colleges
Latest
Amazon takes on textbook sales at major universities
Amazon is set to open distribution centers at two large US colleges and offer students next-day delivery of textbooks and other items through co-branded websites. The universities of Massachusetts Amherst and Purdue say that the deal means students will save nearly $400 annually on textbooks. Amazon is also giving the schools a 0.5-2.5 percent cut, which will net at least $1.7 million in revenue for Purdue and $1.5 million for UMass over four years, according to the WSJ. The Amazon distribution center will completely replace the UMass textbook annex, currently operated by educational specialist Follett. That store will no longer carry course materials, but will continue to sell computers, clothing and other items.
Gig. U hopes to bring Gigabit networks and straight cash, homey, to university communities
Familiar with Johnny Appleseed? He who traipsed 'round the country with a sack 'o seeds on his shoulder, planting trees hither and yon leaving apple orchards blooming in his wake? Gig. U is similar, only it's a project that aims to plant Gigabit networks in 29 collegiate communities to facilitate research, attract start-ups, and stimulate local economies. The plan is just getting underway, and the schools in question -- including Virginia Tech, the University of Hawaii, and the University of Alaska -- are asking private telcos and companies to help make their high-speed dreams a reality. In addition to benefiting the immediate areas, Gig. U sees these swift new networks functioning as hubs in a faster nationwide broadband system. The colleges claim that construction of these new information superhighways won't start for several years, so it'll be some time before they can help elevate us from our current state of broadband mediocrity. Chop, chop, guys.
University of Florida pharmacy students must have iPhone or iPod Touch
It's getting to be the 'in' thing for Colleges and Universities. The University of Florida at Gainesville is now requiring incoming pharmacy students for the fall semester to have either an iPhone or an iPod touch. The student Newspaper, the Alligator, quotes the College of Pharmacy Dean William Riffee saying:"These are the instruments at the forefront that are developing applications for medical uses by the hundreds. We want our students to become adept at using these mobile devices early on because we see this as the future in pharmacy practice."The Dean also owns an iPhone so he knows of what he speaks.In May, the University of Missouri School of Journalism also required the popular Apple devices, saying they would be helpful for recording lectures and other academic uses.This is obviously a good thing for Apple, and the University thinks it is a good thing for students. It's not so good, however, if you already own a Zune.Thanks to Billy S. for the tip
Richard Bartle laments poor state of game education in the UK
Richard Bartle -- the man who co-invented MUDs at the University of Essex in 1978 -- described the poor state of game-related academic study and education when speaking at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival a few days ago.Bartle made a distinction between games-focused training (the acquisition of skills by instruction) and games-focused education (the development of understanding through learning). He said that the United Kingdom's colleges are short on education, even though training is available at some universities.He noted that symptoms of this problem are already apparent: the academic community, such as it is, has been unable to agree (or even engage in cohesive discourse) about the reasons men and women often play as characters of a different sex than their own in MMOs.
College students shunning free music subscription services
It's the rare college student who will turn down free anything -- free food, free booze, and free love are all top priorities for the modern scholar -- so we were more than a little surprised to learn that those online music subscriptions being offered gratis by a number of colleges haven't really taken off like one would assume. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, the services from Napster and company have proven so unpopular that many schools are dropping the program altogether after only a year or two, although the RIAA claims that the number of participating campuses will actually increase "pretty significantly" this fall. Even if that's true, it's not clear why students at newly-subscribed schools would behave any differently than ones who already have access to the free tunes and still choose alternative distribution methods -- most notably the iTunes music store and the still-popular P2P networks. Ultimately it seems to be the services' many restrictions that are turning off the college crowd -- tracks can't always be burned to disc or transferred to a DAP, and they also disappear after four years -- and the fact that students today treasure their iPods even more than their precious cans of beer only makes non-FairPlay content that much more undesirable.[Via TechDirt]
