ACU announced that incoming students will get an iPhone or iPod touch
to receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors’ offices, and check their meal and account balances . . .
Is this the beginning of new trend?
Yesterday I went to see the new movie Vantage Point. Some sort of handheld device played a big part in the plot of this movie. All I could think about as I watched was, Is that an iPhone and can you really do things like this with a handheld? If the plot of the movie is anywhere close to reality, a few alerts and quizzes in a handheld ought to be easy button useful.
Take a look at the movie ACU did called Connected http://www.acu.edu/connected . It too is one of those can an iPhone do that? kind of movie. Very cool and very visionary.
This is an interesting movie. Especially for someone who doesn’t own an iPhone and isn’t up to speed with what it can do.
ACU is posting class materials at iTunes U, has Google Earth maps to everywhere on campus, and uses the iPhone to do class work such as conduct interviews and take photos.
I downloaded it from iTunes and made the mistake of selecting all three versions of the film so it was a long download. Just one will do.
I’d love to know what kind of training the faculty and staff received for the iPhone and how they learned about all the ways it could be used in class.