While a handful of colleges have opted to give incoming students iPads this fall, Williston State College is handing out iPads to its faculty members instead.
The giveaway at the two-year institution was the decision of the college’s president, Raymond Nadolny, said Wanda Meyer, Williston State’s vice president for instruction. The money to purchase the iPads came from funds set aside for professional development, Ms. Meyer said.
The faculty members received the iPads Wednesday at a morning-long training session on how to use them. Most of the professors had never used an iPad before, said Steven Grunenwald, an associate professor of English. “This was a new experience, so I think the learning curve was steep,” he said.
Mr. Grunenwald isn’t sure how he will use the new tool in his teaching. He has downloaded an application that allows him to access files on his desktop computer remotely from his iPad. He could use that while giving presentations in class, he said.
But more importantly, he and Ms. Meyer see the iPads as a way for professors to stay as up-to-date as their students. Giving the faculty members iPads could help them embrace a technology they otherwise might have ignored, Mr. Grunenwald said.
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16 Responses to Williston State, in North Dakota, Gives iPads to Its Full-Time Professors
emmadw - August 19, 2010 at 8:14 am
It’s going to be interesting at the end of the academic year to see what % of the staff have used them for work related things (be it teaching or research or admin etc) – and what % primarily for personal use – then to compare that to student trials. (allowing, of course for the fact that some trials may require students to use them for particular classes)
mvclibrary - August 19, 2010 at 8:30 am
It’s not like this represents a large dollar outlay: Most community colleges have, at most, a handful of full-time faculty…
11180655 - August 19, 2010 at 8:55 am
BFD
31425 - August 19, 2010 at 8:58 am
I admit that I fell for the Ipad as well and thought that it would be a great and lightweight device to use in the classroom. What you only find out later is that the VGA adapter used for projection of the IPad to a class is extremely limited. ** You can only project certain apps that have an integrated second display option**For example, you can’t project the home screen, Safari!, or probably any other programs that would allow access to files. You are limited to Keynote, Videos, Youtube and programs like that. Read the reviews. This non-functionality means that the professor have a fancy email reader, but cannot display the device to the class, effectively rendering it useless for classroom instruction.The only alternatives are to use a digital overhead projector or to put everythign you do into Keynote, a time consuming process for a device that is supposed to make life easier. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC552ZM/A
stevefoerster - August 19, 2010 at 9:17 am
It would have made more sense to give them real laptops that can actually do everything that real computers can do, rather than these overpriced, deliberately crippled devices. Will the hype never end?
12109204 - August 19, 2010 at 10:10 am
Sign me up for the giveaway! I don’t understand the complaints above. Just because the iPad may not be great for projecting items to an entire class doesn’t mean that individual professors wouldn’t find ways to use the iPad to make their work preparing for class more productive, more efficient, more pleasant. Can’t a professor have some fun?
jtwetten - August 19, 2010 at 11:03 am
I would think the display limitation issues would make this much more of a personal device than one would use in class. Instructional use would need to be creative. Creative innovation is great — not knocking it. I’m just having trouble wondering what that would look like. Can 12109204 above give us some ideas?
mkcovey - August 19, 2010 at 12:08 pm
They’ll make serviceable windshield scrapers.
windfix - August 19, 2010 at 1:17 pm
So what? Apple makes expensive, proprietary hardware that gullible people buy without thought – in the name of being up-to-date. Stop playing to their marketing game and pretending this means anything.
wmartin46 - August 19, 2010 at 1:25 pm
@31425:Thanks for the info. Hopefully folks like you will open up a Facebook page and start staring this sort of information. With enough “light” on the deficiencies of these devices, it’s only a matter of time before the vendors, or 3rd-party software developers, will fill in the gaps.
craniac - August 21, 2010 at 12:52 am
This technology won’t allow me to faithfully replicate my centuries-old chalk and talk pedagogy– GRAR!
craniac - August 21, 2010 at 9:09 pm
That was supposed to be sarcastic. Check out the way one professor uses his Ipad: http://stevendkrause.com/2010/08/21/a-few-miscellaneous-thoughts-on-ereading-and-annotating/
craniac - August 21, 2010 at 9:16 pm
Thoughts on e-reading and annoting (with an Ipad)
stinkcat - August 22, 2010 at 8:54 am
On the one hand, I think it would be pretty cool if my university handed me an ipad. However, what I find rather disturbing is the one size fits all approach that universities tend to have towards technology. Giving everyone an ipad is clearly inneficient. It would be nice if they would give each professor a technology budget and let them decide how best to allocate the money.
12109204 - August 23, 2010 at 10:11 am
Jwetten asked me to share some ideas. I’d be happy to experiment with the iPad and generate some ideas for use, if my school would only hand one over to me. Such a purchase is not in my personal budget at the time, so I won’t be doing any experimenting with new technology. I can only watch from the sidelines.I suspect the same is true of many other college and University employees: we can’t experiment with what’s new, unless we’re given access.
eelalien - August 28, 2010 at 1:01 am
I TOTALLY agree with #5 steveforrester: the latest “hip/cool/bomb” gadget does not a technologically-savvy educator make – I still remember when the first Mac Classics were distributed at my school (1992) and how they quickly became tabletop ornaments and flowerpot stands. No training on INSTRUCTIONAL USE of technology = WASTE. Jeez, what year is this again…?!