Ohio State will no longer be distributing iPads to first-year students, according to a university wide email Tuesday. Credit: Courtesy of Grace Buchholz, OCIO
This story was updated July 31, 2022 to appear in the Buckeyebound Edition distributed Aug. 1.
Ohio State will no longer provide iPads to incoming students as part of its Digital Flagship program, Executive Vice President and Provost Melissa L. Gilliam announced in a universitywide email April 26.
Students who currently have iPads will be allowed to keep them, but first-year students in the fall, as well as transfer students, will not receive the technology, according to the program’s website. Students who have not yet received an iPad, but are eligible to receive them, may do so until the end of the spring 2022 semester.
According to the website, devices will continue to be available to loan out for students who do not have access to a personal device for a semester or a program’s duration.
The university will expand this on-demand, device-borrowing service, as well as pilot a refurbishing program that will “extend the life of our existing devices to support more students,” according to the website.
In addition to changes with iPad distribution, the Digital Flagship program will expand Adobe Creative Cloud access — which includes programs such as Photoshop and Premiere Pro — to undergraduate, graduate and professional students in June, Gilliam said.
The program will also offer microcredentials, certificates and professional certifications in technology to students, faculty and staff, according to the email.
Gilliam said the changes to the program aim to meet the needs of students in a more equitable manner. She said remote teaching and learning during the pandemic brought many of these digital inequities to the forefront.
“This new approach will enable us to focus on technology access and skill building for all students in a more sustainable way, and I look forward to seeing what you will do with these new resources,” Gilliam said.
The Digital Flagship Program, which is a collaboration between Apple and Ohio State, was originally announced in 2017. It provided technology kits, including an iPad, case, keyboard, Apple Pencil and Apple Care to every incoming freshman student beginning with the 2018-19 class. It also established coding classes and technology design labs, according to the program’s website.
In January, faculty members expressed concern about the potential end to iPad distribution, and University President Kristina M. Johnson said in an April 15 interview with The Lantern the university may alter the Digital Flagship program to provide devices on an as-needed basis.
