With new technology such as the iPad and other tablets on the market, universities now have the option to begin integrating these devices in a classroom setting.

This year, Heather Davis, associate professor of educational psychology, is offering a class where students use iPads instead of laptops. The students utilize the technology to interact more fluidly in class and mentor children off-campus.

However, other departments are exploring the use of tablets and mobile technology as well.

    “We are also working with our math, science and technology education department, and their math group has been very interested in using the iPad and various ways to teach math with it. I know the music department is interested in them. Engineering is using them with their Distance Ed. program. So there are small pockets right now of different groups using iPads , or at least some sort of mobile technology,” Nathan Stevens, librarian and assistant coordinator at the College of Education Media Center, said.

    Currently, the classes still use textbooks in conjunction with the tablets.

    “We give them an iPad that is pre- set-up. We ask them to also browse the app store. They can download free apps, or if they want to buy apps, they can do that. And if they find good apps they want to add to the course, we can buy them with the money that we have and install it on the other devices, and the whole class can get access to it,” Stevens said.

The iPad was a necessity, Stevens said.

“We use GoogleDocs to pool some of the information in, so we needed a smaller, portable device that would allow for class collaboration, and it also taught students about different devices other than what they were used to using. [We were] trying to come up with something new and innovative for them to try and something that was familiar to them,” Stevens said.

   Weighing in on the University’s future with tablets in the classroom, most students said they would take a class with an iPad or tablet instead of textbooks.

   “It’s more efficient, saves on paper and is easier to carry around. You can store a lot of books on one tablet, and it can do a lot more to help you in a class since it can be used to get online for research or to do homework,” Josh Holben , a senior in aerospace engineering, said.

Clare Smith, a senior in psychology and design, said not having to bring a book to class would be a lot less to carry around.

“Also, it’s possible that there could be an app that acts like the clickers that would be cheaper,” Smith said.

However, students also believe that access to a University-provided iPad could create distractions in the classroom, such as checking Facebook or e-mail instead of paying attention to the teacher. Most students said access on the tablet should not be limited, but a few disagreed.

“They are school property, and students should remember as such,” William Dibble, a 2011 graduate in technology education, said.

 Some students prefer tablets other than the iPad, such as ThinkPad , Acer or Toshiba brands.

“It has the Android OS, an amazing processor and comes integrated with a touch pen for more accurate screen use for reasons such as taking notes,” Holben said about the ThinkPad .

Dibble touted Acer and Toshiba’s full USB ports and other useful outputs, but Stevens said Apple is the only true classroom-ready option at the moment.

“Apple is the only one that has a buy and license program. Android devices just came out with ones that are equivalent to what the iPad is. Their app store isn’t as mature as the iPad app store, and they didn’t have the app that we needed to work. Right now, also the Android device is not quite as secure as we want it to be. There are few minor features that the iPad gave us that Android devices didn’t,” Stevens said.

Stevens said, however, a bring-your-own option could be a suitable way to address students’ concerns.

“It won’t be iPad, Android, Windows tablet, or laptop, it will be bring whatever device it is, and we’ll design classes that take advantage of that,” Stevens said. “There are lots of K-12 schools that have gone that bring your own device model, so I think that is where we are headed.”