Colleges and universities across the United States have increasingly incorporated iPods into many facets of their operation, from selling them in student stores to podcasting lectures for pupils who missed a class or two. Greg Bluestein reported for the Associated Press that Georgia College & State University goes beyond many schools with a group of staff and faculty assigned to think of new ways the technology can be used.

The group is called iDreamers and has discussed loading yearbooks on iPods or even replacing brochures with podcasts. "The more you free up your classroom for discussion, the more efficient you are," Mr. Bluestein quoted school president Dorothy Leland as saying.

Elsewhere at the school, history professor Deborah Vess has students download films to video iPods, freeing up class time that used to be spent screening them, while psychology professor Noland White podcasts frequently asked questions. Government professor Hank Edmondson was an early adopter of the technology and now provides a variety of audio and visual material available as iPod downloads.

Mr. Bluestein noted Apple's launch of iTunes U, which helps schools place materials online in iPod-friendly formats, has assisted other schools employ the MP3 players in various ways. For example, Mansfield University in Pennsylvania wants to use podcasts as a recruitment and communication tool.

Of course, not everyone is so gung-ho. "Learning is through interaction, discussion, critical questioning and challenging of assumptions," Donna Qualters, director of the Center for Effective Teaching at Northeastern University in Boston, told Mr. Bluestein. "Those cannot be duplicated on an iPod -- you have to be there to experience that learning."