Want a free iPad? Enroll at Illinois Institute of Technology, and you’ll get one.
IIT announced today that the school will be providing free Apple iPads to all incoming undergraduate freshmen at the start of the next fall semester.
It’s a pretty good deal. The latest technology craze is priced at $499 or higher.
Assistant Director of Media Relations Evan Venie says that the iPad will foster a positive learning environment.
"We have many computer and science students that will benefit from this," he said. "Faculty expressed an interest in having it. We already have mobile app development. The iPad will help advance this type of education."
IIT Provost Alan Cramb decided that the iPad was a great opportunity to integrate technology with education.
"University education is much different today as compared to even ten years ago," Cramb said in a statement. "Students live in a world where technology is seamlessly integrated into virtually every aspect of their lives [and] information and collaboration are available anytime, anywhere."
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But won’t having iPads in the classroom be a distraction for students?
"We don’t think so, no," Venie said. "It won’t be any more of a distraction than laptops in the classroom."
Besides being used for educational purposes, IIT plans to release a university app that will provide students with news, events, emergency alerts and more.
Two other universities – Pennsylvania’s Seton Hill University and George Fox University in Oregon -- will also provide free iPads for their students, Chicago Breaking News reports.
One fact remains. For a college student on a college student’s budget, a free iPad is one pretty good deal.
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