Upperclassmen often claim that freshmen are as obvious on campus as off-key notes in pop songs, but this fall it will be the earphones dangling from the newbies' necks that will give them away.
The University will cough up $500,000 dollars to provide every incoming freshman with a 20-gigabyte iPod and develop support programs to make the gadgets educationally applicable.
"I actually think this is good use of funds, since it lets us push the envelope a little bit and lets us try new things," said Tracy Futhey, vice president for information technology and chief information officer.
Most current students know iPods as lusted-after portable players for bootlegged music, but administrators hope undergraduates will soon view them as handheld academic tools. Owen Astrachan, professor of the practice in computer science, has been working with several students all summer to create programs that will enable Duke to format information like campus maps for the iPods.
Every freshman--and freshmen only--will receive one of 1,650 iPods loaded with Duke-specific programs. An additional 150 iPods will be prepared for faculty and support staff to use.
"I feel kind of like a shmuck now, because I just dropped 300 bucks on one last week," incoming freshman Nick Arrivo said.
Other than that, Arrivo was enthusiastic about the plan, even if it did seem a little extravagant. "No doubt people are going to use it mostly for personal use," he said. "But if Duke wants to spend that much money on me, I got no problem with it."
The money comes from funds set aside to implement goals set forth in the University's strategic plan. One of the initiatives calls for faculty to better integrate technology in the classroom.
"The strategic planning funds are dedicated and earmarked for the dedicated interests of technology," Futhey said. "The use of these funds for these projects does not compete or compromise the service of any other areas of the University."
The iPod giveaway is a one-year pilot program. Administrators said there are not yet plans to pay for the program to continue if it is successful, but part of the pilot plan does include hiring one or two full-time staff members for technical support.
The Office of Information Technology is working with the Center for Instructional Technology to help teachers integrate the digital audio devices. A handful of classes in fields ranging from genetics to environmental policy to foreign language will use the iPods. Administrators said if upperclassmen are enrolled in classes that use the iPods, they will be able to check out a loaner gadget for the semester.
The iPods have no keypad and owners cannot directly enter information into the devices, but students can download most text or audio content from a computer onto the index-card sized toy.
Duke will also set up a website with course content and Duke information formatted for iPods. The site, which will also sell legal music downloads, will be available to all Duke affiliates.
Student can even download class notes onto the iPods to read on the bus or while walking to class.
Freshmen will get an attachment the size of a sugar packet that will allow them to record audio files. "I would use that for lecture recording," said Katya Fernandez, another incoming freshman. "I think that's pretty reasonable."
Duke approached Apple about the possibly of using iPods educationally more than six months ago. Although the details of the agreement are not finalized, Duke will purchase the iPods, which retail for more than $300 when loaded with features, at a discount under a special agreement with Apple.
Several Apple personnel refused to comment, but Duke officials said the program is the first major initiative to use iPods for educational advancement.
OIT has also been working with the Office of Student Affairs to make the little white accessories useful in student activities, but Futhey said most of the uses for the iPods will stem from student creativity.
"I don't know a lot about them," incoming freshman Laura Anzaldi said, "but I guess I'll find out."
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