Boise, Idaho-based Albertson College has come up with a cool idea to attract students to its campus. Albertson will be one of the first colleges in the western United States to provide laptop PCs to all of its incoming students.

The private liberal arts college has decided to turn to Hewlett Packard for the purchase. This fall it plans on providing each of the 345 incoming freshmen with an HP Omnibook XE3 laptop PC.

Seventeen students in an English class taught by Albertson professor Rob Stacy are currently testing the HP Omnibook laptops in a pilot program. The students are using the equipment to research and write papers, plan presentations and conduct online discussions.

"We believe this initiative represents a bold step forward in the college's plans to blend the tools of technology with the education process," says Gregg Peters, education marketing manager, HP Public Sector Organization. "The fusion of education and HP's technology can make a significant difference in a teacher's ability to reach every student individually and in a student's ability to succeed on his or her own terms."

According to Albertson College President Kevin Learned, the use of laptop computers will enhance traditional education by making learning more student-centered, more interactive, more oriented to problem solving and more engaging for students who are already computer literate.

So what will the students actually be getting?

The HP Omnibook XE3 laptop PCs include an integrated CD-ROM, built-in floppy disk drive and modem. The laptops will be replaced every two years in order to provide students with the latest technological developments, according to Albertson. HP also will provide technical service and support.

Albertson's laptop program is part of a $1.7 million technology initiative launched last year. Since last fall, Albertson has replaced all of the computers in student labs, equipped classrooms with Internet-accessible presentation equipment and retooled the campus for wireless computing.

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