Schools across the nation have been encouraging students to purchase the newest and best technology for years, but this is one school that has made the recommendation a requirement.
As a journalism student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, I have mixed feelings about the Missouri school's decision. I myself am an iPod Touch owner and user and absolutely love having the Internet and video at my fingertips, but I have rarely used my iPod for anything remotely journalistic.
I check my email, check social networks, play games and watch episodes of my favorite shows, but when I want my daily news fix I find a computer.
Checking news websites is still much easier on a full sized computer screen rather than on a handheld device. This is mostly due to the journalism industry's slow transition into the hand-held age.
There are few news organizations that have specific apps set up for the iPod (one notable exception being the New York Times) so users are stuck viewing pages meant for full-screen on a their 3-inch mini-screens.
I can honestly say that this is a less than desirable way to view the days headlines.
If the school is planning to use the iPods primarily for class purposes such as transmitting Podcasts or posting the syllabus, then perhaps this is a good idea, but yet again a computer would be sufficient.
In my own opinion, until the journalistic industry as a whole catches up to technology, iPods will be yet another distraction for students as they sit in their desks.
No comments:
Post a Comment