With the College of Education’s recent announcement of a new pilot program involving classroom iPads comes another reaffirmation of MSU’s dedication to technology, innovation and research.
The Center for Teaching and Technology, or CTT, will purchase about 60 iPads for two 30-person courses each semester of the 2012-13 school year. The purpose of the program is to familiarize students with growing iPad technology used for instructional purposes in many K-12 level institutions. The iPads will come preloaded with educational applications, and professors and students will be able to add their own.
Every day, the U.S. and many countries throughout the world become more and more technology based. Children are getting their first cell phones at younger and younger ages and learning how to use computers much earlier in life than children 10 or 15 years ago. As the U.S. is going through this revolution, it’s only natural education wouldn’t be immune to these changes.
And the university is acknowledging technological developments by introducing this pilot program to upper-level students in the College of Education. The future is headed toward innovation such as classroom iPads, and it’s encouraging to see MSU dedicated to keeping up with the changing times.
Its commitment to doing so is just one more thing that sets the university apart from other institutions of higher education.
If MSU students and future teachers are geared toward teaching in a changing environment and have the ability to utilize iPads and other technologies in their classrooms, it is one more skill set that will set them apart from other graduates.
It’s a possibility that in four years, iPads will be a thing of the past and a newer electronic device will be showing up in elementary school classrooms, but right now iPads are the latest high-tech devices. By taking advantage of the most current developments and making them available to students, MSU is ensuring its students are offered the highest quality of education possible.
Terri Gustafson, assistant director for the CTT, told The State News in a recent article (“Two courses to provide students with iPads in trial run during fall semester” SN 5/29) that students and professors will fill out a short survey at the end of the semester about the use of the iPads and their effects on the course.
“Not only the faculty, but the students will have a good chance to evaluate how iPads are used in the classroom,” she said. “It might give them ideas of how to incorporate iPads into their own classrooms.”
By giving this program a trial run and not prematurely purchasing iPads for the entire college, MSU will be able to research the effects these iPads have on college classrooms and see whether or not the purchase was worthwhile.
Whether or not a mass purchasing of iPads comes to fruition after this pilot program, giving it a chance demonstrates MSU’s dedication to keeping up with the latest technological innovations.
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