Students get iPads gratis in two classes

Dr. Robert Sterken, associate professor of political science, interacts with Taylor Cerney and Kasey Boykin while they use their new iPads.

Students in two classes received free iPads from the University this semester. The classes are Dr. Robert Sterken's International Law and Diplomacy and Dr. Ann Beebe's English 1301.

The University's tablet-computer purchase initiated a wave of questions from professors and students across campus and also from the local media.

"The money for the iPads came from what was left over from a technology fund," Sterken said. "It had to be spent on technology and also had to be spent on students before the money went back to the state on September 1, 2010."

Sterken proposed the idea of the iPads to President Rodney Mabry, who agreed it was a unique way for University students to be able to incorporate new technology into their education.

"Buying the iPads was a new idea to give students an opportunity to use technology the University has never offered before," he said.

Called iCountry, Sterken's class project creates an iPad application by which anyone can access the information they have presented about countries from around the world.

"I have never before considered the benefits of having an iPad," Kasey Boykin, a senior marketing major, said. "Now that I have it, I would not know what to do without it."

Students receiving iPads must pass the course in order to keep them. "The iPad would be beneficial for school because you get to keep the iPad at the end of the semester," junior Danica Weddle said.

This condition has proven a significant incentive for some students.

"The iPad has really helped me to stay organized in my classes this semester, and I will definitely work hard to be able to keep it," Boykin said.

For those already planning their spring semester schedules around the enrollment into Sterken's or Beebe's classes, neither faculty member plans to use iPads in future courses.