Students and staff from NYIT's iPad Users' Group recently held their first meeting at the Old Westbury and Manhattan Campuses in an effort to gain knowledge on how they can maximize the use of their iPad in various ways. The students were able to find out how they could optimize their time in the app store by learning about productivity apps their colleagues find useful. "We are encouraging participation in quick tips for iPad conversation in order to discourage the use of paper in college," said Academic Affairs advisor Francine Glazer.
"We carried out an iPad use survey and we got responses of 25% of our target," said Glazer. The survey they carried out had questions included the following. Did you need instructions to get started using your iPad? Are you interested in participating in an iPad Users' Group? What do you do with your iPad? And what kind of support will be useful for the use of your iPad?
"In this survey, people were allowed to select more than one checkbox and thus they add up to more than 25% of the respondents," said Glazer. Findings on their first question on whether people needed instruction to get started with their iPad was that, out of twenty people, six said yes and sixteen people said no. On their second question on whether people are interested in participating in an iPad Users' Group, fourteen people said yes, six people said no and two people were unsure.
Survey findings based on the third question on what people do with their iPad, the group found out nineteen people said they use for their personal production, and eight people said they are using for teaching and learning. Also, eight people said they use it for scholarship, whereas twelve people said they use for service. Also, seventeen people said they use it for fun and one person said it is still in the box.
On their question on what kind of support will be useful for the use of their iPad, the support that people wanted for their iPad was innovative apps, help for using iPad for teaching, editing Word, Excel, and Power Point documents, Flash, how to project from the iPad, better WiFi connectivity, funds for apps, and help understanding how the different apps can work together (for workflow, document management, etc.)
The iPad Users' Group will be setting up a WordPress blog to serve as a gathering place for many ideas, demos, and discussions. If you would like to help contribute the content, join iPad Users' Group. "The more the merrier," says Glazer.
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