Toward a Mobile University
IT leaders exchange ideas on technology and learning at Apple conference
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Durham, NC -- With the explosion in mobile devices and social networks, universities must explore new ways to leverage technology to provide “all-the-time, everywhere learning,” according to IT leaders at a Duke conference last week.
Web 2.0 technologies and an influx of tech-savvy millennial students are challenging traditional models of instruction and information delivery in higher education, keynote speaker Julian Lombardi told about 100 attendees at AcademiX 2009, the last of four Apple-sponsored regional conferences held this spring.
The academy is no longer a bricks-and-mortar “fortress” where people gather “because that’s where the books are,” but more of a social network, independent of its physical location, said Lombardi, assistant vice president in Duke’s Office of Information Technology (OIT).
“We’ve created a microcosm, a knowledge universe, on a campus,” Lombardi said. “These technologies are exploding that notion.”
The AcademiX conference – “Beyond the LMS: Innovations in Teaching and Scholarship” – highlighted successful strategies for deploying and supporting emerging technologies for content creation and distribution in digital learning environments.
Organizers said it was fitting to conclude the AcademiX series at Duke, which has pioneered the use of emerging digital media technologies in an academic setting.
In 2004, the university distributed about 1,600 iPods to first-year students as part of the Duke Digital Initiative (DDI) http://dukedigitalinitiative.duke.edu/. In fall 2005, Duke worked with Apple to create iTunes U, a free online repository of multimedia educational materials.
IT leaders have a responsibility to help guide institutions through periods of technological and cultural change, Lombardi said.
“We can identify trends, see where they’re going in the consumer marketplace, and use that … to help drive the evolution of our IT systems and processes,” he said.
Duke is supporting an increasingly mobile campus, with expansion of in-building cellular coverage and the wide-scale deployment of an 802.11n wireless network, Lombardi said.
A new suite of DukeMobile applications, released this spring, enables users to browse the campus events calendar, access a campus map, check live sports scores and view top videos from iTunes U and YouTube, all from their mobile devices. To date, DukeMobile has 50,000 downloads, about 330 iPhone users per day on average, and a four-star rating based on 1,850 reviews, according to senior OIT analyst Jeremy Bandini. OIT is working with students and units across campus to expand its mobile offerings.
As new technologies redefine culture, universities need to broaden their understanding of the value they bring, said William Rankin, associate professor and director of educational innovation at Abilene Christian University in Texas.
Abilene Christian distributed iPhones or iPod Touches to all incoming freshmen last fall, with positive response from both students and faculty, Rankin said.
“We don’t need a university. We need teaching and learning,” he said. With these technologies, “we’re inviting the world into our classrooms and our students into the world.”
