Winter 2013
Faculty Spotlight – Tablet Computers
By Michael McVey, Program Coordinator, Educational Media and Technology, Teacher Education Department
Like many of my faculty colleagues, I delayed getting an iPad or a tablet computer. I resisted fiercely and picked
holes in the functionality of the devices. I certainly saw their potential, but the first generation of the iPad, for
example, lacked a camera and certain features that I really needed to have if I wanted it to function as a teaching
aid or tool. Today, these devices are becoming essential fixtures for many faculty replacing laptops for meetings
and other times where they need a multi-featured machine beyond the tether of an office desktop.
Collaboration
The tablet computer’s ability to allow students to collaborate with each other is an important pedagogical tool.
Many students use real-time collaborative tools such as Skype, now optimized for the iPad and tablets. At last
year’s Graduate Research Fair, a student in Educational Psychology made an oral presentation from her home in
Virginia. When the laptop configured with Skype crashed after the first few seconds, her advisor, Dr. Pat Pokay,
used the iPad version of Skype to bring her into the room.
Usability
Teams of professors such as one led by Linda Lewis-White are examining the use of a variety of different device
types to see how very young readers interact with them in a classroom setting. Using an eFellows grant, LewisWhite and her colleagues will look at iPads and other eReaders to determine a set of best practices for further
research with young students that will help other researchers and classroom teachers to use the devices more
effectively with children.
Remote Access
When one of Professor Jeff Popko’s students left on a project to teach English in Columbia, Popko immediately
thought of the iPad as a device he could use not only to keep in contact, but also to observe her teaching as part
of his TESOL Masters class. She has been using the device to take pictures and write reports that she uploads
via a wireless web connection at an internet café. They hope they will be able to use the device for a class-toclass activity soon. This March, they will present research at TESOL in Dallas where Popko will have his student
Skype in. If it goes as planned, her class will join her in the presentation.
Note taking
Adam Meyer, Director of the Disabilities Resource Center, and his colleagues there are actively reviewing
software for note taking that will assist our students. Some free software such as Evernote will enable easy
student-professor collaboration and will instantly synchronize notes with other computers. They are also
examining relatively low-cost applications for note taking, such as Notability ($0.99) and Penultimate ($0.99)
which have features that allow for handwriting, typing and attaching images from the camera or the web. In
addition, they have the ability to record lectures, group comments, or presentations and then review key
sections of the audio notes with the use of audio bookmarks.
Overall
Judging by the number of references to interesting iPad and tablet related projects during the latest round of
eFellows grant proposals, faculty are using these devices in interesting and exciting ways to promote excellent
scholarship and exceptional teaching.