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iPhones in education? A US university is taking the initiative

I came across an initiative last week from from Freed-Hardeman University which is planning to give their students a uniform collection of technology including a macbook and either an iPod Touch or iPhone.

I think this is an interesting approach, because most other approaches focus on either a laptop or a PDA when looking to give equipment to students. When the focus is on just handheld computers then a lot of work must go into helping students create content using handhelds with creative tools. The small screen may be OK for creating small pieces of work - but is not suitable for essay writing or creating presentations (I know it is possible and is used for this - but my argument is that it is not really suitable).

As mentioned before we think the Mobile Phone or Hand-held is suitable for delivery of some content, revision, planning and a group of things we call Handy Education.

So to provide students with both devices seems to me to make a lot of sense  - I am keen to find out the results of this initiative. One thing that concerns me is the lack of useful tools for the iPhone - iPod Touch platform - especially that synchronise data with a laptop (be it PC or mac).