The Triangle

Issue date: 3/11/05 Section: News

Media Credit: Morgen Rossmair

The School of Education will provide a free iPod for each of its incoming freshman students in the 2005-2006 academic year.

"The iPod is a wildly popular piece of technology for entertainment, but it also has a myriad of other potential uses," Director of Marketing and Recruitment for the School of Education Dan Hanson said, "We are giving these iPods in line to one of our primary missions for the school." The mission he referred to is to improve human understanding through programs and activities that emphasize creative uses of human effort, technology and problem solving.

"We are giving the iPods to these incoming freshmen and [challenging] them and the faculty to come up with creative ways to integrate this technology into the curriculum," Hanson said. The School intends to give iPods to incoming freshmen for subsequent years.

Director of School of Education William Lynch pursued the idea of iPods by presenting the idea to University President Papadakis on the basis of its connection to the School's mission and the University's position in the region as Philadelphia's technological University, said Hanson. Lynch then discussed the idea with the faculty and met with the academic deans from other colleges to discuss possible collaborations on the initiative. In addition, he conducted informal surveys with students on campus to assess their thoughts on the initiative. The School of Education then set up a meeting with the University's Apple account representative and he was very receptive.

The School of Education will receive a very reasonable discount on the new 30GB iPods that will include technical support and consulting and will be paid for through pooled resources of the School of Education.

"Admissions will work with the School of Education to publicize the program to the entering class of 2005 and to our recruits for 2006," Director of Undergraduate Enrollment Dana Davies said, "We will do this through e-blasts and direct mail as well as through our events."

Students will use the iPods in the classroom depending on two factors: how faculty members will incorporate its use into their course and how the students will use their individual creativity to apply its use for academic purposes both inside and outside the classroom.

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