In last week’s session, we learned from the Yale School of Medicine that iPads can be used to completely replace paper in a professional program. This week, Julie Newman, Director of the Office of Sustainability and lecturer in Forestry and Environmental Science, came to TwTT to describe her experience using iPads to replace paper and enhance teaching in her undergraduate seminar titled “Sustainability: From Theory to Practice in Institutions.”

The initiative started when the CLC set up a pilot program to loan out 20 iPad2s to a seminar that would integrate them most effectively into its structure. The library would loan the devices, and ITS’s Instructional Technology Group would provide technical and teaching support. After a successful spring 2011 project in the digital humanities, Julie Newman’s class won the fall semester challenge, both for its ambitious goal of eliminating paper use in the classroom and for its use of iPad optimized assignments and projects.

Julie described to the audience how her class goals were uniquely suited to the iPad. First she wanted to go paperless, both to lessen the seminar’s carbon footprint and to enhance text with media integration and instant research. She also wanted to go mobile with the class, leaving the seminar room to visit local sites while students could continue to watch the presentation or take notes. These would be accomplished without the social barrier of a laptop screen. Finally, she asserted that she wanted to start a conversation on not only about technology as a teaching tool but also the role of technology in sustainability.

The environmental impact of the iPad was central, Julie pointed out, since it was being used to replace paper in a class on sustainability. After carefully considering the impact of the device she concluded that it did serve a net positive, and in conjunction with her laptop was able to almost completely eliminate paper use in the class, making it the “most paperless she’d ever been.”  This impact, however, is tied to two conditions. The first, she argues, is that it cannot be constantly replaced every time there is a new version of the same technology. The second is that the device must be used to its fullest capacity – replacing paper in contexts outside the classroom and providing additional functionality that would have required other devices.

Inside the classroom, Julie structured her assignments  to take maximum advantage of the unique features of the iPad. Course texts were acquired as Amazon or Google eBooks, articles were posted on Classes*v2, slide shows were given via Google docs. Although Julie admits that she didn’t have a comprehensive plan when she started the semester, by the end she had found a rhythm of iPad use, reaching an even greater level of integration than even she had expected.

The flexibility in assignments and projects allowed by the iPad was especially remarkable. Although adoption of the iPad was complete in daily assignments, with students pulling up homework on screen at the beginning of the class and PDF readings completed on the popular GoodReader app, it was in special projects that the iPad really showcased its educational potential. An example comes from her assignment of an “ideas forum.” This project involved students identifying a local sustainability challenge and working to develop, propose, and discuss solutions. Despite leaving the submission format open, Julie expected most students to use the iPads to assemble and deliver keynote presentations, which some students did. Others, however, used the iPad’s integrated media tools and software to construct multimedia shows or short films. In this context the combination of iMovie and a camera on a single device  made the iPad an ideal tool for the on-site assembly of a compelling multimedia presentation. Other students used the mind mapping software iDesk, only available on iOS, to diagram their understanding of the problem in a format that is both faster and easier to understand than traditional blocks of text.

With the success of coursework and special projects on the iPad, Julie explains that she will certainly integrate the device into new attempts to reduce paper consumption and to integrate technology more closely with teaching, although if she cannot secure iPads again then she will try to replicate the functions using laptop computers. The iPad does convey a number of distinct advantages over a laptop, however. First, limited multitasking keeps students focused in class, while still having access to internet and processing tools. The extra mobility and integrated cameras allow students to take the device with them to field sites, bringing practice and learning together in a way that is difficult even with portable computers. Finally, Julie felt that after learning about iDesk she had underutilized it in the classroom, something she will remedy in a future class if the devices appear again.

Besides using iDesk more heavily, Julie points out that there are a number of things she would do differently in the future. First, she feels that more training is necessary, and that professors should start using the device at least a semester in advance of teaching with it. She also feels that more training for both students and faculty would be useful, particularly on applications like keynote, iMovie, GoodReader, and Evernote. Finally, a more efficient content transfer system and possibly keyboards for in-class note-taking should be considered in future iPad based classes.

Besides the user challenges associated with teaching with iPads, IT Staff overcame significant challenges to deploy iPads on short notice. It was only two weeks before the devices were to be given out that staff was able to begin the process of deciding how to configure and distribute the devices. Particularly challenging was the process of deciding what applications to pre-load, and how to keep track of all 18 devices and accessories to make sure that nothing could be lost. Despite these challenges, however, the iPads rolled out successfully, and integrated with course materials to a degree nobody had anticipated. While future classes may not encounter some of the initial obstacles associated with a pilot program, it is certain that they will all benefit from the educational potential of the iPad in the classroom.

For full coverage of this session, please click the video below (note a slight delay upon initial playback):

When the Stanford School of Medicine decided to incorporate mobile technology into the curriculum while reducing the use of paper in the classroom, students were issued iPads to access electronic versions of their course materials. Within a semester there was a general revolt, and paper was reinstated as the primary teaching tool.

When the Yale School of Medicine sought to use iPads to eliminate paper, after a botched experiment with flash drives, the goal was to take a big risk in order to have a big impact. The bold strategy paid off. With 84% of first year medical students saying that the iPad was their primary classroom tool, and 90% of students reporting that it was their primary tool for reading, adoption rates were better than the implementation team had expected. Now, not only has the program been recognized as a success, but the Yale Medical School is also now regularly contacted by other departments and programs, as well as other universities, for information on how to successfully deploy iPads in teaching. Joining us on Tuesday to talk about the history, implementation, and success of the program were Michael Scwartz, Gary Leydon, Judy Spark, and Mark Gentry, all from the team at the Yale School of Medicine responsible for the success of the iPad program.

As Assistant Dean of Curriculum, Michael Schwartz began the presentation by explaining not only the problems other schools had encountered while teaching with iPads, but also the steps that Yale knew it needed to take to make the program unique and successful. Several elements stood out. First, education on the use of the iPad was mandatory. Second, they used a pilot program to determine student needs, and adapted the program to anticipate and avoid simple problems that might otherwise have been easily overlooked. Third, there was significant cooperation between departments, and, finally, a mobile support network of mobile-friendly sites and a new CMS compatible with the iPad  were deployed at the same time as students received the tablets. Finally, the implementation group decided to focus on near perfect functionality of core components rather than trying to support all features, resulting in the cutting of printing support and non-HTML5 movies to focus on encryption, reading, and note-taking. The cumulative result was an environment where students could focus on learning course content rather than learning how to use the device.

Although adoption was made as easy as possible for students, creating this transparency was an exceptional challenge for support staff. Starting with the news that the program had been expanded overnight to cover all 518 current medical school students instead of only 200 first years, the implementation team was faced with the challenge of preparing 518 devices that each required being physically plugged into a computer to turn on for the first time – before being individually configured with internal encryption to meet stringent healthcare confidentiality requirements for electronic protected health information (ePHI) in the clinical environment.

The initial group of 9 committed students in the pilot program had emphasized the importance of ease of use of supporting systems as well as the device itself. Frequently accessed websites and the learning management system had to be optimized for use on the tablet – including not only a redesign of the mobile version of the sites, but also the ability to quickly access classroom resources through bulk download and rapid content update. With screen constraints, course sites and resources needed to be completely uniform to avoid confusion while accessing content, and students wanted to be able to interact with that content not only through touch and drawing, but also with a keyboard.

Thus, the implementation team faced a dual challenge. First they had to configure over 500 devices to be secure and useful tools to access both course material and confidential health information. The second, greater, challenge was the need to develop the support infrastructure to make these devices useful.

The restructuring of learning infrastructure to improve the iPad experience involved three main components. First, the learning management system, where all course materials reside, needed to be linked to the iPads in a form that allowed students to update materials in seconds before lecture if a professor has made a last minute change to his presentation. The second support system was a modification of Medical School Websites in general to make them more mobile friendly, and to create portals through which students could access the most commonly needed content, including course podcasts, faculty produced teaching applications, and pages with tips and instructions. The final step is providing technical and software support beyond the basic applications included with the iPad. In the YSM program, this function is filled by the library, which evaluates medical software and resources, acquires site licenses, and consults with students about how their technical needs might be better suited by new tools. The library also helps students integrate their portable computers, mobile phones, and tablet computers to improve productivity while maintaining compliance with ePHI regulation.

In order to perform all of the changes needed for back end support of the iPads, the implementation team had to bring together many departments to work cooperatively. While the library worked on promoting mobile friendly interfaces and testing software, ITS and the curriculum development group worked on the LMS. Settling on a system called “BlueDogs,” an implementation of the licensed LCMS+ system for medical schools,  a script could be used that every 55 minutes looks through content, finds new material, indexes text, produces PDF copies of everything, and then pushes the content to a WebDav server which hosts content that can be pulled, either one file at a time or a semester at a time, to iPads on demand (push sync has not yet been tested). Once on the iPad, most students choose to use GoodReader to read and annotate materials.

In order to minimize technical problems, educational support staff kept complete control over the content on the LMS. This included renaming all files to match a standard convention over the course of six months and sorting the items into folders – the same folders that would appear on the iPad. Although the sheer number of changes implemented at once made some staff members nervous, ultimately all of the back end changes worked well, and in the coming year faculty will probably get direct access to their own course sites.

With the back end services ready to go, the challenge of physically preparing and issuing the iPads came next. As mentioned earlier, each iOS4 unit had to be manually plugged into a computer and configured, but since each device would have to be registered to the wireless network using netID, and encryption passwords would all be private, the setup that could perform in advance was limited. Nonetheless, staff purchased  a 10 port USB hub (the 20 port physically burned out) and initialized every device. In the process they installed a web clip (like a shortcut) that linked to the YSM’s setup guide for iPads, and also iBooks, so students would have to set up an apple account, but could do so without a credit card. Serial numbers for all devices were retained and tied to students’ names.

In the opening week of classes, students were obligated to go to an orientation class to get their iPads where they were broken into groups of 25 to 40 people for training on setting up curriculum, email, and security systems. Students also received either an Apple Bluetooth keyboard or a $69 Amazon giftcard to purchase their own keyboard, 2 years of AppleCare warranty coverage, and a Goodreader activation code. Students were fast learners. While the older students took about an hour to set up the iPads, first years usually finished the entire process in 15 minutes.

Adoption rates have been very high, and while the BlueDogs system is completely compatible with laptops and other devices, most students will still use their iPads to obtain and read course materials. The program has also been successful in mostly eliminating the use of paper in teaching. Before the iPad program, over $1000 worth of copies were made for every student. Students are still given the option of purchasing the paper form of course information, but not a single student chose to. The program also promises to bring more creative learning opportunities to the Medical School. Some professors have already begun the process of writing applications to go along with their courses, including interactive maps of body systems. iPads will also be integrated with the information systems of Yale New Haven Hospital, allowing students to use the same device for both learning and clinical practice. With outstanding rates of adoption, and increased integration with new teaching tools and the clinical setting, the Yale School of Medicine’s iPad program is a model for the deployment of tablet computing in education.

For full coverage of this session, please click the video below
(note a slight delay upon initial playback):