Computer classroom usage for classes rose from 13.65% in Fall 1992 to 41.17% Spring 1996 with an estimated 50.18% for Fall 1996. This had the effect of reducing the amount of time available for class assignment work and open use.
The following three graphs show usage by total and by computer type for reserved classes and class assignment time. Rooms are available from Monday to Friday 8 am to 6 pm.
The Fall 96 data is based on the historical trend for class hours and the
amount of hours the labs will be open that quarter.
The following chart shows usage for one week (M-F 8-6) during Spring 1996. The classrooms were open a total of 339 hours, of which 142 were reserved for class use and 197 were available for open use. Of the available open use, the average used time was 76.2%. When combined with the class use this gives an average use of 86.2%.
Lab Management continued to provide support for general academic use, with the total number of users reaching 11,157 in Spring 1996 including 10,358 students.
Over the year the number of PC seats decreased slightly from 118 to 112 while the number of Mac seats decreased from 153 to 130. Part of the loss is a result of the closing of the computer classroom in Room 233 in Social Sciences and Humanities.
Computer classrooms were open 55 days in Spring Quarter 1996 (including holidays and finals).
Computer classrooms, such as 163 Shields and 1102 Hart, with their good quality machines and good campus locations reached maximum capacity.
The chart below shows how many days over one quarter each computer classroom exceeded 80% and 90% usage in an hour.
> 90% | > 80% | |
1102 Hart | 47 | 53 |
1131 Meyer | 39 | 49 |
14/86 Hutch | 1 | 18 |
163 Shields | 53 | 54 |
233 SSH | 17 | 32 |
241/247 Olson | 7 | 8 |
301A Surge IV | 29 | 44 |
307 SurgeIV | 5 | 10 |
8 Hutch | 30 | 45 |
In order to provide a higher quality instructional environment, Lab Management began a systematic review of its practices and services.
1. Physical layout (e.g., too crowded, poor quality HVAC, seat arrangement, etc.)
2. Outdated machines (e.g., machines up to 5+ years old)
3. Inadequate projection setup (e.g., outdated equipment, poor screens, ambient light, etc.)
Specifically, Lab Management:
Lab Management provided access to 302 computers over the 1995-96 school year. The average cost of maintaining each station was $3,642. As comparison, Gartner Group (an IT consulting firm) reports "A typical PC/LAN environment can cost more than $10,000 per user per year to operate." The average cost per user per quarter (with roughly 11,000 users per quarter) was $33.00. In 1995-96, the average cost per hour of open use in a computer classroom was roughly $1.71. As comparison, local copy shops charge as much as $12.00 per hour for computer access.
Comments: tcleamy@ucdavis.edu URL: http://lm.ucdavis.edu/pubs/labrep/fall96/ Last updated: October 18, 1996 |