We have been fortunate to be able to loan iPads to each of the students in the retail management group. After some discussion with Apple and looking at other institutions the following models seem to have emerged:

• The institution owns it, puts apps and content on it, locks it down so no other changes can be made, loans it out

This model (which exactly mirrors the typical corporate infrastructure of PC management) is typically favoured by managers. If an institution is planning to distribute a large amount of prebuilt content (slides, notes, audio and video), this may be the way to go. The downside is that it completely restricts the freedoms associated with such a personal, portable device. It’s extremely unlikely that all the required apps will be predicted and preinstalled. This model may also be problematic if a student takes the iPad home and plugs it into their own version of iTunes, which may delete some of the content if the student elects to fully synchronise all the content.

• The institution buys it, gives it to the students who control and administer the device themselves

Most institutions would worry about this model, as in a typical PC based architecture it would create massive maintenance headaches. Thankfully because the iPad app model is curated, there is no evidence that malicious applications have trashed any iPads or have screwed it up to such a state that reinstall is necessary. In this model there are two other issues – getting teaching material on the device and providing the apps that a student needs to do their work (which may cost £££s). The first issue can be overcome with “over wi-fi” solutions that may require some infrastructure (iTunesU, materials on Web sites, Podcasts and RSS feeds). The second issue could be solved by iTunes gift cards (giving each student a card with enough money on it to buy Pages, Keynote and Numbers for example). Alternatively as most applications are effectively micropayments (i.e. £5 or less), institutions could tell students that they have to purchase the apps themselves (aligning it with textbook purchase perhaps).

We’ve chosen the second method – many of the students have iPhones or were very keen to take full control of their devices. Looking at how they use the iPads (and seeing which apps they choose) is a key part of the research of this project.