Below is a brief summary of the demonstrations at the latest iPad Users Group:

iPad Used in Library Scavenger Hunt Game

To help encourage students to become more familiar with the library, Director of Library Services Sue Iwanowicz and her team created a game called the “Library Adventure.” The game is styled after a scavenger hunt and is designed to help first year students become more comfortable with using the library and asking for assistance. The game runs on the Scvngr platform. 

Here's how it works: Working in groups of up to three, students use one of the library’s iPads, their own iPad, or a smartphone to search for items in the library’s collections, based on a series of clues. They receive points and new clues after they meet each challenge. Half the students completed the game within the first five days of the most recent fall semester. After five weeks, 85 percent of students had completed it. 

Moving forward, the library will have an iPad loaner program that will allow for four-day loans for students, faculty, and staff. The iPads will be populated with three education-related apps, and a webpage will be created to serve as a clearinghouse for additional apps. 

iPads Helping Improve Participation at Student Events

Peter Aiello, Vice President of the Student Government Association (SGA), shared how the SGA is using iPads to keep track of attendance at student events. Prior to this year, SGA was using paper attendance sheets, but they were not very accurate. Using the Uniscan app, SGA members are now able to scan student ID cards, export them to Excel, and categorize them by name, year, etc. 

By having greater insights into event attendance, the SGA hopes to create more events that better suit students' schedules and offer the types of programming that students would like to see.

During both presentations, an iPad to VGA adapter was used to allow the iPad screen to be viewed on the classroom display screens.

The Future of iPads at ACPHS

Ian Douglas, Vice Provost of Innovative Learning and Academic Support Services (ILASS), outlined some of the advantages of using iPads compared with laptops, which include the fact that they are smaller, lighter, and offer "instant-on" capabilities. Also, there are many free and low-cost apps and videos available online.

ILASS would like to work with the college community to support the creation of custom apps such as this one developed by Dr. Douglas and his team from Florida State University. The app was developed to enhance schoolchildren’s interactivity with science exhibits and teach them to think like scientists. It lets the students make observations about the exhibits and enter those observations into a database. The data then goes to a website that asks the students questions based on the information collected. 

Other applications/advantages for iPads that were discussed included:

• > Providing information about the Throop Museum at ACPHS when the curator is not available.
• > Solving classroom problems and providing support with interactive lab books.
• > Offering enhanced security to comply with FERPA requirements (unlike laptops, lost or stolen iPads may be traced through GPS and wiped of data remotely). 

If you are actively using an iPad or other such device and would be willing to do a demonstration at the next user group meeting, please contact Diana Hinchcliff, Administrative Assistant, Innovative Learning and Academic Support Services.