Apple Only Laptop Program

George Fox University, GFU, has decided to transition the undergraduate laptop program to offer only Apple MacBooks instead of the Apple or PC choice. This decision brings our “Computers Across Curriculum, CAC, program full circle back to Apple Only. The CAC program originated 20 years ago offering a Macintosh computer to undergraduates as a marketing move financed by a tuition increase. The program has been successful on all fronts by maintaining a focus on enhancing the academic experience through technology. During the dark age of Apple educational computing 1995-98 GFU transitioned to all PC laptops. Moving to laptops was the obvious choice for our CAC program and Apple totally missed the boat on early laptop design. Then Steve Jobs came back and bet the bank on OS X and recommitted to education. And now we will move back to an Apple only offer next fall. Well, not quite that dramatic, our students will be able to run Microsoft Windows if they desire. However, we would not expect a major adoption of the Windows option since only 30% chose Windows this year.

We have been debating this move for the last couple of months. The expected areas for concern were the engineering and business programs. Compatibility testing proved that the intel based Apple laptop was truly a Windows PC with a minor adjustment to simulate the right mouse key. One of the more spirited arguments centered on whether our students might find themselves in a competitive disadvantage in careers that are heavily PC dominated. This did not turn out to be a critical issue, but I would say that the opposite might actually be the result. I would have great confidence in a hiring a recent college grad that was totally comfortable working on an apple. An Apple user today is very aware of the best computing tool for the job. By that I mean, your computing expertise should not be defined by the applications that you use. A presentation is not required to be a PowerPoint, it could be a Keynote, webpage, or Podcast. A spreadsheet is about rows columns and formulas; it doesn’t matter if it is Excel or Numbers. Shouldn’t your terminal or command mode work from UNIX instead of DOS. Unfortunately our greatest concern will be to make sure that our faculty are comfortable teaching classes dominated by this more open computing environment. Many courses with a technology component are defined by their references to Microsoft Office applications. But helping faculty to keep up with their student’s use of technology is nothing new.

Here is the link to the video stream of our recent Campus Apple Event