Increasing I-Pad Usability With Under-Represented Communities
by Forrest Foster
Key Takeaways:
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After receiving 10 iPads, the library staff at Winston-Salem State University wanted to increase the devices' usability as a supplemental instructional tool, specifically for digital literacy, and let the campus community know about the new technology available in the Information Commons.
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A project that involved students in the Deaf Studies Program learning to use and navigate the iPad with the Sign4Me application aimed to accelerate and facilitate their learning of American Sign Language.
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The Sign4Me application and the iPad helped students learn and adapt to under-represented communities, in this case the hearing impaired/deaf community.
Author Forrest Foster explains the iPad initiative from the library's perspective (2:15 minutes).
ASL instructor Tamara Rhyne talks about using iPads with Sign4Me in her class (3:35 minutes
Conclusion:
Our experience with this project shows the value of using a mobile device, the iPad in our case, with appropriate apps to facilitate teaching digital literacy to an under-served community such as the hearing-impaired community. Both instructor and students found teaching and learning ASL faster and easier as they became more familiar with the technology, and both perceived increased engagement — even excitement — with the class as a result. Students also took more responsibility for self-study.
As a result of this successful pilot using iPads in the Information Commons, we plan to continue this collaboration to further study and identify the specific effects of technology on student performance and outcomes. Each successful initiative supports the library's (and university's) goal of fostering digital literacy and providing effective technology for our campus community.