Increase New Student Orientation Attendance - Give Away iPhones

Oklahoma Christian University partnered with Apple Computers to offer every 1st year student attending orientation the option of a new Apple MacBook, iPhone, or iPod Touch!

While it sounds unique, it's not the first time as Abilene Christian University (ACU) were the pioneers in offering a free iPhone or IPod Touch as a bonus just to go to their school.

According to ACU:

Freshmen will use an iPhone or iPod touch to receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors' offices, and check their meal and account balances - among more than 15 other useful web applications already developed, said ACU Chief Information Officer Kevin Roberts.

ACU is serious in trying to make the iPhone a major part of every aspect of college life. They created two hypothetical Youtube videos to demonstrate how they envision campus life with an iPhone.





Ignoring the fact they say "iPhone" every 10 seconds and paint a very glossy world in which everyone is auto trained in effective/productive technology know-how, it is exciting to see a school actually spending the resources to be this forward thinking. The videos were not cheap productions and to give every student an iPhone (with service I assume) is not cheap. I couldn't follow the money trail to see how much was being sponsored by Apple as schools with normal budgets obviously can't afford this kind of mLearning.

ACU's Vision:

As a university, ACU has invested much energy considering emerging trends in education. We've done this because our ongoing goal to help prepare our students to be critical thinkers, knowledgeable professionals, and responsible citizens calls for continual reevaluation of almost everything that happens in and out of the classroom - even a reevaluation of what constitutes the classroom itself.

Here's a behind the scenes look at where ACU is in terms of deployment:



ACU has the resources and what looks like a great team working full time to pursue their vision. I'm excited to see them experimenting so they can figure out the challenges and when the technology is free the rest of the schools with normal budgets can join in.

You can continue to follow their progress at iThinkEd.

Comments

[Kevin Prentiss]

I completely choked on that first video. I was waiting for talking bunnies and happy helper elves to pop out in the wonderful world of (Apple enabled!) techno shangri-la.

After watching the last video though, I really appreciated the approach to change from an appreciative inquiry perspective.

They are really focusing on the positive and painting a clear picture for discussion.

This sets them up for accusations of naivety from tech folks who know how dang hard it is to get things work that well, but the common dynamic on campuses is skeptical faculty and overtaxed IT. Painting a positive vision gives them hope and something to work towards.

It's a "Yes We Can" approach. Whether or not it wins, we'll see.

Sure makes the conversation healthier all the way around. Well done ACU!

Could similar videos be made showing the vision of collaboration between faculty and student affairs? How might it shift the conversation dynamics?

[Steve Snedeker]

We tried something similar to this at SUNY Cobleskill, it never got
off the ground because of the huge backlash by the students. We
weren't going to give away free iphones, but a simple sprint model.

The biggest issue was students whom already have a phone contract with
another company. Will they be required to sign a contract with
whatever phone provider the school goes with?

Another big issue was what if their phone doesn't work at home?
students are spending almost 5 months away from their campus
throughout the year, and why would you want to sign onto a package and
not be able to- use your phone.

A third issue was what if their parents, and friends all have a
different provider and they get to talk for free because they are
within the students network, but the school tells them no you need to
go with our package.

The students also brought up the fact that a lot of professors aren't
real big on new technology, and will not utilize the ability to give
the homework alerts and in-class surveys and quizzes.

For the most part we all agreed that the concept was great, but there
were a few hurdles that had to be jumped before it would be a reality
at Cobleskill. Since then I believe the attempt has been dropped.