Takahiro Aono / Roundup
Internet access is an indispensable part of students’ lives in terms of having a good performance for their classes.
Free campus-wide wireless Internet access at Pierce College has been up for a couple of semesters, and the range of the connection will be expanded in the future.
But how many students know where they can con¬nect to the Web on campus?
Pierce has four major buildings where students can connect to the Internet: Administration and Student Service offices, the Country Cafe, the Freudian Sip and the Library.
Daniel Lopez, a sophomore, heard about the wire¬less connection in the Library from his teacher.
“It’s a good connection,” said Lopez, an engineer¬ing major.
He was able to download a large engineering program to his laptop without losing his connection during the two-hour transfer.
Lopez brings his laptop computer every Tuesday and Thursday and has not had any connection prob¬lems while he was using the Internet.
Word of mouth seems to be the only way students are becoming aware of the Internet access.
Paula Paggi, assistant professor of library science, said, “It’s a good idea to make an advertisement to notify students.”
Free Wi-Fi has been available in the Library since last semester.
Mark Henderson, Pierce Information Tech Manager, said, “We did announce to library staff the wireless was up there.”
Henderson said the announcement was made to those four facilities, but that there hasn’t been an ad¬vertisement or brochure.
He estimates less than one-third students have lap¬top computers and come to school with them.
But, he said they provide the free Internet access for those students who need it for their research or for the process of class registrations.
“We definitely have a plan to expand the wireless range,” Henderson said.
He said I.T. has been looking into the expansion of the wireless range so that students can access it in all classrooms, but they are building up a “new security model” to protect students on the Web.
He also said they may install the wireless connec¬tion into some new buildings which have been under construction.
Studying in an environment in which students easily can access to the Internet is ideal as the necessity of reaching information on the Internet increases.
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takahiroaono.roundupnews@yahoo.com
Solo Deloatch, a Psychology major at Pierce College, listens to music on his Toshiba laptop in the Student Community Center at Pierce on Mar. 2, 2009. (Gerard Walsh / Roundup)