the pendulum
NEWS
THURSDAY. MARCH 15. 2012 // PAGE 7
Faculty prove more in touch with tablets than younger generation
Jeff Stem
Online Managing Edrtor
While the public meets Apple’s
product announcements with a huge
amount of excitement, few students at
Elon University seem to care about the
new iPad’s launch last Friday.
Tablets such as the iPad allow
for more possibilities in schools:
e-textbooks, productivity and note-
taking, interactive learning apps.
“What I like about them is the
instant on and the battery life," said
Scott Hildebrand, assistant director of
Teaching and Learning Technologies.
“I take my tablet when I’m going to a
meeting or traveling. Most everything
I use syncs with the cloud and it’s all
right here.”
Hildebrand is behind several
initiatives to incorporate tablets into
teaching and learning, including a
monthly tablet user group for faculty
members, short and long-term tablet
rental programs and working to bring
tablets into the classroom.
“We noticed more and more tablets
showing up on campus and we were
just trying to get an idea on how they
were being used,” Hildebrand said.
“It’s really great having users show
up and say ‘These are the apps that
1 found this week, here’s how they’re
helping me.’”
But when it comes to tablet usage on
campus, it is far greater among faculty
members than students.
“We haven’t bridged the student
divide yet," Hildebrand said of the user
group, “We haven’t seen a lot of them
being used by students yet."
A non-scientific online survey of 43
random Elon students showed that just
32.6 percent of respondents did own a
tablet, the overwhelming majority of
those being the iPad 2.
“I would expect there to be more
than there have been so far," senior
Casey Claude said, who got an iPad 2
for Christmas. “But iPads are new still,
but as they continue to get cheaper, I
think we will.”
Joel Hollingsworth, professor
of computing sciences, teaches
a Mobile Computing course, in
which his students get to build
applications for smartphones and
tablets. Hollingsworth is not in the
user group, but has also seen them
used infrequently by students in the
classroom.
“Why don’t students, instead of
carrying around a backpack full of
books to class, carry around an iPad
or something and pull that out?” asked
Hollingsworth.
While the tablet provides
applications useful for students,
materials students require are often
not available.
Hollingsworth said he believes the
slow adoption of tablets by students is
because of textbook publishers being
slower to produce their content in
digital format.
“It hasn’t caught on as fast as we
thought it would, mainly because
students don’t have the devices,”
said Randy Piland, faculty fellow for
technology, in a recent interview for
The Swing.
Apple releases the iPad HD March
16. The new device sports a better
camera, 4G-connectivity and a new
screen.
Hollingsworth said he is most
interested in the new iPad’s better
screen resolution, which, at 2048x1536
pixels, is higher than most high-
m
GLORIA SO I Staff PtxMographer
Scott Hildebrand, assistant director of Teaching and Learning Technologies is leading the charge
to incorporate tablets into Elon*s classrooms. His efforts include a mon^ly tablet user group.
definition TVs.
“It’s so high, which means the types
of images you’re going to be able to put
out on that are going to be amazing,"
Hollingsworth said.
But even with the introduction of
a new iPad, students don’t seem sold
on tablets. Not one survey respondent
said they would definitely purchase
the new iPad.
“Most students are coming with
their laptops, coming with their phones,
and they don’t really need that third
device in between,” Hildebrand said.
“Someone made a comment earlier this
week that their grandmother adopted
the iPad sooner than they had.”
Although Claude uses her tablet to
take notes in class, she said she is still
surrounded by the laptops of other
students.
Even with evolving tablet technology
there is still a need for the personal
computer, according to Hildebrand.
Ninety-five percent of the survey
respondents agree if students could
pick just one device to have with them
at college, they would still pick the
computer over the tablet.
While there may be a day when
tablets replace computers, it doesn’t
seem to be in the immediate future.
Law students, school to benefit from externship opportunity
Hannah DelaCourt
Senior Reporter
The Elon University School of Law will
soon be able to offer more externship
opportunities for students in the
Washington, D.C. area.
The law school recently announced its
partnership with The Washington Center
for Internships and Academic Seminars,
which will provide law students with
legal externship opportunities in D.C.
The Washington Center was founded
35 years ago and pairs undergraduates
with internship positions in the D.C. area.
Margaret Kantlehner, associate
professor of law, is the director of
externships, preceptors and capstone
leadership experiences. Kantlehner
said Elon’s undergraduate program has
worked with The Washington Center for
many yeMs, but an opportunity opened
up for Elon to get involved in the legal
environment.
“We will send students to D.C. for
a residency working with government
lawyers and (non-governmental
organization) governmental lawyers
for 36 hours a week supervised by an
attorney,” she said.
Students will take 12 to 15 credit
hours at The Washington Center, which
will satisfy their elective credit for
graduation. But, as with study abroad,
the students will have to plan ahead to
make sure they can be off campus for the
time needed for the externship.
Participants in the program must be
second-year or third-year law students.
“We are looking for students who
have a good academic standing, good
character, who will represent us well,
who are interested in governmental law
and in the national prospective of law,"
Kantlehner said.
As the director of externships,
Kantlehner will travel to D.C.
occasionally, but Courtney Dredden, an
adjunct professor and program adviser
for the Washington Legal Externship
Program at The Washington Center, will
serve as an onsite faculty member.
Dredden will be the constant source
of information for students and will also
teach the externship seminar that will
meet once a week.
“We are very pleased to have her on
the ground,” Kantlehner said. “She brings
a great knowledge of D.C. and placement
there.”
The experience in D.C. will be
beneficial to students in numerous ways
because it would add to their resumes
and cover letters, and it is something
to talk about in their future interviews,
Dredden said.
“If (they are) interested in working
in D.C., it gets their foot in the door."
Dredden said. “If they aren’t interested
in D.C., it also gives them practical
experience.”
Students have expressed a lot of
interest so far, Kantlehner said. The law
school will send at least 10 students to
D.C. this summer and at least 10 in the
fall and the spring. Since the law program
is still new, sending 10 students is almost
10 percent of the law school’s student
population.
Second-year law student Meg Sparger
is one of the students who has shown
interest in the program. Sparger said the
externship program is a phenomenal
addition to the law school curriculum.
She said she thinks students will not
only gain practical, on-the-job experience
with a federal agency, but will also be
exposed to the realities of the work
week in Washington, a city where law is
particularly relevant.
But Sparger also sees this program
affecting Elon’s law school as a whole.
“On a macro level, even students
who do not participate in the externship
program will benefit indirectly from
Elon’s relationship with The Washington
Center,” she said. “While Elon certainly
has a regional presence, its role as a
facilitator for a nationwide program
will better the law school’s reputation
and hopefully bring some well-deserved
notoriety."
Fast Facts: Washington Center Externship
-Based in Washington, D.C.
-Pairs urKlergraduates with internship
pcsftions
-Students take 12 to IS credit hours
-Students work 36 hours per week
-10 students from Elon University School of
Law can participate
-Students gain on-tlie-job experience with a
federal agency
SGA conference attendance brings student voice into national dialogue
Melissa Kansky
News Editor
Their job is to represent
the student body. Immersing
themselves in a national
dialogue adds Elon University’s
voice to the equation.
“I think it gives us a stronger
voice as a leader on campus
because we are supposed to
be the voice of the students,"
said Sam Warren, Student
Government Association
executive president. “Darien and
I will now be able to speak from
multiple sides."
Warren and Darien Flowers,
SGA executive president-elect,
gained further insight into
American Israeli relations and
the conflict in the Middle East
ft K*?'* American Israel
piblic Affairs Committee Policy
Cmference in Washington
IJ-C. AlPAC invited student
government leaders throughout
the country to the conference
March 3, of which 217 attended.
“They see us as the future
leaders in the political system
and so it was to help us learn
about the cause and AIPAC in
general,” Warren said.
President Barack Obama,
Israeli President Shimon Peres
and Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu were
among the speakers presenting
at the conference.
AIPAC, a group dedicated to
establishing positive American-
Israeli relationships, invited
the students in hopes that they
will apply their experiences at
the conference to life on their
college campuses, according to
Warren.
“Typically, when we think
about sending people to
conferences, not just from an
SGA standpoint, but from special
allocations, we look at how it will
impact Elon and what they will
tc
We want to make
sure Elon is a
campus welcoming
of all religions and
nationalities.
-Sam Warren
SGA EXECUTIVE
PRESIDENT
JJ
bring back," Warren said.
When Warren realized the
conference took place during
SGA’s transition period, he asked
them to extend the invitation to
Flowers, and both students were
invited to attend.
“Because I am leaving soon, 1
wouldn’t impact Elon in the way
that they needed it,” he said.
For Flowers, the opportunity
to listen to Obama and Peres
speak and interact with other
students translates to Elon
student engagement, he said.
Understanding a new
perspective of the conflict
enables him to discuss the issue
with students that share the
same sentiment as the Israel
advocacy group. Flowers said.
“This was an opportunity for
me to hear one group’s position
on an issue and become more
informed about it,” Flowers said.
"But as we learn at a liberal arts
institute, there are multiple
sides to an issue and multiple
ways to approach an issue.”
Warren said he viewed the
conference as a way to further
develop religious life at Elon as
the university moves to promote
more inter-faith dialogue.
“We can put the knowledge
Darien and I got from this
experience into the equation,”
Warren said.
Although the conference
promoted positive relations
between the United States
and Israel and encouraged
participants to align themselves
with the Jewish state, Warren
and Flowers refrained from
determining the university’s
position on the issue.
A student body president
in attendance asked student
leaders to sign a commitment
that they would cultivate a
pro-lsraeli campus. Provided
SGA procedure. Flowers and
Warren would need Senate
approval before taking such
action. Furthermore, the SGA
representatives did not want to
isolate Elon students that do not
share the same view concerning
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We want to make sure Elon
is a campus welcoming of all
religions and nationalities.”
Warren said.