Comments on: University Makes Apple Portables a “Requirement”

By: Posicionamiento Web

Posicionamiento Web — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 21:41:25 +0000

I used to wonder what the big deal was about iPhones until I got one. Not I can’t imagine doing work without it. It has so many useful functions, applications and services that it has practically become a necessity in my line of work.

It shouldn’t be a requirement but it would be wise for everyone to use them to stay organized.

By: Jason Cobbet

Jason Cobbet — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:54:47 +0000

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By: diseño web

diseño web — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:30:27 +0000

This very rare, I also fodder that is by introduction of the product or insurance exists an agreement. If they wish that people record the classes because there are many ways and of smaller cost to do it

By: andre

andre — Tue, 12 May 2009 09:16:22 +0000

i find this quite disturbing on many levels.
- they claim that the reason it’s required is for students aid to cover the cost. so who’s paying for the ipods? (not a retorical question i am just not familiar with us university financial aid system)
- when i was a student i don’t remember it being required to have a sony voice recorder or a moleskin calendar. Sure these are useful, and you could claim that they help learning but is that sufficient to sponsor them?
- “required” on paper doesn’t become “required” in effect”. For someone with such high morals when it comes to arguing about apple DRM and app store policies it surprises me that you are suggesting scaming the student financial aid system with tools that aren’t really “required”.
- what is the university getting from Apple to put something like this through? Or is this just some apple fanboy high up in the university pushing this?

By: Matthew B. Howell

Matthew B. Howell — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:08:50 +0000

I happen to find this article quite interesting – when you stop and think about this “requirement”, it’s not going to be the individual students who are going to pay for these it will be the parents of said students that will be footing the bill. Speaking as someone who happens to work in the I.T. Department of a college that is run by the State of Washington, I know that our Support Techs (of which I’m one) would have a massive heart attack if we were informed by our Department Director that we were now required to support student’s iPhones/iPod Touchs. Our department currently employs 4 full-time (classified staff) Desktop Support Technicians. Of these 4, 1 is dedicated solely to the support of our printer vlan maintenance, 2 are dedicated to “client support” which is made up of all forms of Windows XP desktop/network support, and the remaining 1 is dedicated to the desktop/network support of our very small fleet of G4′s.

Since our College District is currently facing massive budget cuts ordered by our Governor that also includes a hiring freeze until further notice, we currently do not have anywhere near the needed funds to either hire new Support Techs or offer training for existing Support Techs in order to be able to give support for “luxuries” such as iPhones and iPod Touches. Telling students that these types of devices are required is one thing, telling your I.T. Services Department that they may be required to support them is something else entirely.

I sincerely hope that the University of Missouri does not arbitrarily decide to enforce the student use of these products. If they did, it would set a major precedent that other schools, across the country, may decide to adopt and the end result, if that were to happen, would be that these “bandwagon” school administrators will end up sending their bloated I.T. budget requests to their state legislators who will, in turn, respond by asking “Why should I fund your school’s ability to support PDA’s and cellphones when our state is in the middle of a monetary crisis?” (I’m paraphrasing here, of course).

Disclaimer: The above comments are solely my opinions. I am not authorized to speak on behalf of my employer.

By: Cousin Dan

Cousin Dan — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:12:19 +0000

I’ve found my ipod touch extremely useful during my degree. I’ve been able to instantly look something up, take unlimited notes, calculate and convert measurements, set deadlines in my calender and more recently apps have appeared specific to my industry (architecture) like a scale ruler. I even wrote about it in my dissertation.

By: Whiteboards and Blackboards: iPhones and Laptops « Management is a Contact Sport

Mon, 11 May 2009 23:46:53 +0000

[...] and Blackboards: iPhones and Laptops May 12, 2009 — jasondowns I recently came across this post that talks about the University of Missouri seeking to make the Apple iPhone a requirement in some [...]

By: Diseño Web

Diseño Web — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:14:20 +0000

I love Apple, I’m a Mac user and a I’ve a I phone, but I think the “recomendation” is ridiculous. When I was student (more than 15 years ago) we only needed books and scientific calculators. To “augment our learning experience” we only needed more coffee in those all night study session .

By: HazardousPaste

HazardousPaste — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:36:06 +0000

Right, because Tablets have no problems either. :- The paper book isn’t going away any time soon.

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:59:58 +0000

Just wait till apple introduces their 10″ slate/tablet/pad or whatever you want to call it. like the kindle dx, but far,far more capable. Almost all textbooks will be used on tablets instead of print. And the way textbooks are written will evolve greatly , using integration of multimedia into the book format. It will surly enrich the learning process.