Call me a fuddy-duddy, anti-Ipod-ist (it's actually envy), but I wonder how many adminstrators at Duke are asking, "Why didn't we find a good way of integrating this technology into the curriculum before spending half-a-million dollars on it? The Duke drops iPod article outlines a novel approach this year at Duke..."the popular digital music players will be given this fall to just those students who take classes in which faculty members say they'll use them." Wow, what a concept! OK, I am picking on Duke for doing what the rest of us in higher education have been doing for years in the way of purchasing high-priced computers...but this situation highlights the folly of chasing after a technology and assuming that it will magically transform the learning activities. Good grief, I have been hearing that insanity since the first overhead projector appeared in my junior high math class 30+ years ago!
Actually, I give Duke high marks on this one, but not for improving learning: For half a million dollars, they have received national and international publicity on a scale that would have cost 10 times the amount had they paid an ad agency for it. Now, they are getting additional publicity dividends for making a mid-course correction..and the benefitting freshman class still have their Ipod trophies...not bad, Duke!