Can tablet computing in your classrooms help in student recruitment?
Posted by
Bob Mootz on Tue, Feb 07, 2012 @ 08:47 AM
Since Apple's "Reinventing Textbooks" announcement in January, there has been much discussion in the publishing and academic communities, not all of it supportive. One concern had to do with the intimation in Apple's licensing agreement that Apple owned the content for books in the program. That concern disappeared last week, with the removal of the offending language. The new language gives Apple sales exclusivity for the iBook format, but leaves content ownership with the content provider.
That leaves the discussion about the effectiveness of printed versus electronic (interactive) textbooks, and there seems to be solid evidence that interactive textbooks can deliver superior educational results. An article in The Economist reported on a pilot study carried out for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a textbook publisher based in Boston, that compared the performance of two groups of children over the course of a year at the Amelia Earhart Middle School in Riverside, California, saying "A control group used the traditional Holt McDougal Algebra 1 textbook, while an experimental group used iPads with an interactive version of the same coursework. At the end of the year, 78% of pupils using the interactive text scored “proficient” or “advanced” on the California algebra test, compared with only 59% scoring likewise with the standard textbook."
There is certainly reason to believe that these types of results could be achieved at all levels, including at the college/university level. And as more elementary and secondary schools begin using digital books and tablet computing (it seems inevitable that this will happen), we are likely to see improved student performance.
What we will also see is a change in student expectations at the higher ed level. They will expect those institutions to follow suit. If they don't, students will probably feel they are taking a step backwards.
If your institution is already experimenting with the use of tablet computing in classrooms, either in addition to or in lieu of printed textbooks, it could be a signicant market differentiator for you in your student recruitment and admissions marketing efforts. Be sure to leverage it!