WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2004
TECHNOLOGY
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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17
Device encourages new applications for classroom use
Duke gives iPods to incoming freshmen
Photo Illustration by Courtney Kublen/Kansan
Duke University will distribute Apple iPods to all of its 1,650 freshman this August. The project is expected to cost $500,000, paid for by a fund set aside for technology improvements.
By Miranda Lening
mlenning@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
New students at Duke University will receive a 3.6 ounce gift at freshman orientation. Along with the abundance of confusing paperwork, each freshman will be given a small box containing a brandnew Apple iPod.
Duke will distribute Apple iPods to all of its 1.650 freshman on August 19.
David Menzies, manager of Duke's Office of Instructional Technology and News and Information, said the iPods could hold up to 20 gigabytes of material, store any type of audio file and could download text information.
The iPod can also be used for text material, which Duke will make use of by providing orientation information and an academic calendar for freshmen.
Duke will distribute Apple iPods to all of its 1,650 freshman. The iPod will also be used for text material, such as orientation information and an academic calendar for freshman.
He said the iPods would be defaulted with basic Duke-related information about campus sites, such as dining areas, residence halls and classroom locations.
tions for the iPod in the classroom.
The iPods are part of a collaborative program between Apple and Duke. Menzies said the university hoped that this would encourage students and faculty to come up with creative applica-
He said the capability of the iPods could allow for all classroom reading to be downloaded and listened to in an audio format.
The iPods will be most effective in language and music and environmental classes, he said.
In one Spanish course, Menzies said that the professor had decided to use the iPods to listen to textbook examples and hear Spanish songs.
In an environmental studies program, the students will use the iPods to record lectures, take notes in the field and record interviews.
"The iPods will allow students in our environmental programs to work with their professors when they are out in the field." Menzies said.
He said this was just a part of a plan to enhance the learning environment at Duke.
"We want to ensure that the learning environment on campus supports what the students are used to outside of the learning environment."
David Menzies
Manager of Duke University's Office of Instructional Technology and News and Information
"We have some of the smartest students in the world," Menzies said. "We want to ensure that the learning environment on campus supports what the students are used to outside of the learning environment."
The project is expected to cost $500,000,paid for by a fund set aside for
Menzies said that there would not be a tuition increase and that none of the money would come from operational funding.
"This money has been around for a while, and has been set aside for this," he said. "We wanted to make sure that we weren't going to take it out of the students' operational fund."
technology improvements.
The Duke Center for Instructional Technology is spearheading the academic part of the project. The center said that a large part of the in-class application would depend on individual professors.
"There is so much potential for these iPods in and out of the classroom that we don't want to narrow them down in the initial phases of planning," Menzies said.
Edited by Julie Jones
Heard on the Hill
Should the University of Kansas try giving technology to new students and how could the technology be paid for?
Compiled by Miranda Lenning
"Our student fees are high enough, so I think we should have the opportunity to try out new technology. We could get volunteers to pay a fee to participate in an experimental program. The people that
pay the fee could get the iPods, because even if our University is too big to give them to everybody, some people probably don't care about them."
Niki Fanara, Dallas junior
"Giving iPods to students also means that there will be kids in class that are listening to music on the iPod instead of paying attention. It is a good idea but you have to look at the consequences."
Jason Arribas, Syracuse, M.Y., senior
"The problem for KU is that there is not enough money to take care of students. Duke is a private school not a public. At KU they are always talking about the budget, so it is hard for KU to do something like
that. They could experiment with providing something like an iPod or laptop to specific schools, and see how they respond to them."
Choi Beomjoun, South Korea, graduate student
"It is a good way to try new technology. Hopefully, in time, KU can come up with something that can accommodate a way to use technology and maybe download lectures on the Internet."
Maggie Lee, Overland Park senior