PepperdineUniversity
Latest
Higher Ed choosing sides on iPad use
Timothy M. Chester, the CIO of Pepperdine University, discussed the ongoing controversy of how higher education has and should deal with the encroachment of the iPad on campuses throughout the country. Using information gleaned from the Educause CIO listserv, he found two camps being formed, and a bit of misinformation. The first camp's motto seems to take the position that if there is a new, potentially useful technology, it should be welcomed immediately. Seton Hill University announced that it will give an iPad to every full-time student in this fall, while George Fox University, a school that has been giving out computers to all incoming students for twenty years, is giving students a choice of either being handed an iPad or a Macbook. Their position is that they aren't willing to say which is the better choice, and many students already come to school with a laptop. To a large extent this is a marketing gimmick. When was the last time you heard of Seton Hill or George Fox University? But on the other hand, I know from experience that IT departments function more cheaply, and most often more effectively if their mission is to not support every digital device in the known universe. Tech support staff that only need to support a small number of platforms need less training, and parts inventories can be drastically reduced. However, Chester writes that putting an iPad into every student's hands would cost Pepperdine around US$800,000 which he posited would be much better spent on hiring new faculty.
