No, this isn't one of those offers to give you a free iPhone if you complete 1 copper offer, 3 bronze offers, 10 silver offers, 25 gold offers, 100 platinum offers...and then sign up 10 friends who do the same. I may have found the easiest way to get a free iPhone. Really. All you have to do is enroll at Abilene Christian University. It was announced a couple of weeks ago that the Wildcats of ACU will be doling out iPhones to all incoming freshman so that they can-- according to ACU's CIO Kevin Roberts-- "receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors' offices, and check their meal and account balances." That, and get the latest scoop on Britney'n'Friends at TMZ, watch some cute baby sing "Hey Jude" on YouTube, and listen to whatever those crazy college kids listen to these days. (Click here to see what this crazy kid is listening to!)
The immediate reaction to news like this is usually one of two responses:
1. That's genius!! Capatalizing on technology and converged media to better our students minds is a great idea! This speaks to them on their level!
2. That's ridiculous!! Those college kids only use iPods for listening to that damned Rock'N'Roll -- it's the devil's music! We can't trust them with $500 pieces of equipment -- especially when they'll never use it for good!
I suppose I'm somewhere in the middle.
Hey, I'm all for identifying applicable technologies and trying something different with them within the educational landscape. Heck, it was almost a year ago that Pearson started using Playaway as a curriculum tool for K-12 classrooms. And I think it is true that students need unique, relevant ways to learn course material -- different from the ways that their parents and grandparents were taught. But...free iPhones for all incoming college freshman? Is it really providing these students with an academic advantage over...say...not giving them a free iPhone? I suppose we'll only find out after they review the project. However, I do find it interesting that Duke University -- one of the first colleges to start handing out iPods for "learning purposes" -- decided, after their $500,000 experiment, to no longer distribute them to each student for free.
I guess, in the end, I'm just not sold that a free iPhone would revolutionize my college educational experience. It wasn't THAT long ago that I was a Falcon and Spartan-- and while I do think it would've been cool to listen to lectures while at the gym, I'm not sure that warrants a $500/student investment.
I don't doubt, however, that it might have been worth the publicity and is certainly one heck of a recruiting tool. Who wants to bet that applications at Abilene Christian University are up a billion percent next year?
