Dr. Lesley Page, Assistant Professor of the Organizational Leadership master’s program at Lewis University shares her thoughts on using an IPad.

Photo taken from http://www.apple.com/ipad/

What I Like…

I do notice that more and more students are using tablets or e-readers for their class reading (e.g., textbooks).  Many express this through our class discussions and informal conversation. I do like sharing in this experience  with students and being able to relate to those who prefer this style of learning.  I found it relatively easy to get access to my course textbooks online, and most publishers seem to prefer or encourage subscription to their e-books (rather than a traditional hardcopy).  Of course, the ease of access is incredible, I can read anywhere, anytime – often being more discrete than when reading a traditional hardcopy book.

I have also found other functions very helpful, like taking notes (and keeping track of them) and keeping pictures of flip charts or whiteboard exercises.

What I Don’t Like…

I’m no technical expert, so maybe it is user-error, but sometimes I have trouble underlining or highlighting certain sections of my reading. So, when I access my texts online and want to remember a certain section or quote a specific sentence, I would prefer to underline the passage. Using my iPad, sometimes I can perform this function, but at other times the app to access the book won’t let me underline. I find the inconsistency frustrating.

What I’m Not Sure About…

I guess I might be old fashioned, but I can’t quite figure out how using my iPad to access my course textbooks provides enough of an advantage to me.  Maybe I’ll learn more tricks, but for now the jury is still out on the long-term effectiveness of using this tool.  I’d also like to hear more from our students about the cost-effectiveness of purchasing e-books.

Dr. Lesley Page                                                                                                                                                                

Dr. Lesley Page is an Assistant Professor in the Organizational Leadership program at Lewis University. Dr. Page has been active in organizational research and consulting for over 15 years. She has served clients from a wide variety of industries, including financial services, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, retail and healthcare. Dr. Page also worked for 7 years at Sears, Roebuck and Co. specializing in the measurement of employee engagement and commitment. Her expertise is in both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. She has integrated these methodologies in employee satisfaction measurement projects, customer satisfaction projects, best practices research and team effectiveness research. Dr. Page has also been involved in leadership development programs and assessment. She is a member of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Education:

• B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1990
• M.A., DePaul University, 1993
• Ph.D., DePaul University, 1996

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