Slashdot Mirror
University Tries "One iPhone Per Student"
alphadogg writes to tell us that one freshman class has a little more than usual to be excited about. When students at Abilene Christian University showed up for their first days of class they were greeted with the choice of either a new iPhone 3g or an iPod Touch plus a package of custom web apps to use on them. "The hardware is part of the Texas university's pilot mobile learning project, which has been gestating for over a year. About 650 first-year students chose the iPhone, and about 300 the iPod Touch, which is a very similar device but without the 3G radio (both devices incorporate an 802.11g Wi-Fi adapter). ACU pays for the hardware, student (or their parents) select and pay for their monthly AT&T service plan."
Awful idea.
If I wanted one, I would buy one myself. Decrease tuition, let people buy whatever type of cellphone they want.
Doesn't sound like this is going to do much for "mobile learning". Nice gimmick though....
Never trust an operating system you don't have sources for.
...that keeps pushing up the cost of a college education.
How much is Apple (or AT&T) paying said university to distribute these little profit-machines to these gullible students? Not that I wouldn't fall for it too, but honestly! I guess on the surface it's a win-win-win situation, but I can't help but think that someone is being taken advantage of.
When I first heard about this idea a few months ago, I knew that there would be some interesting consequences. Being that I graduated from ACU in December of '06, I know many of the people involved and have heard stories about what it takes to accomplish such a task.
ACU had to re-implement much of it's wireless structure in order to accommodate all of the new devices and ensure that students would have wireless coverage at every conceivable place on campus.
It will be interesting to see how it pans out and whether or not it works as well as the faculty and staff have envisioned.
Got a problem? Call a monkey!
The school is conducting a trial with a piece of hardware, maybe students will find interesting new ways to use it.
Sure the majority will use it to goof off, but it's possible a couple resourceful students come up with something useful and everybody gains. Is it the absolute best way to use resources, maybe not; but it's quite a neat capable platform and only time will tell what interesting things students can come up with.
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
I didn't know that the iPod or iPhone was limited to one OS. That's so very odd...
Oh wait, it's not. Get off you anti-Apple soapbox and grow up a bit.
This is similar to a grant awarded to the 7-8 Jr. High School I teach at to give every student a Palm for a year. Didn't work too well, but then again, the software we had wasn't what we needed, we had minimal support, and 12~14 year olds are considerably more immature than college freshmen... Well, maybe not that much less mature, but you get the point. It didn't work well 5-ish years ago, but maybe the software and support has caught up with the theory.
Mess not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
One thing that is interesting is that there are a large number of Roman Catholics that do acknowledge that. But other than that, every branch attached to Protestantism seems to follow the concept that the bible speaks the truth, and scientific theory is as theoretical as the theory that there are tunnels in the north and south pole that connect in the center of the earth. I completely disregard anything related to religion in my life. And that includes the so called morals from religion. I guess I'm good enough that i don't need to follow any rule to get that tolerance is the key to many issues.
Yeah, useful in coding like in how to agree an NDA and a non-competing agreement, be forced to buy a mac to develop and learn about vendor lock-in... The other useful thing nontraditional photography or how take photos with a crappy camera is a really useful one, don't forget the important lessons about piracy, and how to take notes in pen and paper because the recording is crappy and the text input is too slow.
It's similar to issuing laptops in high schools. No costs for textbooks and easier to manage... This is actually a great idea
The real headline should be something along the lines of freshmen class of Abilene Christian University all required to pay for brand new iPhones.
When I read the "New York Times Says Thin Clients Are Making a Comeback" headline, I thought of cellphone/pda apps. Considering books cost me around $300 a semester back in 1996-2000 and all the other ways that the university tried to leech a buck off my family, I'm not surprised that a college is doing something like this. This sounds and looks like a decent killer app for cell phones/PDAs.
I'm kinda sad though. I'd have thought that we'd have figured out how to get all this done, and my kids using this in elementary school right now. I'm really sad that colleges are just now getting there. I remember back in 1998 when my college just started their web app for signing up for classes. It was much, much better than their telephone system that they'd used before hand. We loved it.
My kids public school has a web app that'll show their 9 weeks grades and an event calendar. O.k. it's nice that they have anything, but still as a parent and tax payer, I'd want all their text books to be in pdf and able to be saved, viewed, printed, quoted from anywhere. I'd also want teachers grade books and PTA meetings online as well. There is a part of me that thinks class rooms need forums or a school running their own version of facebook, yet geared more along the lines of keeping track of all of a student's progress, projects, entire school history, homework, quizes, & test history for everything there, and doing it as a glorified year book. Especially to pound it into the student's head, that this is to make you and us look "good"! ;)
ahh, a pickpocket's heaven. no matter who you grift, you'll atleast walk away with a $200 ipod!
They do have their choice of music player and phone. The students would just have to buy it themselves. The purpose of this program isn't to provide a music player or a phone. The purpose is to provide a mobile platform that provides support for their custom apps, a web browser that's usable for research on the go, and a video player that integrates with iTunes U for podcast video content of lectures and support material. You could halfway do some of that with a device from another manufacturer, but you'd have to work at it and it would always be a kludge. Think of it as the school providing a learning tool that just happens to come with your choice of a free music player or a free phone.... :-)
P.S. AFAIK, iTunes should work in recent versions of Wine, complete with iPod/iPhone syncing.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
I know a lot of you will be complaining about the associated costs with giving all of the students an iPhone, but I'll point out (as an Abilene Native) that I'd be very, very surprised if anyone that actually attends ACU would bat an eyelash at another bill. Those kids are RICH rich.
Students who don't have a device in 2 years when they are replaced will be charged for the device. Part of a contract they sign.
You might catch a few people before they go in harm's way ...
Didn't I meet you during the design meetings for the Titanic? You were the one that said, "Liveboats are useless, they won't stop the ship from sinking."
One of the biggest (in retrospect) security related problems that occurred at VTech was the second "attack." There was a two hour period after the first shooting in which no shooting occurred. During this two hour period, there was no way to warn the students about the shootings and give security advice/information. The main way that a university communicates with its students is via e-mail, but most students do not check their e-mail midday because they are in lectures. The second set of students who were shot could've been saved if there was a more rapid security bulletin delivery system in place.
There has been a shift in security information delivery systems in universities lately, in response to the VTech problems. My university has installed centrally controlled LCD screens in the highly trafficked areas on campus. This is another such method of enabling rapid deployment of important information. If every student has a PDA, the university can know for sure that security bulletins can be delivered quickly.
So actually, yes. This can prevent another attack.