Freshmen Sarah Tapscott, Olivia Kibbe, and Karley Reigel look at an iPad.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\nPhoto by Elaheh Eghbal<\/p>\n
Five weeks into the pilot year for the iPad program, there are varying opinions on the technology\u2019s place in a classroom. While some freshman students and professors have tried to incorporate the iPad into their academic pursuits, there remain many who see it as a distracting entertainment device.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good thing and a bad thing,\u201d Yeni Balmes, an education major, said of the iPad. \u201cI try not to use it when I\u2019m doing homework, because I get caught on games.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t use my iPad in any of my classes,\u201d Nathalie Elsamra, who is considering a major in psychology, said. \u201cPeople use it more for games and Facebook.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really use the iPad to do much schoolwork,\u201d Thomas Marino said. \u201cI like gaming on it, though.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fellow freshmen students Kerri Sheehan, an English major, and Ilana Adler, a social work major, agreed.<\/p>\n
Sheehan said that she \u201cmostly uses it for games and Facebook,\u201d and Adler said that games were how she spent the most time on her iPad.<\/p>\n
Sheehan said that most freshmen in her classes do bring their iPads to class and that many use Blackboard and take notes on them, but she herself finds it difficult to type on it.<\/p>\n
Russell Gingrich pointed out the lack of word-processing software on the iPad as it was given to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish it had Word, so I could write essays on it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For Ravleen Khlasa, the possibility of having to pay for extra applications is a frustration.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t mind using my iPad for schoolwork, but I wish that professors would not make students pay money to buy more apps,\u201d Khlasa said.\u00a0\u201cGranted, some apps are free, but some are specific for each course and they cost extra money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsamra, along with a number of other freshmen, said that she uses her iPad for Blackboard and her Hood email, but that it\u2019s nothing she can\u2019t do on her laptop as well. Virtually all freshmen students own a laptop in addition to the iPad.<\/p>\n
\u201cI use my iPad for two things: Pandora and to check my schoolwork on Blackboard,\u201d said Maggie McGill.<\/p>\n
When asked if the free iPad had factored into their decision to attend Hood, most freshmen said that it had played a small or even nonexistent role. For Sheehan, the iPad was \u201ca bonus,\u201d and for Balmes, it was a surprise \u2013 she hadn\u2019t known about the iPad handouts before enrolling.<\/p>\n
Elsamra said that the free iPad \u201ckind of\u201d factored into her decision, but like other freshmen, it was not the major attraction.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a cool thing to get people interested, because you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, they have money and new technology,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But for Ilana Adler, a social work major, the technology she owns has no place in her academics this semester, since many of her professors don\u2019t allow electronics in the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost teachers don\u2019t let you bring your iPads to class, so there\u2019s no point in doing work on it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
While some professors forbid all electronics in the classroom, others simply proceed without them.<\/p>\n
For English professor Vincent Kohl, the iPad is irrelevant to the coursework he assigns.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t imagine how it would be useful to me and my students,\u201d said Kohl, who is teaching two 100-level English courses this fall. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s useful in courses that involve quantifying, but what advantage does it have in understanding literature?\u201d<\/p>\n
But for Dr. Trevor Dodman, professor of English, the iPad might have some potential. Dodman is teaching a course on T.S. Eliot\u2019s \u201cThe Wasteland\u201d this spring, and he is looking into an iPad application that offers the entire original version of Eliot\u2019s complex poem in hypertext.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe iPad will maybe offer tools for a different way through the poem,\u201d Dodman said. \u201cI think it holds out some neat possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
The course on \u201cThe Wasteland,\u201d however, is a 200-level course that will mostly consist of upper-classmen, so Dodman is trying to envision a way that he himself can present the iPad application to the class as a whole.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be easier if everyone had one,\u201d Dodman said.<\/p>\n
Other professors pointed out this issue as well. Virtually no classes are 100% freshmen, and the iPad can\u2019t play a consistent role in learning when only one-third or one-fourth of the class has the technology.<\/p>\n
Dodman spoke about his experience leading one of the discussion groups on \u201cA Thousand Splendid Suns\u201d in August, in which some of his group was using hard copies of the novel and others were using the iPad.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven the issue of pagination was a problem,\u201d he said. \u201cWe took quite a bit of time trying to get everyone on the same page, which was unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moreover, it\u2019s difficult for professors to become engaged with an electronic device that many of them don\u2019t have experience with. Dodman said that he was planning to spend some time on the iPad circulating around the English department so that he could familiarize himself with the technology that a number of his students own.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf people don\u2019t own them and aren\u2019t intimately familiar with them, they\u2019re less likely to incorporate them into classes,\u201d said Dr. Eric Annis, professor of biology.<\/p>\n
Annis, who is teaching a 100-level biology class this semester that is roughly half freshmen, said that he himself hasn\u2019t looked into using the iPad. Since most of his assignments involve word processing and spreadsheets, he finds that his students are \u201cbetter off using a computer.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a biology professor, he said that he\u2019d like to look into possible multimedia benefits on the iPad.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we had textbooks designed for it, with video incorporated into them, that would be great,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Of the freshmen in his class, Annis said that about half or one-third bring their iPads to class, but that he can\u2019t see what they\u2019re doing on them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get the impression that it\u2019s mostly Facebook,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stacey Axler contributed reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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![\"\"](\"http:\/\/hoodcomstudies.com\/theblueandgrey\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Ipad-pic-of-actual-students-Elaheh.jpg\" "\\"Ipad")
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