We’re extremely interested in hearing how the iPhone has exceeded or fallen short of your expectations in respect to features that might be useful for higher education in the 21st century. Here is a synopsis of Jay Dominick’s (assistant vice president and CIO at Wake Forest University) initial musings concerning the iPhone.
Back in January, Dominick suggested that conversations concerning the implementation of the iPhone in the development of a fully mobile, networked curriculum and pedagogy would inevitably escalate as the upcoming academic year approached. At the time he was of course in the dark (along with the rest of us) concerning the device’s features and capabilities. However, he suggested that the market demand alone was enough to warrant serious discussion about the educational potential of the iPhone. In an interview with Campus Technology, he stated: “Right now I’m thinking that we are going to have to look seriously at this phone, because there is going to be so much buzz about it in the June-July-August timeframe—just when students and their parents are making back-to-school purchasing decisions. We’re going to have to understand what impact that’s going to have on our programs.”
Dominick went on to assert that Wake Forest’s interest in the iPhone would skyrocket, along with the general interest of the academy, if the device combined Apple’s notoriously user-friendly interface with software development potentiality. He stated: “We’ve had [converged] cell phone/PDA pilot programs, MobileU, here for a couple of years, and one of the big challenges we’ve seen is user interface issues. I think if Apple can address the interface issues surrounding smaller devices—like cell phones or PDAs—they will have a very, very interesting and applicable product for higher education.”
Six months and one giant revelation later, the iPhone seems to indeed be a “very, very interesting and applicable product for higher education.” It appears that Dominick’s premonition has, in many respects, become a reality. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say about the iPhone as he presents an
update on MobileU and converged devices this week at the Campus Technology 2007 conference in Washington, DC, July 30-August 2.
“Dialing Up the Future for iPhones on Campus”
1/24/2007
An interview with Jay Dominick, Wake Forest University
By Mary Grush
http://campustechnology.com/articles/45172_1/