Apple's new iPad tablet computer has been on the market for little more than a week, but that hasn't stopped Seton Hill University, a Catholic liberal arts school in Greensburg, Pa., from making the device a key part of the school's future. Starting this fall, the university will be giving all incoming freshmen an Apple iPad.
Seton Hill is promoting the initiative so heavily that if users type www.setonhill.edu into their Web browsers, they will be taken straight to a page promoting the free iPad initiative.
Kary Coleman, Seton Hill's director of media relations and communications, refuted claims that the university is merely using the iPad offer as a gimmick to lure prospective students, but noted that the school has gotten plenty of attention for the offer.
"In one day, Seton Hill's [Web site] experienced an increase of 30,000 unique visitors to the site," Coleman said in an e−mail to the Daily. "We are pleased that this Web site strategy has helped to make the information about the iPad easily accessible for current and prospective students, alumni, friends and the media."
Students are getting free iPads as a part of Seton Hill's Griffin Technology Advantage program (named after the school's mascot), which will also provide incoming freshmen with new Apple Macbook computers, which will be replaced after two years.
"In these challenging economic times, we made strategic decisions to shift resources and invest in technologies that optimize the students' access to resources. The Griffin Technology Advantage program provides an opportunity to transform the way faculty teach and the way students learn," JoAnne Boyle, the president of Seton Hill University, said in a press release.
Though all incoming students will receive an iPad and a Macbook, there is a catch. Incoming students will pay an increased technology fee ($500) compared to $300 for current students.
Seton Hill claims the increased technology fee for freshmen is designed to improve technological infrastructure rather than pay for the iPads.
Coleman stated that the iPad has serious classroom potential. "The iPad was chosen by Seton Hill because of its mobility and the ease with which faculty and students, in the future, will have immediate access to e−textbooks and comprehensive and integrated learning. With the iPad, students can create, produce, and share work instantly with faculty and fellow students. In addition, they can use Evernote, a note−taking program, that syncs notes, photos, and voice memos automatically with their computers," Colman said.
Seton Hill is not the only institution placing heavy emphasis on the iPad. George Fox University in Newburg, Ore. has offered computers to all incoming students, which have been included in the cost of tuition in the past, but this year, it is giving students the choice of receiving an iPad or a Macbook. Representatives from George Fox University could not be reached for comment at press time.
Tufts sophomore and iPad owner Richard Mondello thinks the iPad has potential as an educational device but thinks it is a bit premature to declare the iPad an essential component of the classroom of the future.
"Even though I love the device and I think there's a lot of potential, and I think it'll get much better when the applications get better over time, the school deciding to give out iPads to students a week after it's come onto the marketplace seems a little premature to me," Mondello said. "I don't think the platform is that thoroughly tested. I can see how it could be a useful device: an Internet browsing device with word−processing capabilities and all sorts of stuff."
Mondello added that though the iPad is an entertainment device, much like any laptop or desktop computer, it can also have the potential to serve as a productivity tool with the right software.
Currently, the top five paid applications on Apple's iPad App Store are all productivity related: Pages, a word processing program; Goodreader, a PDF viewer; Stick it, an "app" that allows for users to place virtual sticky notes on their iPad screen; Keynote, a PowerPoint−like presentation tool; and Numbers, a spreadsheet application.
"Clearly, the iPad is a very useful multimedia device, but it's also a very fast computer that can run applications … Just like our standard computers are multimedia devices, but they're also tools to get work done," Mondello said. "I think I could get legitimate work done and accomplish things with the iPad with the right software, and the software is coming out."
Computer Science Lecturer Ming Chow (E '02) also owns a new iPad and believes the device has the chance to innovate in the classroom.
"It can open up a lot of new opportunities," Chow said. "One thing I can certainly envision is, for example, the Perseus project. One thing that Professor [Gregory] Crane could do is he could render an interactive museum of vases from Greece and render them and have everyone on their iPads take a look at them.
"It can create a lot of very rich experiences," Chow continued.
The Perseus Project is a digital library run by Crane that contains documents and images of artifacts from the ancient Greco−Roman world.
The device's small size also makes it appealing to educators, Chow said.
"I love it. It is the best computer I have had. The only problem [is that it is] hard to do programming on it. But everything that it can do like book reading, web browsing, playing games, it is phenomenal. As an educator, it is a very lightweight machine so I do not have to lug around my trusty laptop," Chow said in a follow−up e−mail to the Daily.
Even if the iPad does not become a classroom or workplace fixture, it is still successful as an entertainment device: Since launching last Sunday, Apple has sold over 600,000 iPads in the United States alone, according to U.S. News & World Report.
