February 28, 2008
Abilene Christian U. to Give iPhones or iPods to All Freshmen
Abilene Christian University says it will be the first university in the country to give iPhones or iPods to all incoming freshmen. Today the university unveiled an elaborate news-media blitz on its Web site, including an online video showing a fictionalized account of how the university plans to use the devices for various services on campus.
The 900 students who will start at the university this fall will be given the choice of an iPhone or an iPod Touch (which can connect to the Internet via wireless networks but does not function as a cellphone).
How much will it cost? The university won’t say, but “it’s not a significant financial investment at this point,” according to Phil Schubert, executive vice president. “We’ve been able to fund this out of general financial resources.”
Does that mean the university got a sweet deal from Apple? No, said Mr. Schubert. “I’d like to tell you we’re getting these things for free, but that’s not the case,” he said. “If schools are out there thinking, ‘We’re going to get great discounts from Apple … that’s not likely to happen.”
In 2004 Duke University decided to give iPods to all of its first-year students. The move generated a high volume of publicity, but two years later the university scaled back the effort, so that only students in certain courses were given iPods (and then only as a loan rather than a gift). —Jeffrey R. Young
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Cheap marketing ploy or merely a cheap marketing ploy—it could be either…
— A. Gorestein Feb 28, 12:37 PM #
I’m glad it’s not a cheap marketing ploy by any means.
— Kierig Feb 29, 05:00 PM #
ACU’s “Connected” video exploring possible uses of iPhones at college was a little cheesy and certainly sounded like an ad for iPhones in spots, but I thought it presented a few very useful ways iPhones (or other wireless handheld devices) could be used in the classroom.
In a couple of scenes, students use their iPhones as “clickers,” responding to multiple-choice and free-response questions posed by their instructors. For the free-response question, the students’ responses are displayed on a classroom projector system as “word clouds” (like tag clouds where more popular answers are shown in bigger fonts), which I thought was a sensible way to aggregate responses to an open-ended question.
iPhones are also used in the video as a way for students to find relevant web sites during class and share them with the whole class via a course web site. The instructor in the video told the students to check out these sites after class, but he could have brought them up on the classroom projector system to discuss with the students during class.
At some point in the future, I think it’s likely that large numbers of students will have handheld wireless devices like iPhones. I’m impressed at ACU taking the lead in experimenting with ways this can enhance teaching and learning by making possible new and effective classroom dynamics. I hope they’re able to follow through on some of the good ideas explored in their video.
— Derek Mar 2, 09:23 PM #
This is very exciting and innovative, and it is a great opportunity for these students to use the technology which is changing constantly. Since young people of this age are already highly computer savvy, it should only promote more learning techniques for the future.
— Janelle Roberts Mar 3, 06:17 AM #
As a incoming freshman at ACU, some say it a cheap marketing deploy. However, it is a genius idea to show that ACU, is leading amongst private institutes in the modern world of technology. Don’t get me wrong, it is definately a plus and sure maybe 50 kids or so decided ACU because of t his. However, a $300 phone doesn’t compare to spending more than $20,000 for the education. The phone was less than 1% of my overrall decision about ACU, it was a larger part of how I viewed the school’s modern technology uses, not what modern technology they could give me.
— Elroy Mar 27, 01:58 PM #