A pilot program offered through Houston Community College Southwest is allowing students to revolutionize their classroom experience and save money by using Apple’s newest innovation, the iPad. The program allows a select group of students the use of an iPad for the semester to download a copy of their textbook and lectures– completely for free.
“Our student population is constantly on the go, juggling work, family life and attending classes,” says HCC Life Sciences Professor Dr. Paul Garcia. “Having a mobile device that is big enough to actually see text and lectures is an excellent resource both educationally and financially for our students.”
During these tough economic times, HCC students are feeling the pinch and typically pay up to $200 per textbook. With an average 12-hour course load, a student will end up paying approximately $800 a semester for textbooks, in addition to tuition and fees.
HCC’s innovation grant pilot program allows students to learn and save money at the same time.
“It’s hard having to come up with the money to buy books every semester,” says Mari Hernandez, an Anatomy and Physiology student. “With the iPad, I was able to download it for free and start studying right away, instead of waiting until I could afford to buy the book.”
Like Hernandez, 24 other students in Dr. Garcia’s Anatomy and Physiology II course are also taking part in the pilot program. The goal is to measure the effectiveness of using the iPad as a learning tool.
“The iPad is typically thought of as more of a consumer product”, says Dr. Garcia “but with the right fine-tuning we were able to modify some applications to make the lectures easy to view for the students.”
The iPad will also help serve as an extension of the classroom. Students have access to Connect, a classroom management system, where they can view recorded lectures, study guides, practice quizzes, video clips, and have the ability to contact classmates and their instructor through a webmail system. With the iPad weighing in at 1.5 pounds, students can carry it anywhere they go without feeling inconvenienced. This also allows them to take a quick glance at their course materials whenever they have a few moments to spare.
The integration of the iPad in the classroom is not only enhancing the way students learn but also changing the way instructors teach. Students now expect stimulation and immediacy; everyone wants everything faster and easier than before.
“Our students are already so visual as far as learning styles that it’s becoming the new wave,” says Dr. Garcia. “We, as instructors, are going to have to adjust our teaching methodology in order to keep them engaged and in using the iPad, we can show the students movies and animations and give them a wide array of multimedia resources that they can tap into.”
HCC Southwest has previously incorporated the use of the Amazon Kindle in several courses, due to its success in an earlier pilot. At the end of this pilot program, HCC will evaluate Dr. Garcia’s integration of the iPad and decide whether or not to expand the program to other courses.
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