Apple Working to Deploy iPhones at Universities

[MacRumors]

Abilene Christian University (ACU) announced yesterday that they would be issuing iPhones or iPod Touches to incoming freshman for use in their college courses and day to day lives.

At ACU - the first university in the nation to provide these cutting-edge media devices to its incoming class - freshmen will use the iPhones or iPod Touches to receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors' offices, and check their meal and account balances - among more than 15 other useful web applications already developed, said ACU Chief Information Officer Kevin Roberts.

They specifically mention the use of web applications that they've developed, but extend this concept in a demonstration movie called Connected. The movie shows how a fully deployed mobile learning environment might look, with mocked up examples of true iPhone applications.

The movie details a fully integrated iPhone and college experience, with integration into coursework, class participation, payment system, directory and 3d mapping. They caution that the movie is entirely speculative, of course. Some demos of their iPhone web apps are available at http://acu.mobi/.

This news, by itself, would only so interesting if the university was acting on its own, but MacRumors has heard that Apple is taking an active role in deploying the iPhone in university settings to try to regain some of their historic educational marketshare. Besides ACU, pilot projects are expected at universities such as Harvard, MIT and Stanford in the near future. The new iPhone SDK is expected to also play a role in future iPhone/University integration, though it appears that ACU does not yet have access to it.

In 2004, Duke University had a program in which they issued iPods to incoming Freshman to allow them to listen to lecture materials. Similarly, the iPhone will have tight audio/video integration with each school's iTunes University content.



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[edesignuk]

wow, lucky students!

[SkippyThorson]

Amen, but what happens when a student drops or somehow kills their iPhone?

I sense new grounds for expulsion.

[Wayfarer]

Cool-sauce.

But wouldn't an iPod Touch work just as well?

[kretzy]

This makes me extremely jealous. If only they'd introduce a similar thing here.

[sminman]

This is definitely going to catch like a wild fire throughout colleges!

I played with the little demo on my iPhone and its a breeze and its organized.

[amac4me]

Another innovative way to extend the Apple brand into our daily lives.

[happydude]

seems more like a gimmick than anything to get increase enrollment rates . . . someone on their board said, "hey that iphone is something, how can we use it to attract students . . . ?" and then they came up with some web apps to "justify" the program. i mean, really, what could possibly necessitate an iphone for classes? and i do mean really necessitate. yes you "can" do class stuff on it but at what point do you "need" to? this seems a bit ridiculous to me . . .

[xUKHCx]

As a student myself I really want ToDo support with my iPhone. It would help make the iPhone a very decent phone for students. Although must admit I have surfed MR while in a lecture before

[travistaylor]

That's cool and all, but what happens when the iPhone/iPod Touch are upgraded with new hardware or a new design?

I can only hope that students would have the option to upgrade as well... perhaps for a small fee?

Oh, and yes, I'm extremely jealous... but I do have an iPhone!

[Reach]

Woohoo.. I can't even access the wireless on my university, due to the iPhones not supporting enterprise WPA..

[AliensAreFuzzy]

Originally Posted by xUKHCx

Although must admit I have surfed MR while in a lecture before

Who hasn't?
Come on Wisconsin, pick up on this... I already have an iPod Touch, but this is frickin' cool. I don't want to spend more money on iClickers and CPS response pads.

[mainstreetmark]

It's gotta be a marketing ploy to boost enrollment. To actually profess that an iPhone will somehow aid in education is painting the incoming class as a bunch of dolts who can't otherwise find their way around campus, or have the ability to remember which homework is due.

Same went with the iPod, when it was given to the incoming classes so they could "listen to lectures". My butt!

[powermac_daddy]

crap... i wonder how many kids are going to apply that school next year? I wish i could get one.

[BrownManUPS]

Originally Posted by Wayfarer

Cool-sauce.

But wouldn't an iPod Touch work just as well?

Yeah it looks like it via their demo on the .mobi.

It looks like it is coming along. It will be interesting how much restriction of use they will actually put on it. And it looks like you would need a much faster internet than EDGE to get the correct capabilities working at the speeds that would be desired.

Freakin' hilarious how much that school's acceptance rate is going to drop in the next few years...

[capoeirista]

What a massive gimmick. Why not give them free textbooks? Surely that would be more useful?

Still, when the freshers inevitably run out of cash they could sell the thing to buy drink/drugs/food/whatever.

[gusapple]

Would students have to pay for the plan on the iPhone? If so, that is a rip off.

[slack-jeenyus]

Wether you got to pay or not it sounds like a cool system.

[retroneo]

well the iPod touch / iPhone will be useless at most unis until it supports 802.1X authentication!!

[elppa]

Originally Posted by gusapple

Would students have to pay for the plan on the iPhone? If so, that is a rip off.

Well no, because they can opt for the touch.

Those who would rather not carry a separate phone can go for the iPhone.

[i.maverick]

mmm.. do i smell mobile(i)work here...yum!

[i.maverick]

Originally Posted by happydude

seems more like a gimmick than anything to get increase enrollment rates . . . someone on their board said, "hey that iphone is something, how can we use it to attract students . . . ?" and then they came up with some web apps to "justify" the program. i mean, really, what could possibly necessitate an iphone for classes? and i do mean really necessitate. yes you "can" do class stuff on it but at what point do you "need" to? this seems a bit ridiculous to me . . .

in that sense... even education isnt necessary!

[razmy]

I wouldn't want to be a sophomore.

[arn]

people should watch the movie, if they haven't. it's idealized view, of course... but interesting possibilities.

and please don't digress into a religious discussion. this sort of program is expected to extend to other univerisities.

arn

[mrmma]

I'm in higher ed, and though I'm sure this is somewhat of a gimmick (less of one than the iPod give away of other unis) I can see the practicality of this for interactive lectures, as long as the software is seamless and easy. I would love to have interactive quizzes with better graphics capabilities, and if students could have the presentation pdf on their screens, they could scroll to a previous slide even if I've moved on.

The one problem I'd have is texting/surfing during lecture. I bet it will be very very tempting to check myspace/facebook/email/etc. during lectures, so trying to integrate the iPhone/touch into lectures without it getting in the way would be difficult.

For everything else, well, if your student really has a hard time finding your office, they need a refresher course on maps. Campuses are full of similar looking buildings, but come on...

600mb movie download...we'll see what it looks like.