What better incentive for university students to attend class than a free iPhone, right?
That’s exactly what Japan’s Aoyama Gakuin University is doing with its School of Social Informatics. Teamed up with Softbank, Japan’s iPhone carrier, the school gave everyone a free iPhone but there is a big catch. Namely that the iPhone’s GPS will be used to track student attendance. When students are in class they check in with their phone and it’s confirmed by their GPS location so there is no cheating here.
Of course, the iPhone has other uses: digital lectures, homework and even taking tests. Softbank offers the iPhone for “free” (with a data plan) in Japan normally, but students will also have the data plan paid unless they bust through the download limit. They’ll have to cover that part themselves.
