Obviously there has been a huge amount of hype about the iPhone. Unfortunately the iPhone will only be available from O2 with a minimum monthly contract of £35, and isn't available until November.
The iPod Touch is available now, and is a huge change from previous iPods. Physically it looks like an iPhone, and provides WiFi access. It has a Safari web browser, can sync contacts and calendar with Outlook etc, and has a dedicated YouTube applications. In other words it's a huge change from previous iPods, much more like a PDA/multimedia device. I've been able to use one for the last 24 hours, so here are my first impressions...
So....lets get to the point... it is absolutely fantastic! Without wanting to go over to, its the most exciting handheld device I've ever seen...
Here's why...
The screen is the best I've seen on any hand held device - much higher resolution than say a DS, much clearer and more vibrant than any Window Mobile Device I've seen.
The interface is a joy to use. This is going to be hard to explain, but things you move on the screen have momentum - you push them and they keep moving, subject to the same sort of laws of physics as the real world. This results in one of the most comfortable and fun user experiences I've ever seen.
Internet access really works. It's the first mobile device that's I'd actually want to use to access the internet. The DS could have been great but ended up too slow. Windows Mobile is functional but uninspiring. With iPod Touch Safari it's just a joy to use. The screen is sharp enough to make whole page view understandable, zooming is just a case of tapping on making a stretching movement with you finger. The on screen keyboard is well implemented, so it's no problem entering addresses.
I pretty sure that what we are seeing here is the first generation of devices that will change the way we use the internet, finally moving us away from bulky laptops and ineffective phones...
Downsides?
A few. You can't update your diary. You need at least MacOS 10.4 (so it didn't work with my old eMac). WiFi doesn't seem to work with 128bit WEP (or at least if it uses hex - quite a few home setups still use this)
This are minor things though - I'm sure it will be hugely successful, and we can expect to so plenty of students using them. It makes expanding our wireless network all the more worthwhile. Trouble is I now want an iPhone...
Here's a Youtube video that shows more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj0UZjrSVLA
JISC have recently published a preliminary report on a study looking at student ICT expectations.
The report is available here:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/studentexpectationsbp.aspx#downloads
A few observations:
One of the aims of the survey was understand what students who currently use IT to a reasonable degree expect to find from Universities regarding ICT. The survey was targetted at 16-18 year olds. It's important to understand that this was the target group before jumping to conclusions about the results, as this doesn't necessary match the demographic of our student population. However, it's still a really useful survey.
The key findings are:
Students...
1 ...had difficulty in discussing their expectations of ICT at university
2 ...are digital natives
3 ...make widespread use of social networking and Web 2.0 (eg only 5% claimed not to have used social networking)
4 ...don't believe in technology for technology's sake
5 ...strongly value face to face interaction in learning/teaching
The first finding is intersting - I've not really seen much discussion about this recently. We implicitly understand this at the university - it's one of the reasons we try to make sure that as many students as possible receive a very early IT induction, introducing them to myLearning Essentials etc, but its good to find a survey that explores this in more detail.
The last four findings are not unexpected, but I would like to undertake a similar survey on our student population. We are currently undertaking an eLearning Benchmarking Project and one of the critera is how well we leverage students existing skills. Obviously the first step to leveraging skills is to have a good understanding about what those skills are.
I look forward to the full report, which will hopefully give us additional ideas on how to improve induction and leverage exisiting skills.