The Southern Arkansas University Honors College will conduct a pilot study next year by providing iPad 2 tablet computers for all 60 of its anticipated students enrolled in the introductory course, Honors Seminar. These students will receive their own iPad 2 to keep and the Honors Seminar course’s format will change so as to maximize the power of the iPad 2 as a teaching device. The iPad 2 is the highly anticipated successor to the iPad released last year with sales exceeding 14 million units to date. The iPad 2 should add two cameras, additional RAM, a faster processor, and be thinner and lighter than the original. The iPad 2 will allow students to access the Internet, send and receive e-mail, read online course materials, download textbooks, network with other students, faculty, and friends over the campus’ WiFi network or any other open wireless network (such as those at McDonald’s or Starbucks). Currently, four honors students enrolled in Cognitive Science are preparing the way for the pilot project. Thanks to a $3000 grant from the SAU Teaching with Technology Committee each was loaned an iPad for the spring semester. Those students will conduct preliminary research on using the current iPad in educational settings. Later in the semester, they will present their findings at the Southern Regional Honors Council meeting to be held in Little Rock from March 31 to April 2. Their work will determine what software should be preloaded onto the iPad 2 before those are given to the incoming students in the Honors Seminar class. That class has four main aspects: the academic experience, the Honors College itself, critical thinking, and diversity. Students write extensively on each of those topics and their final drafts are published online on the class blog: sauhc.blogspot.com. Soon, the iPad 2 may come to replace the book bag and the laptop and tomorrow’s students of may only have to carry a small tablet computer. In it they will find all their books, written assignments, and e-mails. Whenever they wish they might browse the Internet, roam the stacks of a library, read a newspaper, visit with friends, or ask their professor a question. SAU is taking the first steps to exploring that digital future. The pilot study will require no new funding. The incoming honors class will receive an iPad 2 instead of their usual stipend their first year at SAU. In subsequent years they will receive their stipends. Entering students who already own an iPad or iPad 2 will receive the stipend the first year. If the pilot study is successful then more SAU classes may be taught using the iPad 2.
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