 "Photo: Naaman Esquivel")
Duke University's incoming freshmen will each receive an Apple iPod this fall as part of a pilot program to encourage creative uses of technology in education and campus life.
The pocket-sized digital devices, which can download and make use of both audio and text material, will be preloaded with Duke-related content, such as information for freshman orientation and the academic calendar.
Students will also be able to download faculty-provided course content, including language lessons, music, recorded lectures and audio books on a special Duke Web site modeled on the Apple iTunes site. Around 1,650 iPods will be distrubted to the freshmen, and an additional 150 will be given to faculty members. Duke will pay $500,000 for hardware and staff support.
"We're approaching this as an experiment, one we hope will motivate our faculty and students to think creatively about using digital audio content and a mobile computing environment to advance educational goals in the same way that iPods and similar devices have had such a big impact on music distribution," said Tracy Futhey, vice president for information technology at Duke, in a statement.
The iPod is a very popular item, and the white headphones associated with it are identifiable across the UT campus as well, said Jason Melero, a salesman at the Campus Computer Store.
"They've become kind of a pop culture icon," Melero said.
Melero said he isn't worried about students who might be tempted to use the iPod to listen to the newest Eminem album during class. "It's no different from students who use wireless Internet to chat on AOL Instant Messenger," he said.
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