Incoming SoE students to receive free iPods

By: Jason Gomes

Posted: 3/11/05

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.

"One needs to look no further than the School's mission for the reason why we are giving out these iPods," Hanson said, "It is strictly just about the creative incorporation of technology to improve human understanding. If we gave students a piece of technology designed specifically to be used in the classroom, it wouldn't open up the same avenues of creativity and problem solving that the iPods does."

The School of Education plans to distribute the iPods to freshmen education students during New Student Days.

When asked about upper-class Education students being upset not receiving an iPod, Hanson commented that the students will have an opportunity to upgrade their iPods at a discounted rate if they own one. For students who do not own one, they will have the opportunity to purchase one at a discounted rate. In addition, the School of Education will sponsor a competition in the Spring term for upper-class students and graduate students to receive an iPod based on their creative ideas to incorporate it in education.

"I think it is ridiculous that freshmen are receiving iPods while upperclassmen are not," Laura Guzzi, a sophomore majoring in teacher education, said. "While I can see the benefits for the freshmen, what I don't understand is why can't we also receive one as well. My fellow peers have been here for two years, have worked hard in our major and are not receiving a gift or recognition. It is unfair that these incoming students are receiving a gift when they have yet to even begin work."

"I am not very bothered that the freshmen are receiving free iPods," Nichole Keiper, a sophomore majoring in Teacher Education, said. "My reservation is that these incoming freshmen can receive these iPods and then proceed to drop their major and still keep the iPods. I also hope that I am right when I am stating that the School of Education is not using this as a marketing ploy to attract incoming students."

Keiper also went on further to state that all students in the School should receive these iPods because the students in all class levels will have similar experiences, knowledge and have equal chances to obtain careers after graduation.

Faculty in the School of Education also provided their thoughts on the iPods.

"I am thrilled to learn this new technology, Professor Mary Jo Grdina said. "My head is spinning as I sit with my colleagues and brainstorm how this new device can enhance and enrich teaching. I do not know how I will specifically use it but I am currently learning to use it and am beginning to realize the power in this little device. I am confident that the iPod will become part of education just as it has been with computers, e-mail and the Internet. I have no fears or reservations about this device."

"As an educator in a University famous for and committed to promoting technology, it is important to remain on the cutting edge of making these new technologies available to students and faculty alike," Director of the Drexel Center for Learning and Academic Excellence Sheila Graves said. "I have already started investigating ways in which the iPod will enhance my class and have every intention of using it as a teaching and learning tool. I see it as an important way to engage learners and the very idea of an excited learner, motivates me to think of ways to use it to enrich my course."

Graves also commented that she feels the iPod will serve many different types of audience and provide many great services. This will serve as an instrumental tool for students with learning disabilities since they will have the chance to download lectures and pace themselves with the delivery of information from lectures and notes. Course files can easily be stored and students can browse through the course materials and create their individual course portfolios and can also be used in tutoring and student teaching sessions.

"We have abundant research evidence that every student learns in a unique way, and that every student uses multiple types of intelligence, e.g. visual, spatial, kinesthetic, musical, artistic, etc. in addition to language and mathematical intelligences, to learn," Associate Professor for the School of Education Francis Harvey said, "The iPods will help us reach students through a wider variety of these intelligences."

"Developing effective uses of iPods to promote learning will take considerable time and effort, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. We all have to be very careful to follow all the regulations on intellectual property rights when using other peoples' materials. On the whole, however, Drexel students are so 'tech-savvy' that it will be fun to involve them in exploring how to get the most out of their iPods to integrate entertainment and learning."