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Duke University Renews iPod Initiative

Duke University Renews iPod Initiative

by , 4:30 PM EDT, April 6th, 2005

Duke University, which made headlines last year by giving iPods to all 1,600 freshmen, will continue the initiative with this fall's incoming class, the university said Wednesday.

The $500,000 program has received mixed results so far, but Duke University said it will continue distributing the devices to students next year, "although in a more targeted manner, while also exploring other educational applications of multimedia technologies, school officials announced Wednesday." The iPods will be part of the new Duke Digital Initiative (DDI).

"We weren’t sure what to expect when we launched this project, but we’ve been pleased by how it's succeeded in encouraging many faculty and students to consider new ways of using the technology in fields from engineering to foreign languages," said Peter Lange, Peter Lange, the university's provost and senior academic officer "We've been focusing on iPods and other mobile computing, but our wider goal is to integrate technology broadly into the teaching and learning process. The iPods have helped jump-start this process, and we plan to keep pushing ahead." The full text of Mr. Lange's memo can be read here.

An updated FAQ has also been released.

The iPods have primarily been used this year in foreign language classes and for students to download lectures to listen to at their leisure. Some engineering classes have also incorporated the iPods into their curriculums. Out of 1,650 students who received iPods this year, 600 used them for classes in the fall, Duke said. Data on the spring semester is not yet available.

Observer Comments

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Close Name:Guest
Subject: they should use Napster!!!!!

They should use Napster, dammit!!!!! Oh, wait - sorry. I was having a RealityCheck moment there.

View Name:RealityCheck -   Troll Posts: 392 Joined: 06 May 2004
Subject: 26,000 Penn State Students Use Napster - Better Deal
Close Name:Guest
Subject: Purpose of iPod in Education

What wonderful tunnel vision you have, RC. Did you ever consider that, for this specific application, it may not be a good thing to make it easy for students to load up on all the music they'd want?

If you took a moment to read past TMO coverage, you'd see that many are concerned that the kids are using their iPods to listen to music, rather than lectures, which is the point of the program.

Watch as the Penn State student flunk out since they spent their time listening to music instead of lectures. But at least they'll be able to recite the lyrics of the Top 20 Countdown, when they aren't asking the next customer if they'd like fries with that.

Close Name:Guest
Subject: A matter of perspective...?

This always astounds me: two news releases from two media outlets on the same day report the same factual news... and represent it as meaning two completely different things.

Forbes.com had this to say: (an AP news story)

Duke Decides Against Another IPod Giveaway

"An iPod in every new student's hand? Not this year at Duke. The private university in Durham has decided not reprise last year's experimental mass handout to all incoming freshman of the pricey hard-disk portable digital players.

Only students enrolled in certain classes will get the free gadgets."


It's a success! No, it's a failure! No, it's... what the hell is it, anyway?

Soo tired of having to sift through the BS.

Close Name:Jen Posts: 34 Joined: 20 Jun 2001
Subject:

One side effect of the program here is that many more people than just freshmen appear to have purchased them. (They are available in the bookstore but they are often sold out.) While iPods were popular on campus prior to the initiative, casual observation suggests that a larger fraction of the entire university now owns them. Grad students and even the faculty can be commonly seen sporting them. I am not sure how well this translates into Mac sales, but PowerBooks seem to be sprouting everywhere as well.

Close Name:jacrav Posts: 268 Joined: 04 Jul 2001
Subject: Re: Perspective …

… can be gained by reading the Provost's memo, which sounds quite positive in view of just the Fall semester's result reports. I didn't read the Forbes's article (linked to it in new tab, then closed the page … ), but it sounds like the author drew hasty conclusions …
Obviously, the iPod is still limited in what it can do, so it's not a cure-all, and it's now time to add other tools to the panoply. Had the iPod experiment been a failure, the position might be to NOT have any iPods and either use other tools, or drop the whole idea of experimenting with new technology, period.

Close Name:Guest
Subject: Duke's iPods

What does a Napster look like? What kind of belt hanger do they come with?

Close Name:geoduck Posts: 1922 Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Subject: Editorial license

According to news reports

Duke University to continue iPod program
http://playlistmag.com/news/2005/04/06/duke/index.php

Duke abandons iPod giveaway program
http://www.theindychannel.com/education/4355075/detail.html

As someone mentioned above it's interesting how the same story can get two wholly different spins.

Close Name:Guest
Subject: >> PSU Students don't want Napster <<

"Another good question the Penn State students raise is why their school did not pick Apple's iTunes Music Store as the service of choice. It runs on both Macs and Windows-based PCs."

"I'd rather be able to download and burn CDs," Jacquelyn Virgi, a junior told the Penn State paper.

"For the time being, it looks like a large chunk of the Penn State student body is stuck paying for a service they don't really want, in part, because the heads of their school happen to be very, very close friends with a lobby group."

http://www.theregister.com/2003/11/10/penn_states_pigopolist_pork/

Close Name:Guest
Subject: Penn State Students Revolt Against Napster

Students can download - or stream - all the songs they like for free but can only use or play the tunes while at Penn State. After their four tuition-paying years are up, their tethered downloads disappear.

Student can opt to pay 99 cents to burn the songs on a CD, but even then there is another catch. Napster is a Windows-only service, so all the Mac fans out there receive squat for their $160 contribution to the IT fund.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/11/07/penn_state_students_revolt_against/

Close Name:iLemming Posts: 9 Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Subject: PSU in the minority

So PSU decided to go with Napster. Well, we can't win them all, but many others are standardizing with the iPod.
Check the facts:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=677&e=3&u=/usatoday/20050407/bs_usatoday/dukesfreeipodswillgojustforclasses

"Other schools have followed in Duke's closely watched footsteps...Drexel University...Georgia College and State University...and Stillman College..."

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