Hi, all!

My name is Rachel, and I'm a new staff writer at IT in Canada. As you can tell, this is my first forum posting.

I stumbled across this news item today: http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/240001927.

Seton Hall University in northern New Jersey announced that it will be distributing Nokia Lumia smart phones to the incoming class of 2016, with service from AT&T. The phone will include the SHU Mobile app, which gives students access to things like campus maps, directories and news feeds. The lucky class of 2016 will have exclusive access to an app written just for its members, which offers students channels to communicate directly with their classmates at SHU as well as faculty advisors and other university personnel.

Representatives from Nokia say that SHU will make use of the firm's data gathering services to send data to students and invite them to participate in polls.

Currently enrolled students who are not members of the class of 2016 can also access the SHU Mobile app.

This isn't the first time SHU has distributed the latest high-tech gadgets to students. In 2010, SHU gave out iPads to incoming freshmen.

According to Information Week, SHU is just following a trend. Has anyone else heard about other institutions of higher education doing this? And do you think this trend will make its way to Canada?

I look forward to hearing from you!

Hi Rachel!

While I haven't heard of any Canadian Universities offering mobile devices like iPads or Smartphones to students, this reminds me of the UOIT Laptop policy. As far as I remember every student had to have a laptop, and the school provided them for a fee. Laptops were all standardized on a single platform (ThinkPads...I think), so that no student was at a disadvantage.

I think the trend towards having increasingly mobile devices in the classroom has a lot of benefits - like a great variety of applications - but also some drawbacks - could be a massive distraction. My personal take is that these kind of devices are becoming essential tools in professional environments, so why not ensure students are exposed. As educators devise new ways to take advantage of the technology, it could also lead to new ways of teaching and learning.

Anecdotally, I remember driving out to the University of Waterloo to write a story a few years ago for Information Week about a residence at that was ahead of the times on these things. It was called "VeloCity." The pitch was they hoped the students would create the next RIM.