University of Maryland: iPod promoter
p2pnet news view | Advertising:- Does this seem vaguely familiar to you?
“Univ. gives some students iPhones, iPods.”
Can you say Duke or Stanford?
But this time it’s the University of Maryland in Diamondback Online, which goes on »»»
The university gave away free mobile Internet devices to select students in an effort to see if such tools can enhance the learning experiences of its users, a school official said.
Called the Mobility Initiative, the project began at the start of the semester and will examine whether students can effectively use educational applications on iPods and iPhones, said Phyllis Dickerson Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Office of Information Technology.
“I think [this project is] going to be very, very effective,” said Kent Norman, a psychology professor and member of the Mobility Initiative Steering Committee. “I think it’s essential to the campus.”
“Essential to the campus.” Really, professor Norman?
The story goes on:
“The 133 freshmen, including Banneker-Key scholarship recipients and members of the Maryland Incentive Awards Program, had the option of choosing either an iPod Touch or an iPhone 3G for this study, Dickerson Johnson said. The iPod Touches were free, while the iPhones required students to sign a two-year contract with AT&T.”
A two-year contract with AT&T, eh? Absolutely. this should be an essential part of any school curriculum
The university is even running taxpayer-funded focus groups for Apple.
“The students will use the above programs on their iPods and iPhones and then discuss how effective each feature is in seminars,” says the Diamondback. “Their feedback will help faculty determine how effective mobile devices are when it comes to furthering education …”
… and the most effective approach taken with other universities as part of getting this hard-core commercial product into other teaching institutions, with staff and administrations acting as promoters.
‘ Warm and cozy relationship’
But why not? The entertainment cartels have been running American universities as sales and enforcement divisions since 2003.
“cs193P – iPhone Application Programming – Marcos/Doll – TTh 12:50-2:05 – Packard 101,” a p2pnet post led off with last month, going on, “It’s from a Stanford syllabus. The university is unabashedly offering iPhone programming.”
p2pnet continues »»»
But no surprises, really. Stanford — one of America’s most prestigious universities — is, after all, Apple-land, enjoying a warm and cozy relationship with the company.
It admitted doing a deal which, ‘in effect turned the university into an Apple iTunes promotional outfit’.
Now, “Taking a step that professors may view as a bit counterproductive, some universities are doling out Apple iPhones and Internet-capable iPods to students,” according to the New York Times.
It goes on, “The always-on Internet devices raise some novel possibilities, like tracking where students congregate. With far less controversy, colleges could send messages about canceled classes, delayed buses, campus crises or just the cafeteria menu.”
A big part of the attraction is that the iPhone is “cool and a hit with students,” says the story, continuing, “Basking in the aura of a cutting-edge product could just help a university foster a cutting-edge reputation.
“Apple stands to win as well, hooking more young consumers with decades of technology purchases ahead of them. The lone losers, some fear, could be professors.”
Actually, it’s not so much a matter of Apple winning as well. It’s more that Apple is the primary beneficiary, standing to gain far more out of the deal than anyone else.
American students are already having their studies of negatively impacted, to coin a phrase, by the depredations of the corporate entertainment cartels, with the RIAA well in the front.
Students are accused of being criminals and thieves who download corporate ‘product,’ causing serious financial hardship to Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG on the one hand, and Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, Sony, NBC Universal and Disney, on the other.
But while the major labels and movie studios claim they’re being”devastated” (a word they both use repeatedly) by file sharing, they continue to report eye-popping incomes.
With that in the background, “the newest devices can take class distractions to a new level,” the NYT states.
“They practically beg a user to ignore the long-suffering professor struggling to pass on accumulated wisdom from the front of the room —- a prospect that teachers find galling and students view as, well, inevitable.”
Only in America.
Diamondback Online -Univ. gives some students iPhones, iPods, September 4, 2008
p2pnet – iPhone in new Apple school penetration plan, August 22, 2008
p2pnet – Stanford offers Apple iPhone course, August 20, 2008
New York Times -Welcome, Freshmen. Have an iPod, August 20, 2008
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