As his assigned enrollment time approached, Kyle Nguyen pulled out his laptop to enroll in classes during a lab class in Young Hall.
“I had brought my computer with me because I knew that my sign-up time was during class and that I would need to do it then,” said Nguyen, a third-year psychobiology student.
Nguyen’s preparedness was in vain, however, when he found himself unable to connect to any of the campus’ wireless networks, leaving him without Internet access.
He eventually asked his teaching assistant for permission to leave class and went to the library to enroll in his courses.
To eliminate wireless access problems like Nguyen’s, UCLA’s Communications and Technology Services is currently working on a proposal to expand the wireless access provided to the campus.
The project is still in its planning stages and will be formally proposed to UCLA’s Information Technology Planning Board by the end of fall quarter, said Michael Schilling, the executive director of CTS.
Currently, CTS is one of about 20 groups on campus that provide wireless access. When wireless technology first emerged on campus, all networks were managed at a local level.
For example, academic departments would operate their own network for the building they were housed in, Schilling said.
While some departments’ networks are now managed by CTS, others still maintain their own wireless networks.
But if the proposal is approved, CTS will take over as the sole provider of network access on campus and expand the networks to provide coverage to all general assignment classrooms as well as all exterior spaces.
“The idea is to expand what CTS provides to the remaining campus buildings that aren’t operated by CTS, specifically to make it a unified and ubiquitous wireless environment for all of the students,” Schilling said.
CTS’ plan to improve the campus’ wireless connectivity was based on a student’s request, Schilling said.
When third-year electrical engineering student Raiyaan Serang ran as a candidate for general representative in the 2009-2010 Undergraduate Students Association Council elections, one of his platform’s goals was improving wireless connection around campus.
“I’d be in Boelter Hall or the MS Building, and there would never be any signal,” said Serang, who is also vice president of the Associated Students UCLA Communications Board. “My point was basically to unify campus under one stronger wireless signal to help increase signal strength and increase accessibility and use of our resources.”
Serang’s candidacy platform focused on improving the student experience by streamlining UCLA’s infrastructure. With this goal in mind, he contacted Schilling during spring quarter and proposed his idea.
CTS agreed with Serang that the campus would benefit from a unified wireless signal, Schilling said.
With different groups operating networks independently, coverage within certain buildings and exterior areas can be weak due to a lack of access points, said Eugene Acosta, manager of Bruin OnLine.
“It’s similar to cell phones,” Acosta said. “Each tower has its own area of signal strength, and if you’re outside of that, then you’re not going to get coverage.”
When wireless coverage is available in all general assignment rooms, CTS will also install a soft switch in every classroom that can be used by the lecturer to turn wireless access in the room on or off, Schilling said.
The ability to control whether students have access to a wireless network can be useful during class said Steven Nelson, an associate art history professor.
Nelson allows students to bring their laptops to class for note-taking but asks students to refrain from using the Internet during lecture.
Those who take advantage of wireless access show a lack of respect not only for the faculty, but also for their peers who are often distracted when others surf the web during class, Nelson said.
Nelson added that he could see moments in his own teaching where the ability to let students have access to the Internet would be of value.
Though a switch would allow faculty to control whether or not students are connecting to wireless provided by UCLA, the fact remains that most students can just as easily connect to the Internet through their cell phones, said Asad Abidi, an electrical engineering professor.
“This solution is a non-solution because they’re only turning off one possible wireless streaming mechanism,” Abidi said. “There is a cell phone network which supercedes their wireless network, and the school has no control over the cellular system that surrounds us.”
For Serang, there has never been the need to go online during a lecture. If wireless access creates a distraction, a switch for classroom-specific localities is a good idea, he said.
“Students always have the right to leave class,” Serang said. “As long as the rest of campus is connected, you just have to step outside the classroom if something important comes up.”
With CTS unifying all of campus under one wireless signal, the school is taking steps to correct an area where resources could be better used for the benefit of the students, Serang said.
“Every student should feel like they have a voice,” he said. “If you feel like you can improve your student experience, any change we can do comes from us first.”