The Zombie Stack Exchanges That Just Won't Die
Is the iPad a good tool to use in a library instruction session for a freshman composition class? We are thinking of using 25 or so in our new "instruction room" in the library. We will be using it to teach freshman and others basic information literacy skills including using our catalog and databases. We have no information that indicates most students have an ipad of their own. So is this a good idea instead of buying laptops or desktops. Also many of the librarians who will be instructors have little or no experience using tablets of any type.
seawash49
If your composition class needs to write a lot of text, tablets usually won't be the perfect tool for them. On-screen-keyboards tend to slow down writing significantly, and there is little difference between vendors about that.
To make good use of an iPad or another tablet computer, an entirely different interface design is needed. There are excellent examples for things that work vs. things that don't at the Apple Store. I'm afraid though that most? OPACs were written with "traditional" web interfaces in mind though, so unless you are willing to spend competent resources on writing your own solution, you may only end up utilizing the tool as a replacement for a screen-and-keyboard based computer.
iPads are excellent tools for web browsing, which encompasses a lot of "library instruction" since so many of our tools are web-based. But the limitations (text creation being one that's already been pointed out, but could also include flash-based content, need for windowed-interaction, etc) might be hard to deal with.
I would be excited to design a class using iPads, but you'd have to do the instructional design part carefully. On the upside, you could include a lot of apps that would be inaccessible on a traditional computer.
A good presentation on some of the tools available for instruction using the iPad is available here: http://ocalamug.org/meeting_notes/iPad-in-class.pdf That is a presentation called "All I Take to Class Is My iPad!" by Angeline Yoder, Ed.D, of the College of Central Florida. (It is located several places on the web; that site is the Ocala (FL) Mac User's Group.)
whether or not it's a good idea depends on how it is used. an ipad is a tool, and like all tools, only works as well as its' handler uses it. if the purpose is to show the freshman class the library's mobile site, how to use it, etc., that could be very useful. using the portability of the ipad - by, say, walking through the stacks with one, using the library's wifi - would also be useful, or at the very least get students hopefully excited about the library's offerings.
I doubt it. Tablets don't really come with tools that help someone write at a long stretch. Also, nearly everyone in the class won't have used an iPad before, adding some learning curve to your teaching experience. Develop the course first on the iPad and only then should you teach it!
This does not sound like the best idea for the following reasons: