"Published tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities rose at an average annual rate of 4.9% per year beyond general inflation from 1999-2000 to 2009-10, more rapidly than in either of the previous two decades" http://www.trends-collegeboard.com/college_pricing/highlight... http://www.50states.com/college/detail/pa/215947.htm
Edit: There is obviously no direct causal connection between tuition increases and this specific iPad giveaway. It's still being paid for indirectly by students' money, obviously.
Can't get mom and pops to buy you an iPad? Go to Seton Hill and they don't have a choice but buy you one.
The iPad isn't a phone. Many textbooks don't have good PDF versions. If the file sharing is similar to the iPhone (and it looks that way) it's going to be a lousy share-by-email experience. You can't use the Dropbox app (or similar), because Dropbox files live in the "Dropbox" directory, and your other files will be in the "Documents" or "Presentations" directory. And note-taking? Sure you're joking. The iPad is a "hunt-and-peck-required" device. How can you possibly pay attention when you spend a full minute on every sentence?
I suspect this will end up as a major disappointment -- the iPad isn't ready to replace a laptop yet. It's a consumer's device, and college isn't exclusively about consumption of content.
That's funny, because I never mail myself documents on the iPhone.
You can't use the Dropbox app (or similar), because Dropbox files live in the "Dropbox" directory
If all you want is to read a document, what's the problem?
And note-taking? Sure you're joking. The iPad is a "hunt-and-peck-required" device.
And you're basing this on what data?
I suspect this will end up as a major disappointment -- the iPad isn't ready to replace a laptop yet. It's a consumer's device, and college isn't exclusively about consumption of content.
Currently, everyone needs a laptop to sync content with an iPad. If everyone has a laptop, what's the problem? It's not as if college is devoid of consuming content.
Also, everything you point out looks like a business opportunity to me, not some sort of overwhelming world-halting problem.
Steve Jobs fumbling his way through a single sentence during the original iPad launch, and the hunt-and-peck typing used in the promotional videos.
> It's not as if college is devoid of consuming content.
Agreed, but if you need a real laptop anyway (Mathematica, writing essays, etc, etc), is it really worth it to carry both?
Most comments I saw from people that have used them so far have expressed surprise that one or two handed typing is quite easy/natural. A lot of people can type fairly quickly (my brother can type unbelievably fast on his iPhone) on tablets now. It could work.
If the average touch-typist gets to even 40WPM on the iPad I'd be amazed.
