On Tuesday, the College launched its Digital Excellence Commitment (DExC), a plan to enhance its engagement with digital equity, building on the announcement by the Bowdoin Information Technology Department at a Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) meeting earlier this month. DExC will provide future students with a 13-inch MacBook Pro, iPad mini and Apple Pencil, while current students will receive a MacBook Pro in addition to their previously College-issued iPads beginning in fall 2022.

Although the College initially began the technology distribution program to provide all students digital access during remote learning necessitated by the pandemic, implementing new technology has proved beneficial even as remote learning is being phased out. DExC will also allow for more technological innovation in classrooms on campus.

“DExC will enable faculty and students to make any space a tech-enabled space and allow the College to rethink the idea of computer labs being limited to a few physical locations. This will also save considerable space to the extent existing computer labs are repurposed,” Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Michael Cato wrote in an email to the Orient. “Ultimately, we will have a greater number of classrooms available for other forms of innovation in teaching and learning.”

The cost of the program will be covered by the College, and students will have the option to pay $1 to keep the technology when they graduate. Bowdoin-licensed software will be available on the devices, and MacBook-specific software to be installed on the devices will be released prior to distribution next fall.