Ohio State to start providing iPads to student-athletes

Ohio State is poised for a top 5 finish in this year's Director's Cup, this after finishing No. 2 in 2010-11, and the Ohio State athletic department is about to reward its student-athletes for their success in the classroom. On Wednesday, the school announced it will start providing its student-athletes with iPads this fall.

?The use of iPads will allow us to find creative and innovative ways to enhance our tutoring and mentoring services for student-athletes,? said Dr. David Graham, Ohio State assistant provost for student-athlete success. ?The iPads will be preloaded with athletics department materials currently provided to student-athletes in paper or book form and will be available to students throughout their academic careers.?

[Read full story at OhioStateBuckeyes.com]

The initiative, in collaboration with the Ohio State Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), is a part of Ohio State?s Digital First program (digitalfirst.osu.edu), which looks to transform the educational experience on campus through technology.

According to Graham, the Department of Athletics will provide about 500 iPads to select teams this fall and the goal is to provide every student-athlete (about 1,100 total) with the technology in the next two years.

Other benefits of the Digital First program:

• Enhanced learning through digital technology including e-textbooks, digital course materials and online course programming; this will build on and complement Student-Athlete Support Services? initiative to create iBooks for courses relating to student-athletes
• Improved academic productivity during team travel, as students will have easy access to email, Carmen (Ohio State?s online course management system), Ohio State library databases, Pages and Numbers for word processing and spreadsheet creation, FaceTime, Skype and other tools that will enable coursework to be completed on the road
• Better access to content through applications (apps) that will help students engage with subject matter
• Increased time management and stronger study skills through apps designed to help college students manage their hectic schedules and workloads
• Better services for students with learning disabilities via assistive technology
• Stronger familiarity with the latest innovative technology that will prove valuable for student-athletes in the classroom as well as the 21st century workplaces they will join after graduation

The iPads will be available to the student-athletes on an issuance and retrieval basis.