This time, OSU freshmen are getting Apple from teachers
The first day of school means paper, pencils, apples. You know the drill.
But for the first day at Ohio State University on Tuesday, you’d better make that Apple’s.
Under the new Digital Flagship initiative, Ohio State has partnered with Apple to distribute iPads and supporting accessories at no cost to firstyear students, offer coding curriculum and create an iOS design lab for students and community members.
Nearly a year after Ohio State announced the partnership with the tech giant, pilot programs, training sessions and planning have led to this point.
More than 11,000 first-year students have received their iPads or will get them this week. About 180 faculty members, instructors and advisers have been trained under the initiative and are incorporating the iPads and Apple technology into courses. About 2,000 students are enrolled in iPad-required courses this fall.
“This is where the fun starts,” said Cory Tressler, Ohio State’s director of learning programs and leader of its Digital Flagship initiative.
Adviser Max Gulick will teach his first-year-student survey course in Newark this semester using iPads and the Digital Flagship training he received. He will no longer have to rely on worksheets and packets in his course, which guides students through their course requirements and the scheduling process.
“It’s totally revised the way I do my job as an adviser and as a teacher,” Gulick said.
For each iPad-required course offered this fall, there also must be a non-iPad section available for students, Tressler said.
English lecturer Angie Romines will teach an iPad-required section of her online English course this semester.
“Because my course works with primary sources like images and videos, I’m really hoping it will be kind of a good partnership there,” Romines said.
Other educators, though, continue to keep their classes free of screens.
Trevon Logan, an economics professor and faculty fellow in the College of Arts and Sciences, implemented a technology ban in his economics courses last spring, allowing students to ask for an exemption to the policy if they wanted.
He was pleased with the results, seeing better student performance, particularly on the first midterm exam, over previous courses in which he’d allowed technology. A number of students gave positive feedback about the no-technology policy in course evaluations, Logan said.
“We really should be using technology if it’s increasing student interaction or increasing student outcomes, or at least not making them worse,” Logan said.
He plans to continue the policy this year, although he was still considering some modifications about requests for exemptions to make things easier for students with disabilities who might rely on technology.
Although Logan promotes the need to think critically about the best uses of technology in the classroom, he still thinks the Digital Flagship initiative will be a net benefit for Ohio State.
“Apple’s going to set up ... the ability for us to go and have students develop apps right here on campus,” Logan said. “And that’s just absolutely amazing.”
Educators agree that the Digital Flagship partnership has helped level the playing field for students. The university is paying $11.1 million over four years to equip the incoming freshman class with an Apple iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard, iPad case, software and an AppleCare protection plan, all at no cost to the students.
Still, some instructors incorporating the iPads are being careful not to rely too heavily on the technology, which students might not always have access to when they graduate — whether they won’t have the latest model of a device or can’t afford them later on their own.
“I kind of think about the cost of Apple products, which isn’t an issue now, (but) are these products still going be accessible?” Romines said.
She’s trying to make sure she’s using apps in her courses that aren’t solely available on Apple products.
“I don’t want to push them toward this technology that won’t necessarily be there for them if they can’t afford it,” Romines said.