iPhones for Everyone

March 16th, 2010

While some professors are looking to ban laptops in the classroom, others are making technology a requirement. To keep pace with the student-on-the-go, colleges are going mobile and making iPhones a mainstay of college life – and education.

Pioneering Mobile Learning

As the first university to announce distribution of iPhones and iPod touches to students, Abilene Christian University (ACU) has become a pioneer in mobile education. The one-year-old pilot program has been thriving so far – 89 percent of students and 87 percent of faculty polled called it a success.

The comprehensive mobile learning initiative isn’t just a gimmick designed to lure students to the school – though all the press has certainly put the Texas university on the map. At ACU, profs across all disciplines are integrating the devices and their tools into the way they teach.

One chemistry professor, for example, experimented by delivering lab prep and safety lectures to a special section of students via podcast rather than in the classroom. Outcome: the prof determined that there was no loss in mastery of content.

iPhones Required

Of course, ACU isn’t the only college in the mobile learning universe. Some schools are making the smart phone a must-have school supply. The University of Missouri School of Journalism strongly encourages students to purchase an iPhone or iPod touch and plan ahead by including the costs in their financial need estimates. For now, the school’s iPhone push seems to be focused on increasing utilization of iTunesU, which offers free content (e.g., recorded, downloadable lectures) hosted by individual universities.

At the University of Florida’s College of Pharmacy, students are required to have an iPhone or iPod touch for the purpose of interactive classroom polling, looking up drug information, listening to lectures on iTunesU, and more. The college is also working with a company that’s developing electronic medical records for the iPod touch.

iPhones for Free

And then there are schools like ACU that put their money where their mouth is by providing the Apple handhelds they recommend. Through Freed-Hardeman University’s iKnow Initiative, every student who wants an iPhone or iPod touch can get one, along with 3G services. The Tennessee school is currently developing a “green” app that will measure waste on campus.

Select freshmen at the University of Maryland have been given an iPhone or iPod touch to assess its college campus and education value. The goals of the school’s mobility project are to enhance the classroom learning experience, promote interaction between faculty and students, provide a tool for students to manage their time, and improve campus safety.

As part of its mobile computing initiative, Oklahoma Christian University not only gives an iPhone or iPod touch to incoming students, but it also provides a laptop. About $400 per student each semester is built into tuition to cover the devices and upkeep for the campus network. The mobile technology allows students to do everything from checking course schedules to finding available washers and dryers on campus.

Apps for All

There’s just no telling how iPhone apps can be used in the classroom. A theater prof at ACU has used a calculator application to determine square footage of set pieces, the searchable Shakespeare app during the school’s annual Shakespeare Festival, and even the Pitch Pro app in lieu of a piano during rehearsals.

And of course, apps get even more education-specific: the University of Utah has created apps like AnatomyLab, which allows students to view a body in 40 different stages of dissection. Students can even access apps that allow them to refer to their e-texts during class.

In my opinion, the true beauty of the iPhone is that you can enjoy an outdoor class and still take notes, photos, and look up information online. And if you (or your prof) ever want a break from the ubiquity of technology, you can just put it in your pocket, and move on.

–Robyn Tellefsen

Entry Filed under: College Trends