The impact of campus-wide portable computing on computer science education

Abstract

At least fifty colleges and universities throughout the world have initiated plans under which all students buy, lease, or provide their own portable/laptop computer. The impact of these initiatives on the general educational environment has been widely discussed; however, the impact on the delivery of computer science education has not been. In this working group report we discuss a number of issues pertaining to computer science education in light of campus-wide computing initiatives. Our report relates experiences of faculty already involved in such endeavors plus ideas regarding the future of portable computers in computer science education. As such, it will be beneficial to computer science programmes currently involved in campus-wide computing initiatives as well as those that may become involved in the near future.