The iPad Pilot Project: A Faculty Driven Effort to Use Mobile Technology in the Reinvention of the Liberal Arts

Abstract

Mobile technology is pervasive in society and in particular among young people. The use of such technology in the classroom can be controversial and case studies and data on student perceptions of the technology are rare. This study presents the results of an iPad Pilot Project sponsored by a college at mid-sized university in a rural area in the United States. The study intersects the use of the iPad in the classroom with the reinvention of liberal arts education. Using case studies and student perceptions from survey data, the study concludes that the use of the iPads in the classroom can enhance critical thinking, collaboration, and participation and that the iPads were not a distraction in the classroom.  The study details the different uses of the iPad in the classroom and how the technological use addressed several different problems raised by the use of technology.