Michigan Students, One free Ipod for you!

[sURFNmADNESS]

Seems the smart people in Michigan in control want to give an Ipod to all students in Michigan.

Blade, don't you go to school in Michigan currently? When do you get yours?

[ZEN]

Lol, heres a slightly different view.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...=2007704060333

[EpShot]

[Entroper]

Yeah, I'm really wondering why this is a good idea. Put it on the recommended or required supplies list if you want to use it for educational purposes. Otherwise you're just encouraging everyone to walk around like a zombie with headphones on, since God forbid they should have to speak to one another.

[McFuggin]

What real benefits to iPods bring to schools? I'm not being sarcastic, are there any?

Also, this is all a moot point because the money is obviously better spent elsewhere when the state budget's all ****ed up.

[Kinickie]

What real benefits to iPods bring to schools? I'm not being sarcastic, are there any?

The only one I know of is the ability to listen to recorded lectures. Some professors make podcasts of their lectures for students. This has its own set of issues though since it just makes it easier to skip class. I did read an article about a professor who charged for the podcasts to try and compensate for that though.

[Entroper]

Charging for the podcasts isn't a great idea either. You think I'm going to pay to come to school, and then pay more to get material that I missed? That's what office hours are for. If a student is too lazy to go to office hours, they're not going to buy the lecture.

Actually attending class is so vitally important, it's the entire reason that you pay thousands of dollars for a college education. If you could learn everything you needed to know to get a B.S. in Computer Science just by reading books, why would you spend a fortune on college?

This is something that's become extremely clear to me in my senior year, taking three senior level CS classes at the same time. I'm incredibly smart when it comes to these things, but I've read the lecture notes and text material over and over again, as well as outside sources, and I just couldn't grasp what they were explaining. I went to class and listened to Dr. Shaffer, and he had me straight in 30 minutes.

The right instructors make all the difference -- spend the money to hire the best professors, not to water down their lectures so that students can cram the material on the bus ride to take their exams.