Je
2G
_@ IGE

“ye

Je INNOVATION ABSTRACTS se. 3
it

Published by the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Developmen
With support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and Sid W. Richardson Foundation

 

 

 

BEATING THE HIGH COST OF MICROCOMPUTERS

Financial dilemmas face many institutions. The need for increased staffing, upgraded facilities, and a
desire to keep pace with technological advances in instructional equipment are all high priorities that,
unfortunately, must compete for the same limited resources. Quality education comes with a high price tag,
and each institution must develop strategies for meeting the needs it has identified as being most pressing.

Although we had always made an effort to remain current at Manatee Community College, we had come
to recognize we were rapidly falling behind with respect to microcomputer technology. While we did have
several computer science laboratories and a word processing laboratory, the number of student stations were
no longer meeting the demand nor was the equipment even near "state of the art." Offices lacked word
processing capabilities and many faculty, by their own admission, were computer illiterate.

The microcomputers which we had available were not MS-DOS compatible, an operating system which
had become an industry standard for business applications. Fortunately, these microcomputers would still
be of use in learning laboratories if upgraded systems were purchased to replace them.

The cost of replacing all of the microcomputers on campus, even with the educational discounts and state
contract prices available, was far in excess of the monies at hand. Complicating matters further was the
college’s need to place computers in other areas, in addition to upgrading those it had in operation.

We learned that some schools and businesses reduced their expenditures on microcomputers by
© purchasing clones. (See BYTE, PC Magazine, or any other computer oriented publication for numerous

vendors of what the industry refers to as IBM clones, microcomputers that are almost identical to IBM’s
standard setting PC. Vendors of these computers are highly competitive, making IBM-compatible
microcomputers available at substantially reduced prices.)

Our college decided to take the clone route one step farther by purchasing all of the components necessary
for the assembly of our own microcomputers. For those less knowledgeable about microcomputer
technology, this may conjure up memories of assembling an old short-wave radio, soldering resistors and
capacitors together with multi-colored wires and other mysterious parts. While some technical sophistication
is essential, the actual assembly requires nothing more than a screwdriver and an hour's worth of time.

The assembly itself was done by a cadre of volunteers made up of faculty, administrators, staff, and
student aides. Once trained in the assembly, the team was able to quickly build a unit, test it out, and
deliver it.

By assembling the computers yourself, options abound as far as the configuration of your system.
Decisions need to be reached as to how much internal memory is needed. Most systems boards on the
market will hold up to 640k. The type of monitor and printer to be used with the computer need to be
determined in order to select the appropriate interfacing cards. The computer system which we assembled
had 256k of memory, two floppy disk drives, graphics capability, a high resolution amber monitor, parallel
printer port, and a standard type keyboard. The total cost per system ran slightly less than $700.00, a cost
savings which we estimate to be $500.00 per computer. Also, by purchasing the computers in component
form we were able to choose the most reputable brands of disk drives and monitors.

Each of the components came with a one-year warranty from the vendor and, to date, the repairs and
service have been minimal. When a defective component is identified, either upon initial testing or at a later
date, the part is swapped out with a new one, usually in a matter of days. One member of our computer
science faculty serves as a resource person, troubleshooting any defective equipment and identifying the
source of the problem. Because the failure rate has been almost non-existent, this arrangement has not been
too taxing. The equipment is soar new, however, and whether this arrangement remains satisfactory is
© yet to be determined.
= Having solved the problem of cost, the college needed to address the resistance that many faculty and staff
had towards computers. As a result of internal surveys taken by the Computer Planning and Review
Committee, we learned that a high degree of computer illiteracy existed on our campus. Many employees

 

 

 

{OF Community College Leadership Program, The University of Texas at Austin, EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712 | 5