Surprising lessons from a Florida college's iPad deployment

At Florida State College at Jacksonville, the CEO, CFO, campus presidents, administrators, IT staff, and some faculty and students have been given iPads. The college, which has plans to roll out 1000 of the tablet computers by year's end, has seen some surprising results, reports Tom Kaneshige at CIO magazine.

Senior managers, who were among the first to request iPads, quickly used them to replace laptops as their primary device, said CIO Rob Rennie. They take the devices to meetings and use them to make decisions on the spot. However, some of the deans and faculty members at the college have been surprisingly unenthusiastic, voicing concerns that iPads are too expensive for some students and might divert resources from other needed technologies.

Another surprise was the degree to which iPads have raised privacy fears at the college, Rennie said. After his staff developed certificates and limitations for iPad use, restricting access to some websites, some users expressed worries that their personal use of the device would be monitored. With location-based apps installed, the iPad can also track users' movements, raising more red flags.

"Say a faculty member has an alternative lifestyle, and the content on their personal device reflects that lifestyle. Now their personal life is integrated. In the back of their mind, there's a fear about it becoming an issue," Rennie said.

For more:
- see Tom Kaneshige's article at CIO

Related Articles:
IT lessons from colleges and universities
LG: Our tablet will be better than iPad
Ballmer: Tablets a top priority at Microsoft
Analyst: Tablet set to cannibalize sales of netbooks, laptops
Mercedes-Benz, Wells Fargo and SAP use the iPad