[orangeorange123]

Abilene Christian University will be delivering an Apple iPhone or iPod Touch to all members of its incoming class in 2008. 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. Roberts was asked to present ACU's creative vision for converged media devices at Apple headquarters to executives and to selected leaders from universities including Harvard, Yale, MIT, Duke, Stanford, Oxford, Princeton and UCLA.

In Mid-2007, Abilene Christian University announced plans to explore "campus-wide benefits of converged, mobile devices like the Apple iPhone in higher education." In a pilot study of faculty and educational technology developers, the group researched "how these converged, mobile devices can help foster community on campus and facilitate administrative tasks." The iPhone distribution this year is a result of that study.

"The creation of Apple's iPhone – which offers many popular services in one device – has made what we see as the first really compelling solution," said Roberts. "We are very excited about the possibilities that the iPhone offers the learning process, both inside and outside the classroom," said Dr. Bill Rankin, associate professor of English at ACU. "We have a vision for creative ways to enhance the learning experience using a portable device, and we hope to learn more as our pilot group begins using the iPhone every day in the academic setting."



Credits: MacNN.com

Lucky students...i wished my school gave out free iphones.

[sentuhmentalfo0l]

i saw this on yahoo!
so jealous

[felinius]

i saw this on yahoo!
so jealous

I'm jealous too free phones, why not!

Only problem is that can all the students afford having a plan along with the iPhone? Usually it's expensive because now you're talking about internet usage (unlimited internet is somewhere around 40$) and all the minutes as well as text messages.

[Piscesgrl389]

in my college i think starting this year all freshmans and transfers were obligated to get a school phone.
You get to choose from a free phone to paying 200+ for a phone. You can get a free plan which is only 50 mins unlimted
text free min after 7 and free weekends or if you wanna add more min the plan isnt that bad. Internet is
an extra 16 i think? or 12 i 4got. We get blackboard alerts, cheack our emails, grades and i admit its pretty handy.
However, even if you got the free phone and the free plan and you never even
touch the phone you still pay 200+ for the darn thing every semester.
So, there has to be a catch with this whole iphone deal
the phone is fixed in our tution. i wonder how much their tuition is gonna increase
but, still our phone options (esp. the free one) is nowhere near as nice as a itouch/iphone. lol
i still say they are lucky! unless their tutiton increases alot because of the phone.