Designed by Lynn in Boca A look back at a decade of Apple

In 2014, following a successful test run by first-year students, Lynn University earned the first of many Apple Distinguished School accolades for its mobile curriculum, powered by the Apple ecosystem.

The achievement was years in the making.

The Lynn 2020 strategic plan was an ambitious 15-year roadmap to transform the university’s curriculum, campus design and technology infrastructure. In 2009, Lynn had gained national attention for its newly reimagined Dialogues core curriculum and crafted a vibrant campus master plan with leading architecture firm Gensler.

President Kevin M. Ross and Chief Strategy and Technology Officer Christian Boniforti envisioned a more creative use of new technologies to engage students with personalized education, redefine the notion of a traditional classroom setting and empower faculty with exciting new ways to teach and publish textbooks.

In 2010, two notable developments served as springboards for Lynn's leap into the future: Apple unveiled its first iPad, a standout device in the emerging tablet market that offered larger storage capacity, reliable connectivity and a simple user experience. Secondly, Lynn made headway on its campus master plan when it opened the doors to the Keith C. and Elaine Johnson Wold Performing Arts Center. The beautiful new facility would ultimately be a key selling point in the university's successful bid to host the third and final 2012 presidential debate.

In preparation for the debate, Boniforti and his team installed more than 20,000 feet of fiber optic cable connecting every building on campus and invested $2 million in technological improvements that more than doubled Lynn's wireless coverage and capacity.

"We had to build the network from scratch. To put things in perspective, the university went from having one or two Wi-Fi access points on the first floor of a building to having two to three access points in each classroom," said Boniforti.

The network upgrade, combined with Apple's revolutionary tablet, would lay the groundwork for a whole new style of teaching and learning.

In the summer of 2011, President Ross and Boniforti organized a visit to Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California for Lynn's senior management to evaluate the iPad and Apple ecosystem.   After the trip, deans and faculty established a pilot program in January 2012 using iPad and Apple's Challenge Based Learning model in Citizenship Project courses. Mike Petroski, assistant vice president of Academic Affairs, oversaw faculty development for the pilot. 

"During the pilot phase, I would meet with the 16 faculty members every week—give them Apple gift cards to download and try various apps to discuss which apps would be the most useful in the classroom," said Petroski. "We held these meetings through the spring semester until we settled on a suite of six apps for our students to load on their iPads as tools for the classroom."

The initial project was promising, and Lynn faculty leveraged what they learned about the Apple platform to deliver a presidential debate curriculum to the Palm Beach County School System. The K-12 curriculum was viewed 173,867 times in the first year. In December 2012, Lynn issued an iPad to every faculty member along with a challenge to find ways to use the technology to enhance student involvement and academic spontaneity during class discussions. 

"The job wasn't just to hand them an iPad as a gimmick and let them go about their business," said Petroski. "We taught them the value of all the various apps available and how they could effectively integrate them into the classroom to enhance learning."

Throughout the spring and summer of 2013, faculty participated in nearly 80 training sessions, formed an iPad Users Group to evaluate additional apps and participated in an intensive one-week Apple Academy to learn how to use Apple tools to publish e-books. Lynn also began equipping its classrooms with Apple TVs, which would untether professors from the podium and allow students to contribute content to the class discussion.

During that time, Apple launched its "Designed by Apple in Cupertino" ad campaign with a bold intention that "every idea we touch enhances each life it touches." Today, a framed copy of one of the ads still hangs in the Lynn University President's office.

"The message resonated," said President Ross. "We wanted the experience for students and faculty to be seamless and for everything to just work together to enhance learning."

By Fall 2013, Lynn faculty had published nine e-books, including a faculty guide; five Dialogues textbooks; and texts for education, biology and economics majors.

The university was ready for a mini revolution.

In August 2013, Lynn provided all first-year students and nearly 250 upperclassmen with iPad minis. Nearly half of all Lynn students were armed with a powerful learning tool.

"It's something we committed to because we knew it was going to be great for our students. We're very fortunate that our faculty is dedicated to student success and great teaching," said President Ross.

According to Petroski, the technology helped faculty and students embrace a community where they all could learn from each other. "It changed the way I teach, and it invigorated a lot of us," said Petroski.

The following fall, every student on campus had an iPad mini in their hands, and Lynn faculty had published more than 20 e-books. In May 2015, the school launched Lynn University Digital Press. The library played a significant role in supporting faculty in publishing e-books and digitizing resources, saving students up to 90% off the cost of traditional textbooks.

In January 2016, Lynn became the first university in the nation to integrate the iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard into its classrooms—distributing nearly 1,800 of each across campus.

"The change from the iPad mini to the iPad Pro was an exciting iterative process for us," said Boniforti. "The iPad mini was great for consumption content, but it was too small for anything else. When we switched to the Pro, not only could students consume content by reading or watching videos as they had done with the mini, but now they could use keyboards and pencils to write and create content."

By Spring 2020, faculty had produced over 60 multi-touch books using the Lynn University Digital Press. As the nation locked down and universities closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lynn continued to offer courses, academic support, and other services virtually, thanks to its mobile curriculum and tech-proficient faculty and students. 

Lynn is now a five-time Apple Distinguished School for its innovation in learning, teaching and campus environment.  

Petroski was honored as an Apple Distinguished Educator thanks to his exemplary work in helping bring Apple to Lynn's classrooms to enhance teaching. Reflecting on the university's evolution over the past 10 years, he said: 

"We don't do faculty training sessions on the iPad anymore. We don't teach people how to use apps. We don't even talk about it anymore. It's ingrained in our culture. We have changed the fabric of what we do here."

Within the pages of this magazine, you will discover details on how we've woven Apple's ecosystem into various academic disciplines—from athletics to aeronautics and even theater.