Difference between revisions of "Petition to abolish tablet requirement"

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'''This is a crowdsourced petition, meaning anyone that has access to this can help compile(pour hate and trash the requirement) it.'''
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'''This is a crowdsourced petition, meaning anyone that has access to this can help compile (pour hate and trash the requirement) it.'''
  
 
==Dissatisfaction with requirement==
 
==Dissatisfaction with requirement==
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* Tablets are expensive compared to other laptops of similar specs
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===Inferior hardware===
 
* Available models are limited to a 13.3" maximum screen size
 
* Available models are limited to a 13.3" maximum screen size
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* USB Wacom tablets are available for fairly cheap and fuction as well as onscreen tablets. Many studets prefer USB tablets because the keyboard can be used while writing
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* Tablets can not be upgraded nearly as extensively as full-scale laptops. Lenovo tablets support a maximum 320GB hard drive, and are limited to a dual-core i7 2620M.
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* Keyboards are often cramped and do not include numpads.
 +
 
 +
===Lack of real benefits===
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Virginia Tech has produced a list of purported benefits of tablet technology. With the possible exception of diagramming, we do not find any of them valid advantages over full-size laptops. Additionally, none of them can possibly justify requiring thousands of students to buy specialized hardware and software.
 +
* "Writing on slides" - This can be done with text rather than handwriting. Most people can type significantly faster than write, and text annotations have the advantage of being more legible than handwriting.
 +
* "Handwriting recognition" - This technology is nowhere near perfect, and operates disasterously when writing mathematical formulae by hand
 +
* "Formulas and equations" - After learning LaTeX or the keyboard shortcuts for OneNote's equation editor, most equations can be typed faster than written.
 +
* "Collaboration" - While this idea works well in environments where each user is running OneNote on a Windows tablet, you can no longer expect this type of compliance as many users have switched to Unix-based operating systems. Wikis and Google Docs, among other services, permit cross-platform users to collaborate.
 +
* "Typing" is in no way restricted to tablets; in fact, one cannot even type on a tablet while the screen is flipped in tablet mode
 +
 
 +
===Lack of choice===
 +
* Tablets are expensive compared to other laptops of similar specs, forcing students to pay extra for functionality they may rarely use.
 
* Students can't use Macbooks, as they lack tablet functionality.
 
* Students can't use Macbooks, as they lack tablet functionality.
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* Tablets can not be upgraded nearly as extensively as full-scale laptops. Lenovo tablets support a maximum 320GB hard drive, and are limited to a dual-core i7 2620M.
 
 
* All available tablets are pre-installed with Windows, forcing students to buy an individual Windows license in addition to a VT Windows site license.
 
* All available tablets are pre-installed with Windows, forcing students to buy an individual Windows license in addition to a VT Windows site license.
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* Many students hold the opinion that the univerity bookstore is evil.
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* Because the Engineering Education department assumes students have a tablet PC, they mandate installation of Windows-only software. DyKnow, for example, is an invasive classroom presentation tool with spyware capabilities, enabling lecturers to remotely control students' computers.
 +
 
 +
===Proposed alternatives===
 +
* External tablets which can be connected to any standard laptop are readily available and cost less than $100.
 +
* If tablets were optional, students could purchase the technology they find optimal for them, rather than be forced to use a certain platform.
 +
 
 +
==Signatures of students not happy with the tablet requirement==
 +
* Lukas Lozovski
 +
* George Burgess
 +
* Matt Hazinski
 +
* Randy Nance
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* Ben Guzzardi
 +
* Darren Maczka
 +
* [[User:Timelord|Timelord]] ([[User talk:Timelord|talk]]) 12:05, 8 February 2013 (EST)
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* Eric Landgraf
 +
 
 +
==Other unhappy people==
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* [http://web.archive.org/web/20090227184253/http://vt.freeculture.org/wiki/Killing_the_tablet_requirement Free Culture at VT]
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 +
[[Category:VTLUUG:Projects]]

Latest revision as of 05:05, 4 January 2018

This is a crowdsourced petition, meaning anyone that has access to this can help compile (pour hate and trash the requirement) it.

Dissatisfaction with requirement

Inferior hardware

  • Available models are limited to a 13.3" maximum screen size
  • Tablets can not be upgraded nearly as extensively as full-scale laptops. Lenovo tablets support a maximum 320GB hard drive, and are limited to a dual-core i7 2620M.
  • Keyboards are often cramped and do not include numpads.

Lack of real benefits

Virginia Tech has produced a list of purported benefits of tablet technology. With the possible exception of diagramming, we do not find any of them valid advantages over full-size laptops. Additionally, none of them can possibly justify requiring thousands of students to buy specialized hardware and software.

  • "Writing on slides" - This can be done with text rather than handwriting. Most people can type significantly faster than write, and text annotations have the advantage of being more legible than handwriting.
  • "Handwriting recognition" - This technology is nowhere near perfect, and operates disasterously when writing mathematical formulae by hand
  • "Formulas and equations" - After learning LaTeX or the keyboard shortcuts for OneNote's equation editor, most equations can be typed faster than written.
  • "Collaboration" - While this idea works well in environments where each user is running OneNote on a Windows tablet, you can no longer expect this type of compliance as many users have switched to Unix-based operating systems. Wikis and Google Docs, among other services, permit cross-platform users to collaborate.
  • "Typing" is in no way restricted to tablets; in fact, one cannot even type on a tablet while the screen is flipped in tablet mode

Lack of choice

  • Tablets are expensive compared to other laptops of similar specs, forcing students to pay extra for functionality they may rarely use.
  • Students can't use Macbooks, as they lack tablet functionality.
  • All available tablets are pre-installed with Windows, forcing students to buy an individual Windows license in addition to a VT Windows site license.
  • Because the Engineering Education department assumes students have a tablet PC, they mandate installation of Windows-only software. DyKnow, for example, is an invasive classroom presentation tool with spyware capabilities, enabling lecturers to remotely control students' computers.

Proposed alternatives

  • External tablets which can be connected to any standard laptop are readily available and cost less than $100.
  • If tablets were optional, students could purchase the technology they find optimal for them, rather than be forced to use a certain platform.

Signatures of students not happy with the tablet requirement

  • Lukas Lozovski
  • George Burgess
  • Matt Hazinski
  • Randy Nance
  • Ben Guzzardi
  • Darren Maczka
  • Timelord (talk) 12:05, 8 February 2013 (EST)
  • Eric Landgraf

Other unhappy people

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