The purpose of this assessment is to compare the success rate as defined as a course with a passing grade of “C” (or better) or “P” in a pass-fail course of students who check out a school-issued laptop versus students who do not.
The necessity for the assessment became evident in the academic year 2019-2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and students were required to complete the Spring 2020 semester online. The laptop checkout process was identified as a need by students who did not have the proper equipment to complete a course(s). The implementation of checkout laptops being available to students began in March/April of 2020, however, data on student completion was not gathered until AY 20-21.
Since March/April 2020, students can check out a laptop on a semester basis from the Computer Commons by completing a checkout request form. EMCC maintains a pool of roughly 500 laptops for checkout to meet the demand of approximately 400-500 checkouts each semester. These laptops in the checkout pool were classroom laptops that reached replacement age but still have usable life for individual learners. The college’s annual computer replacement program provides a steady source of laptops at a very low cost to the institution. Each year, old laptops are retired and new laptops are introduced to the checkout pool to help refresh equipment. Laptops are required to be returned at the end of the semester or the student is reminded via email to renew their registration each semester. The use of used laptops in the pool was intentional to limit students' liability in case a laptop is damaged, lost, or stolen. Since the laptop would have been sent to surplus anyway, student liability is capped at $50 rather than the replacement cost of the laptop. This helps to prevent imposing on students who already could not afford the cost of a laptop, with an undue financial burden.
The course completion rates of students who checked out a laptop were compared to their peers who did not from AY 20/21 to AY 23/24.
|
Academic Year |
Laptop Borrowed Success Rate |
No Laptop Borrowed Success Rate |
| 20-21 | 74.9% | 75.4% |
| 21-22 | 73.5% | 75.4% |
| 22-23 | 78% | 77.7% |
| 23-24 | 75.3% | 78.6% |
Results do not indicate that students have a higher successful completion rate (as defined above) as a result of the laptop checkout program EMCC offers to students. However, the limitation of this analysis is that causation is indeterminable. Other factors such as employment, pell-eligible, and other factors are not identified.
The laptops available to students serve as a convenience when completing assignments and accessing campus resources. Students have access to technology for an online, hybrid, or in-person course and related assignments.
The necessity for the laptop checkout program became evident in the academic year 2019-2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and students were required to complete the Spring 2020 semester online. The laptop checkout process was identified as a need by students who did not have the proper equipment to complete a course(s). The results indicated that the course completion rate of students who checked out a laptop is consistently close to students who did not check out a laptop. The program is a convenience to the students, has a negligible impact on the college budget, and therefore, should be continued.