By Kelsi Peace, Managing Editor

In response to a commitment made at an iPhone forum earlier this month, Kevin Roberts, chief information officer for ACU, with others at the heart of the iPhone initiative, will begin a student group next Thursday.

At 7 p.m. in the McGlothlin Campus Center Living Room April 3, students can attend an interest meeting to join a group aimed at using student input to develop applications for the iPhones and the iPod touch.

“I’ve long since passed the days of understanding what a student would want,” Roberts said. “This whole initiative is about students, and student outcome and student learning. A huge part of that is student opinion.”

Right now, the group has little structure – Roberts said students can decide how they want to communicate at the meeting.

“I would love to have 300 [students],” Roberts said. “The more the better; it doesn’t really matter.”

Students who commit to the group will offer input and help develop applications for the iPhone and iPod touch initiative that will provide the incoming freshman class with iPhones or iPod touches.

Although Roberts said he is eager to hear students’ ideas and suggestions, he made one thing clear:

“This is not a rehash meeting of why the freshman are getting iPhones. We’re moving forward.”

Any student can use the applications developed by the university, Roberts said, so long as they own an iPhone or iPod touch, which he said includes many students on campus. And those students, who already have iPhones or iPod touches, are students Roberts is especially eager to hear from.

Applications already developed for the initiative include attendance, class schedules and a map of campus. Developers are working on applications that could allow students to pre-order food in the Campus Center or from local businesses, among other applications.

“This is not at all a paper tiger group,” Roberts said. “We really are very interested in tapping into student opinion.”