Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Berkeley College Embraces the iPad

How are you using your iPad?

It has been less than a year since Apple launched its iPad, which literally put the world at our fingertips in a whole new way.

Released in April of 2010, more than three million copies of the little pc sold in the first three months after its release, and by the end of September 2010, the iPad held a 95 percent share of the tablet pc market worldwide. In November, Time Magazine named it among the top 50 best inventions of the year.

Just what is it that makes the iPad such a game-changer? Aside from providing virtually all the advantages of a laptop computer without the necessity of lugging around a screen and a modem, there are more than 350,000 apps now available for the iPad, with more being released every day. The Academy Awards just had a special app for Apple’s iPad that allowed you to access behind the scenes interviews with Hollywood stars.

Berkeley College utilizes the iPad in our Honors Program. As one example, students in the program, with the help of their iPads, will keep a journal that documents the path of their intellectual journey and charts the impact that it has on their own life.

I invite you to share your own experiences with your iPad or tablet pc by writing your comments below.

Cordially,

Dario A. Cortes, PhD
President

4 comments:

  1. The iPad has been a wonderful addition to the technology we use at Berkeley and in Education. While creating lecture notes a few quarter back, I decided to go mainly with the eBook path, using the Amazon Kindle eBook and Apple iBook apps.

    Incorporating apps such as Evernote, I was able to develop much of the course digitally, with almost no pen and paper.

    And this posting is very timely, as Steve Jobs made a brief appearance this week in announcing the availability of the iPad 2 on March 11th - www.Apple.com

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  2. I initially bought an iPad to use for in-class information literacy sessions. A challenge I've faced is compatibility issues with presentation software; iPad runs Keynote, a Mac based program, and a special cable is needed to hook it up to the overhead projector in each classroom.

    I have however, found a great deal of use for it. I bring it as my notebook to meetings and conferences and just email the notes to myself after the day is over. There is a fantastic Blackboard app and the Berkeley College Library's website works well on iPad as does access to our ebook collection.

    In addition to all of the work I do on my iPad, I have 5 or 6 ebook apps including one for use with public libraries, I bring it to the gym with me as it serves as an iPod and I can watch videos on it. Finally, I've been known to spend countless hours playing Angry Birds. :-)

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  3. The iPad has taken a load off our admissions representatives. The days of lugging around a tri-fold to show what Berkeley has to offer, are over. We interact with students on a more personal level by showing them videos pertaining to their programs of interest. They get virtual tours of the campuses they are considering attending in the comfort of their high school classroom. Having all this information at our finger tips has allowed us to engage more students, and give them a taste of what to expect when they visit our state of the art facilities. -Randy BBK

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  4. The iPad has been a wonderful tool, which I utilize everyday for my research for the Honors Course, together with my other courses. Additionally, I access Blackboard everyday with it and can do so from anywhere at anytime.

    I love the notes section, which allows me to email the information to myself and print and/or save onto my home computer.

    Further, I enjoy having the ability to download PDF files, electronic books, applications, and movies right onto my iPad to have all the information I need for my class assignments, projects, and overall continued education.

    I also like the leather-bound cover with "Berkeley College Honors" inscribed into it, which is a nice reminder of what a great program I am a part of!

    Thanks!!!! It's a great piece of technology!!!

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