University Makes Apple Portables a “Requirement”
File this one under “Apple is secretly buying up schools with their healthy stack of cash.” I’m only kidding, but in a move that probably has a lot of parents eyeing their teen’s list of required materials with a considerable amount of suspicion, the University of Missouri is making Apple’s iPhone and/or iPod touch a requirement for some incoming freshmen. It’s true that many programs make having an Apple computer a requirement, because of the industry-specific software and programs they teach with and for, but even Stanford’s iPhone development course doesn’t have the devices themselves as a requirement, making this a notable first.
The “requirement” in this case is more like a recommendation, though, since it won’t be monitored or enforced. And it doesn’t apply to all students at the university, only those in the journalism program. The reasoning behind requiring students to have the devices is not that they can listen to music or play Bejeweled 2 if they find their lectures boring, but that they can use their iPhone and iPod touch to augment their learning experience. Administrators at the university are hoping that by recording and listening to their lectures more than once, knowledge retention and understanding will go up.
A number of questions spring to mind: Why not just make a portable recording device of any kind a requirement? Apparently, the university isn’t actually trying to push students into an Apple purchase so much as they are trying to give them the opportunity to make one, should they so desire. The reason they attached “required” to the iPhone and iPod touch is so that the hardware would then qualify for inclusion in financial aid requests. And why Apple? Familiarity, according to the administration, although some students aren’t so sure, and have started a Facebook protest group, citing a possible conflict of interest between the school and the Cupertino-based electronics company.
I’m of the opinion that while this smacks of product placement or some kind of innovative marketing relationship, the effect is relatively harmless at worst, and genuinely helpful to some at best. By specifying a platform like the iPod touch and iPhone, the school also sets itself up for developing and releasing school and program-specific apps later on. Heck, I wish more schools would make Apple notebooks and desktops “required” in the same way, so that you could likewise claim those in your student expenses. The challenge is making sure that “required” on paper doesn’t become “required” in effect, and put students who don’t opt-in at an educational disadvantage.
Tweet This (30)
Champs on May 11th, 2009 at 11:20 am
While they are speccing out requirements to match realities, they may as well add sandals, beaded necklaces, and The North Face jackets.
HazardousPaste on May 11th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
I bet 95% of the people that join the facebook group “in protest” will buy an iPhone anyway. It’s so sad that facebook groups are often the most virulent form of protest they can think of these days.
Robert on May 11th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Really? And would your opinion be that it was as harmless, I wonder, if it was a Zune that was “required” for coursework? As you said, “portable audio device”, then let the user choose.
Nick on May 11th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Just wait till apple introduces their 10″ slate/tablet/pad or whatever you want to call it. like the kindle dx, but far,far more capable. Almost all textbooks will be used on tablets instead of print. And the way textbooks are written will evolve greatly , using integration of multimedia into the book format. It will surly enrich the learning process.
HazardousPaste on May 11th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Right, because Tablets have no problems either. :-\ The paper book isn’t going away any time soon.
Diseño Web on May 11th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
I love Apple, I’m a Mac user and a I’ve a I phone, but I think the “recomendation” is ridiculous. When I was student (more than 15 years ago) we only needed books and scientific calculators. To “augment our learning experience” we only needed more coffee in those all night study session .
Cousin Dan on May 11th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
I’ve found my ipod touch extremely useful during my degree. I’ve been able to instantly look something up, take unlimited notes, calculate and convert measurements, set deadlines in my calender and more recently apps have appeared specific to my industry (architecture) like a scale ruler. I even wrote about it in my dissertation.
Matthew B. Howell on May 11th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
I happen to find this article quite interesting – when you stop and think about this “requirement”, it’s not going to be the individual students who are going to pay for these it will be the parents of said students that will be footing the bill. Speaking as someone who happens to work in the I.T. Department of a college that is run by the State of Washington, I know that our Support Techs (of which I’m one) would have a massive heart attack if we were informed by our Department Director that we were now required to support student’s iPhones/iPod Touchs. Our department currently employs 4 full-time (classified staff) Desktop Support Technicians. Of these 4, 1 is dedicated solely to the support of our printer vlan maintenance, 2 are dedicated to “client support” which is made up of all forms of Windows XP desktop/network support, and the remaining 1 is dedicated to the desktop/network support of our very small fleet of G4’s.
Since our College District is currently facing massive budget cuts ordered by our Governor that also includes a hiring freeze until further notice, we currently do not have anywhere near the needed funds to either hire new Support Techs or offer training for existing Support Techs in order to be able to give support for “luxuries” such as iPhones and iPod Touches. Telling students that these types of devices are required is one thing, telling your I.T. Services Department that they may be required to support them is something else entirely.
I sincerely hope that the University of Missouri does not arbitrarily decide to enforce the student use of these products. If they did, it would set a major precedent that other schools, across the country, may decide to adopt and the end result, if that were to happen, would be that these “bandwagon” school administrators will end up sending their bloated I.T. budget requests to their state legislators who will, in turn, respond by asking “Why should I fund your school’s ability to support PDA’s and cellphones when our state is in the middle of a monetary crisis?” (I’m paraphrasing here, of course).
Disclaimer: The above comments are solely my opinions. I am not authorized to speak on behalf of my employer.
andre on May 12th, 2009 at 3:16 am
i find this quite disturbing on many levels.
- they claim that the reason it’s required is for students aid to cover the cost. so who’s paying for the ipods? (not a retorical question i am just not familiar with us university financial aid system)
- when i was a student i don’t remember it being required to have a sony voice recorder or a moleskin calendar. Sure these are useful, and you could claim that they help learning but is that sufficient to sponsor them?
- “required” on paper doesn’t become “required” in effect”. For someone with such high morals when it comes to arguing about apple DRM and app store policies it surprises me that you are suggesting scaming the student financial aid system with tools that aren’t really “required”.
- what is the university getting from Apple to put something like this through? Or is this just some apple fanboy high up in the university pushing this?
diseño web on November 10th, 2009 at 8:30 am
This very rare, I also fodder that is by introduction of the product or insurance exists an agreement. If they wish that people record the classes because there are many ways and of smaller cost to do it