Gone are the days when you could stream an episode of “Game of Thrones” or “Better Call Saul” during a boring lecture at Purdue University.
In August, the Indiana-based university started restricting access to five streaming sites (Netflix, Hulu, Steam, Apple Updates, and iTunes) in four of its largest lecture halls to combat over-streaming. The action comes after administrators discovered that streaming sites were sucking up most of the bandwidth in these locations. Broadband costs have also recently doubled at the school.
During instructional hours, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., students in these areas are blocked from these sites and have to step out of class to stream. If the program shows positive results, the university plans to expand it to other instructional spaces on campus.
Professors reportedly appreciate the increased speed and bandwidth – plus the satisfaction of knowing that it’s more difficult for their students to tune them out.
“We’re faced with rapid increases in traffic demands in our biggest classrooms,” said Gerry McCartney, executive vice president and chief information officer at Purdue. “These are rooms holding typically hundreds of students, and they’re coming into class with multiple devices. When we look to see the sites those devices are going to, there are some sites without academic connection.”
A 2016 study in the Journal and Courier found that 34 percent of Internet traffic in one of the halls went to “likely non-academic” sites like Netflix, Hulu, and Steam, and 64 percent went to sites like Google, Apple, and Amazon. A minuscule 4 percent of traffic went to “academic sites.”
While students have offered mixed reviews on the new restrictions, the most common reaction has been silence, said Julie Kercher-Updike, Purdue’s deputy chief information officer. They are unlikely to admit they’d rather binge-watch their favorite show than listen to a lecture on Darwin or microeconomics.
Parents paying their student’s way are likely to rejoice at the news. Tuition at Purdue is about $10,000 per year for Indiana residents and close to $29,000 per year for out-of-staters. That doesn’t include room and board, books and supplies, and other expenses. Purdue may be more affordable than many public universities, but that is a lot of money to be pouring down the drain while your student re- watches the second season of “Stranger Things.”
Brendan Pringle (@BrendanPringle) is writer from California. He is a National Journalism Center graduate and formerly served as a development officer for Young America’s Foundation at the Reagan Ranch.
