By Daniel Johnson-Kim, Editor in Chief
Luz Hernandez will miss her red Samsung flip phone, but not that much.
After waiting in line Aug. 16 with a multitude of other freshmen and their families, Hernandez, freshman business marketing major from Sulfur Springs, made her way to an open table where an AT&T representative was waiting to hand her an iPhone – one of the most cutting edge mobile devices in the world, compliments of ACU.
“This is weird,” Hernandez said, while holding her iPhone in her hands for the first time. “I have a friend that has one of these, and he said that you miss the buttons on a regular phone.”
More than 950 freshmen received an iPhone or an iPod touch as part of ACU’s Mobile Learning Initiative, an effort to incorporate the Apple mobile learning devices in the classrooms and hallways of ACU. The distribution of the devices began Aug. 16 and is still ongoing as freshmen who did not attend Welcome Week make their way to ACU, said Kay Reeves, director of Technology Support and Customer Service.
“We don’t know when the end is,” Reeves said.
Although the exact number of iPhones and iPod touches distributed among the students of the class of 2012 has not been compiled, the more popular device between the two was the iPhone. Reeves said more than 600 freshmen chose to upgrade their phone plan and receive an iPhone, while almost 350 freshmen chose the iPod touch. Transfer students were not given iPhones or iPod touches.
An iPhone costs around $199 and an iPod touch costs around $299, but students did not have to pay for the devices. Each student signed a Mobile Device Program Student Agreement, which laid out the policies of the program and explained that ACU retained all ownership of the devices; the students were granted a “limited license” to use the device. Students who chose the iPhone are responsible for the monthly phone charges.
“The phone is property of ACU, and they can choose to take it back at any point in time,” said George Saltsman, director of the Adams Center for Teaching and Learning.
The amount ACU will have to pay for the devices is unknown, but it will be more than $200,000. Kevin Roberts, Chief Information Officer and director of re-engineering, said it is a small price to pay for the educational benefits of the devices.
“Not just us, but literally the world is watching this group of students at ACU and asking, ‘Hey how do you use these things?'” Roberts said.
Students can use the devices for everything from answering in-class surveys and quizzes, checking their meal and account balances, receiving homework alerts and even downloading the occasional game. Laura Lybrand, freshman communication major from San Antonio, said it is up to each individual student to make sure they don’t waste the opportunity to use the devices and up to ACU to enhance the learning environment.
“It depends on the person,” Lybrand said, conceding that some students may just “play and mess around with” their new devices.
Reeves said the university is going to be active in making sure students know how to use the devices, and a Team 55 representative is will be available to help each student troubleshoot. During Welcome Week and the first few weeks of school, Team 55 representatives will visit the residence halls and station themselves in the lobbies to help with any questions, Reeves said. On ACU cable Channel 55 video tutorials on how to use the devices will play around the clock.
Students were trained on how to use the devices when they were distributed, and Reeves said students can always call or go to the Team 55 desk in the Learning Commons for technical support.
Although the university has established some plans for use inside the classroom, Roberts said ACU will constantly check in with the freshmen and the faculty to get new ideas on how to use the devices in an academic setting.
“My hope is freshmen will go, ‘Can you please stop asking us about these things,'” Roberts said.
Roberts said the university has been fighting the myth that the Mobile Learning Initiative is a gimmick to increase enrollment numbers since the announcement in February, but ACU has taken steps to plan how to use the devices and make sure they are used for more than the occasional Facebook message.
“It’s a tool just like a whiteboard, a overhead projector and a pen and paper,” Roberts said.
Hernandez was more than happy to receive her new tool, but the whole experience was a little daunting for Roger Elliot, a family friend who went through the line with Hernandez.
“When we went to school, they gave you a book and put you in a dark corner,” Elliot said. “They didn’t give you any of this stuff.”
