On the main campus of Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), there are a total of four computer labs available to students. There is one in the B Building, two in the Classroom Building, along with a smaller lab hidden on the second floor of the Science Building. There are just over 200 computers divided between all four labs, as well as several small clusters of desktops in the library and a handful of laptops that can be checked out from the Information Center. Meanwhile, there are roughly nine thousand undergraduate students enrolled here during the fall and spring semesters. I hope I’m not the only one who notices that these numbers don’t match up.
Of the 200 computers publicly available to students, not all of them are in working condition. There are always at least a handful of broken computers in each lab, and I’m not necessarily talking about the Macs. Need something printed, or questions answered by a lab attendant? Then don’t go to the Classroom Building’s second floor lab. Need to go online? There are a number of computers in the two largest labs that aren’t even connected to the Internet.
So don’t be surprised if you walk into a computer lab on campus and find yourself turning away in frustration because one of a few things has happened:
1. All of the computers are in use.
2. Half of the people there are wasting their time on Facebook or My Space.
3. The file on your flash drive is only readable by a PC, yet only Macs are available.
4. The computer you find available has no Internet connection.
Now I admit that having available computer facilities on the campus is a convenience provided by the university. As the campus is a commuter school, not everyone is going to require the use of the on-campus computer labs. Also, not all nine thousand students are going to need to use the computers during every hour of each day. I’m not asking for an extreme makeover of the system. What I’m asking is for NEIU to renovate some of the technological aspects of its main campus.
Specifically, NEIU needs a shift towards a greater capacity for online courses, of which the school is sorely lacking. This would mean that all of the public computers would have Internet access, not just most of them. Also needed are more computer labs, mostly to alleviate problems created by peak daytime use and the crunch times that surround exam dates.
There is a serious problem with overcrowding in the campus’s computer labs. Combine that with the confusion of four labs spread throughout three different buildings, and it’s apparent that something needs to be done. I doubt that anything is currently being done about it, and considering the campus’s space limitations, the lack of action is understandable. Where would the university put another lab?
Here is my suggestion: There just so happens to be a lot of space between the Physical Education Complex and the rest of the campus. Perhaps this extra space can be used for something more than just planting grass. How about a new computer lab? It’s just a thought.