consume the
most bandwidth. Laptops and desktop computers were next on the consumption list
at 75%, followed by Internet-connected Blu-Ray players (64%), smartphones (63%)
and video games (61%).
“There is an expectation right now among
students of, ‘Any device, any time, as much as we want,’” Joe Harrington,
director of network services at Boston College, told eCampus News.
“That has [IT officials] back on their heels a little bit, looking for ways to
deal with this proactively rather than reactively.”
The report found that most institutions
provide network support, with 60% providing at least 40 hours of support to
students and 12% offering 24/7 support. In-room network assistance is available
to residential students at 89% of the schools and 47% will dispatch a
technician upon request.
In addition, the Software & Information
Industry Association (SIIA) found that while educators view technology
integration as important, just 36% who responded to the group’s survey said the
bandwidth on their campus was ideal.
“The survey indicates that educators in
both K-12 and postsecondary have a desire to integrate technology at a much
higher level than they currently have, but need support and assistance to make
that happen,” the SIIA report said. “As technology evolves and technology solutions expand, there may be new
opportunities to reach ideal goals with more cost-effective and less
hardware-dependent solutions.”
