“With the instructors, it was more about us learning about them and their environment to allow us to customize a solution for them,” Gepner says. “How you approach your customer and what you know about what they do will make all the difference in the world as to whether or not there’s a big challenge for you.”
Since implementing the iPads, Simpson says students are excited to learn and use their new devices inside and outside class.
“Our students’ evaluations indicate that they are positive about the iPads,” he says. “And while we are still growing into the full potential of the iPad, we know that when we tell students in the admission cycle about it, they’re very excited that they can have their content delivered this way.”
Gepner says ICE’s iPad implementation was successful due to the partnership the school had with T2 Computing.
He says this relationship will continue to contribute to ICE’s future iPad-based teaching endeavors.
“As they evolve, we’re partners with them,” Gepner says. “As they evolve their content and offerings, they meet with us regularly and want to know what’s new…They’re great people to deal with because they’re always receptive to good ideas and are the first ones to tell us when something is working well, and when something is not.”
Tips to a Successful Device Implementation
Know your goals
Simpson says colleges looking to implement universal devices to teach students should establish why they want these devices to begin with.
That way, administrators are about to measure the implementation’s success, and chances of gaining instructors’ support increases.
“You have to begin by determining what your goals are,” Simpson says. “If you don’t know why you’re doing it, you don’t know how to measure if you were successful…If you’re trying to install something to solve a problem that’s not really a problem, you’re going to get resistance from people absorbing the technology. The first thing you have to figure out why you want to do it, and make sure other people think it’s a worthwhile goal.”
Talk to instructors
Gepner says vendors helping with an implementation should honor the culture an instructor has built in their classroom.
That means talking with instructors and customizing the technology to support their workflow.
“Sit in on a lot of classes, talk to the instructors, talk to the leadership and administration of the school,” Gepner says. “You have to be sensitive to the culture of the place, the history, what the sensibilities of the instructors are, what their objectives are. What are they trying to accomplish? That’s what really makes it work.”
Make sure IT can support your solution
Simpson says colleges should make sure they select a solution that can be supported by IT.
If not, the implementation will flop, cause technological disasters and waste the school’s money.
“You have to have a lot of buy-in from your IT department,” Simpson says. “You have to make sure they have the bandwidth and infrastructure to support you. Our whole Wi-Fi system had to be ripped out and redone to have sufficient bandwidth to have 400 people downloading simultaneously. There are all these pieces you need to figure out before you jump in.”
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