By Daniela Perez
Observer Contributor
When it comes to submitting online assignments, having reliable access to the internet is essential for college students.
Many areas on the Gardner campus have little to no cellular signal and in most parts of the school the WiFi can be slow or may not connect at all.
One of the places on campus that rarely has any signal is the basement of the school where Media Arts and Technology labs are held and where MRT students work on projects. The MRT computers are always offline and students have a difficult time connecting to the internet through their own laptops or cellphones.
John Cusolito, audio major, said that he “can’t look at BlackBoard to view assignments or grades.”
Another audio major, Brock Levine, said that the WiFi “either works or it doesn’t work at all and shows the error message.”
Cusolito and Levine want a more reliable internet connection to be provided in the basement for media students to be able to use their skills and abilities to their fullest.
Arthur Collins, Director of Media Services and Chief Engineer for the MRT program, said via email that the software primarily used by MRT students on school computers does not require internet access and that “internet access is intentionally kept off . . . to make sure the editing computers’ performance and operation is not affected by a malicious web site, email or computer viruses.” *
Collins also said that there are two wireless access points in the basement that students can connect to with their personal devices and that he has “never had any issues with Wi-Fi performance in the MRT location.” *
Students aren’t the only ones who experience wireless woes. Professors have also had difficulty during class when trying to show educational videos. “Certainly there have been times when the equipment has failed – sound quality, connecting to internet files, too much buffering time,” said English professor Susan Blake.
However, Blake reassured that ”our AV/IT staff have always been really responsive to these problems when they happen.” Blake uses the computers in her classroom to show students TED Talk videos among other content. “What I see more often with students is their inability to get WiFi for their laptops, tablets, and phones,” said Blake.
President Vander Hooven noted that the school is aware of the challenges getting internet access to different parts of the building.
The main campus was built during the early 1970s and used an architectural style that relied heavily on concrete. Levine also suspected that the lack of a strong signal is due to the construction of the building and not the actual provider, DSCI, who partnered with TPx in 2016.
Vander Hooven said, “Concrete walls are everywhere as you can see. This was done well before the concept of wireless internet connectivity.”
Vander Hooven mentioned how a lack of connectivity is not an issue inside of his office, but that he has experienced these issues when attending meetings on campus. He acknowledged that it is “an annoyance.”
The college will be investigating ways to improve connectivity on campus using a college-wide strategic plan that will also provide a direct IT plan.
“I will say that we are aware of the connectivity issues and, while costly to improve, this is going to be an area of emphasis with the coming five-year strategic plan for the college,” said Vander Hooven.
*Editor’s note: This article has been updated since its original publication on September 4, 2019. The indicated passages were added to provide additional clarification.
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