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http://www.reed.edu/cis/about/ipad_pilot/Faculty_iPad_Reports_April2011.pdf
 * The Reed College iPad Study - (summary) **

Students in one upper-division seminar, Political Science 422: Nuclear Politics — used the iPad for all of their assigned readings.

Goals and format of the study Reed began the iPad study these major goals: - to assess the status of multi-purpose tablet technology for curricular use - to identify specific impacts (both positive and negative) of tablet technology on teaching and learning activities

**Reed identified the following as strengths of the iPad:**
**Legibility** ––– Participants were enthusiastic about the size, contrast, and resolution of the iPad's LCD screen.

**Touch screen** ––– The quick response time of the touch screen was highly praised and seemed to be extremely beneficial in class discussions because it allowed students to navigate rapidly between texts to reach specific passages.

**Form factor** ––– The iPad's size and weight made it very portable; students reported that they took their iPads virtually everywhere they went, both on and off campus, and found them easy to use in a variety of settings. Because the iPad made it easy for the students to have all of their course readings with them at all times, they found that they read and reviewed the materials more frequently than they would otherwise. The shape and size of the iPad also had a positive effect on classroom dynamics, since the device was either flat or at a slight angle to the desk surface and therefore did not create a barrier between seminar participants, as a laptop screen might.

**Battery life** ––– While the iPad's battery life was significantly shorter than that of the Kindle DX, students reported that it was at least twice as long as that of their laptop computers and that they did not experience problems with their iPads running short of power during classes.

**Durability** ––– No iPads suffered any significant damage in the study; most students found the iPad very durable.

The students in the study, however, found that they enjoyed reading on the iPad enough to use it for the electronic reserve materials not only for Nuclear Politics but for their other classes as well.
 * Paper saving - **

**Referring to texts in class** ––– One of the most significant academic advantages of the iPad over the Kindle DX is the ease with which the iPad allows students and faculty to refer to texts during in-class discussions.

Students read virtually all of the texts for Nuclear Politics in .pdf file format and were advised to use the Aji iAnnotate PDF annotation application, which allowed them to have up to six files open in tabs at any time and to switch rapidly among the documents.
 * Switching between texts –– **

The quick refresh rate and response time of the iPad's touch screen allowed students to use the search functions built into Aji iAnnotate PDF and other applications to move quickly from one portion of a text to another. Students reported that they were able to switch between texts, locate relevant sections, and navigate to passages cited in class even more quickly with the iPad than they could using paper. As a result, class discussion was able to flow smoothly and naturally.
 * Searching and navigating within texts –– **

Ipad's ability to include highlights and notes in several colors, as well as lines and freeform drawings, gave the iPad a real advantage. Furthermore, several iPad applications made it possible to annotate and highlight PDF documents. Students found that with few exceptions (discussed in the next section) highlighting was easier on the iPad than on paper though they observed that paper was still the superior medium for general annotation.
 * Highlighting and annotation - **

** the current generation iPad has some weaknesses with respect to its academic use. Our study participants identified the following concerns: **

an option, transferring files between computer and iPad via Apple's iTunes software, was also seen as needlessly complicated. Many of the students eventually opted to use cloud-based storage services like //**Dropbox**// to streamline file transfer and synchronization, but even these services did not always produce perfect results since they often failed to work seamlessly with PDF reading/annotation applications. The faculty member in the project7 evaluated four PDF applications and came to the conclusion that, at least for now, none offers an optimal combination of annotation, document management, file transfer and synchronization capabilities.
 * PDF distribution and syncing - **

**File system** ––– The aforementioned difficulties with distributing and synchronizing PDFs are directly related to the iPad's lack of a centralized file system; copies of files are stored within the applications that create or make use of them.

With very few exceptions, our study participants reported that iPad apps able to address the specific needs of their academic disciplines either had not yet been developed or were not of sufficient quality or sophistication to be useful for their courses.
 * Software availability -**

Another factor that hindered faculty efforts to use the iPad for discipline-specific material in class was Apple iOS’s **lack of support for Flash and Java.**

**General-purpose apps evaluated** //PDF reading and annotation:// //iAnnotate//’s support for synchronization with //Dropbox// and other sources was more complete than //GoodReader//’s

//Note-taking:// Other than the pre-installed Notes application, the most widely used note-taking applications were Penultimate (designed primarily for freehand input) and SoundNote (primarily for typed notes, with the option of synchronized audio recording).

//Text editing and word processing://The most widely used was Apple’s Pages; Office HD,Quickoffice, GoDocs, Edhita, and myTexts

//E-book readers:// Many participants were content to use Apple’s iBooks as an e-book reader; forcertain e-book formats, a different app, such as Stanza, Kindle, or Bluefire Reader, was needed

//Presentation tools:// Reactions to Apple’s Keynote app varied widely; some faculty members preferred the iPad version of the software to the Mac OS application or PowerPoint

//File management:// The most popular file management solution adopted by the faculty participants was Dropbox; FileApp Pro and SortShots (specifically for managing digital photos) were also mentioned.

//Drawing:// For simple drawings and diagrams, participants used Adobe Ideas, ZenBrush, and Draw Free.

//Search, reference, calculations:// Participants found a variety of search, reference, and calculation tools useful, including Google for iPad, iDictionary, several foreign-language dictionaries, iTranslate, Soundhound, 3D Brain, Convert Units, Units and Constants (has more categories of units than Convert Units), Wolfram Alpha, PCalc Lite, and powerOne FL (the last two are RPNentry calculators).

