Are iPods the Lecture Halls of the Future?

Is it a good idea to give iPods to students? Will it enhance, or devalue, higher education?

Today's medianote was about a plan at South Kent College in Dover, England to give iPods to students and make lectures available in MP3 format for download. My questions to the two MC101 classes that met on Friday essentially boiled down to: Is this a good idea? What other than recorded lectures could be put on an iPod that would enrich the college experience?

There were some good, insightful comments in the class. One student pointed out that there will be students who would use their academic iPods constructively, while others would use them only for entertainment. Another student wondered if students would have to pay for their iPods (or other MP3 players) if they became a generally-used educational tool. And yet another student wondered if this would widen the digital divide, since there are some students who can't just go out and pay $300 for an iPod. You would have some who could afford to listen to recordings of recent lectures, and others who might be shut out. One other idea that I thought was interesting: A student asked, might there be some way that iPods could replace textbooks?