Building
a Model
for Success

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The traditional model of expecting individual students to provide their own technology has led to inconsistent and, at times, inequitable experiences. When a digital initiative places the same Apple products in the hands of all students, institutions can deliver a consistent approach to technology that creates one seamless experience for its entire community. This expands the possibilities for faculty and staff to innovate, build, and deliver consistent learning experiences for all students.

To get the most out of their initiatives, higher education leaders say they focus their efforts on two main areas:

Creating an engaging learning environment
Supporting holistic student success

"iPad has become one of our most valuable tools," said Dr. Donna Henry, chancellor at the University of Virginia's College at Wise. "With more than 80 percent of our students receiving financial aid, our iPad initiative levels the playing field for our students. Faculty and staff are excited to implement projects that create community, enhance academic engagement, and help our students develop technological skills to meet changing workforce demands."

Creating an
Engaging
Learning
Environment

Today, the concept of an engaging learning environment has broadened far beyond the walls of traditional classrooms and lecture halls to all aspects of the student experience. Faculty who have successfully used technology to build rich, flexible learning environments have noted the need to retool their pedagogies to make them highly student-centered. This means designing content and coursework that engages students and meets them where they are.

"There's a big opportunity to develop faculty on how to use technology from a student's perspective," said Dr. Nicole Kraft, associate professor of Clinical Communication at The Ohio State University. "This way, we can challenge students' creative brains in a way that's interesting to them—so they ask questions, make mistakes, and really learn." Katrina Carter-Tellison, vice president for Academic Affairs at Lynn University, expanded on this sentiment: "With our iPad program, we haven't changed the curriculum or the readings, but our approach is different. It's more experiential. Now students are experiencing the readings the way they want to—whether it's through apps, alternative videos, or explanations by our own faculty. There are multiple ways for students to understand and comprehend works."

Northeast
Mississippi
Community
College
Smart
Campus
Initiative

Spotlight

Equity, accessibility, and affordability are the heart of the mission for the Smart Campus Initiative at Northeast Mississippi Community College (NEMCC). Over 90 percent of their more than 3600 students receive financial aid.
To support the mission and level the playing field, NEMCC provides iPad and digital textbooks to all.
A key success factor is NEMCC's commitment to developing a robust training program for their faculty and staff that's rooted in best practices for student-centered learning.
Faculty champions have established a train-the-trainer model for professional development to help educate and inspire peers on how to design engaging learning materials. This approach also facilitates buy-in from faculty who continue to innovate using iPad in pedagogy and within hybrid learning environments.
Over the past seven years, the college has seen an increase in student success (the percentage of students scoring A, B, or C in class) from 72 percent to 80 percent. They've also seen an increase in student classroom engagement, a decrease in student course material costs of over $7 million, and steady student enrollment, even as other colleges have experienced a decline.

"iPad helped us transform our approach from a faculty-centered environment to a student-centered environment that is equitable, relevant, and affordable."

Dr. Ricky Ford, President, Northeast Mississippi Community College

Supporting
Holistic
Student
Success

Although academic success is important in student life, it doesn't account for the entire college journey. Many nonacademic elements of the campus experience are essential to holistic student success.

At Hiram College, for example, learning extends far beyond the campus as students participate in internships, field research, and service projects. Students receive an iPad Pro® with a preloaded suite of educational apps, Apple Pencil, Smart Keyboard Folio, and a pair of hiking boots to promote access to both technology and nature in an effort to establish a healthy, productive life balance.

Across many higher education institutions, technology plays a big role in supporting the nonacademic elements of the campus experience. This includes everything from how students register for classes and access health, wellness, and advisory services to how they discover extracurricular activities that best align with their passions and interests. It can be challenging enough to help students navigate these countless services when they're physically on campus, but it becomes even more important—and more difficult—in a hybrid or fully online environment. Many leading institutions are solving the challenges of virtual learning environments by building custom and innovative apps on Apple's developer platforms—iOS®, iPadOS®, macOS®, watchOS®, and tvOS®.

This allows students and faculty to continue discovering and engaging with all the support services and broader experiences that their campuses have to offer. Some universities outsource the development of these apps to outside companies. Others buy customizable off-the-shelf solutions from companies that specialize in higher education, such as Ready Education and Involvio.

Some universities have taken this a step further and are using their app development centers and internal talent—for example, faculty, staff, and students—to build their own solutions. With Swift, Apple's easy-to-learn coding language, they're building robust apps to address important campus and community concerns, such as mental wellness, food insecurity, and campus security, to name a few. For example, The Ohio State University provides every student with the opportunity to learn how to solve real-world problems by building apps using Swift. One of their success stories is Ohio State: Wellness, a student-led app design that provides the entire community with a wellness tracker, resources for mental health, and ways to access support immediately.

Jefferson
College of Nursing | JeffLEARN Initiative

Spotlight

We share the most compelling stories of how our faculty are creating innovative learning experiences across all departments — from creative arts to computer science and nursing. It’s a great way to celebrate successes with our students, alumni, and staff, and it helps inspire and motivate our community to continue to innovate.

Dr. Ryan A. Neal, Provost, Anderson University

“Apple has even given us the tools to start building our own applications that allow our students to directly play a role in the migration to competency driven education.”

Dr. Hannah R. Smith, Assistant Dean for Academic Strategy and Operations, Jefferson College of Nursing

The JeffLEARN (Lead Engage Advance Reimagine Nursing) Initiative at Jefferson College of Nursing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, equips all students, faculty, and staff with iPad Pro and Apple Pencil.
iPad was chosen to provide students with access to the same tools and apps they'll use as future healthcare professionals.
Apple Professional Learning provided tailored training to inspire faculty and spark new ideas and learning models for engaging students.
Faculty use built-in iPad apps—such as iMovie® and Keynote®—to produce engaging synchronous and asynchronous course content, tips, and multimedia resources that they share with each other.
More than 85 percent of faculty and staff are certified in Apple's free professional learning program, Apple Teacher, which helps educators build skills on iPad and Mac.
Faculty have also established a steering committee to solicit and address student feedback as part of their commitment to continuous innovation in nursing education.

Western Iowa Tech Community College | Culture of Innovation

In 2017, Western Iowa Tech Community College (WITCC) set a strategic goal to use mobile technology to create an engaging and equitable learning environment for students, faculty, and staff.
Students played a significant role in the technology decision. During the pilot, they were issued a PC or a Mac. WITCC assessed the feedback and impact along multiple dimensions. Students overwhelmingly chose MacBook® and cited creativity, productivity, and preparing for future careers as reasons for their choice. Learn more ›
WITCC distributes nearly 9000 Apple devices each year to both credit and noncredit students, faculty, adjunct instructors, and employees. Apple technology is central to their operations, which has redefined traditional teaching paradigms and shifted day-to-day operations, including replacing traditional phones with Zoom and AirPods Pro®.
IT shifted their existing deployment from PC to Mac, which resulted in a cost-neutral initiative overall. Over four years, the school saw a 62 percent reduction in desktop support, a drop in laptop support from 4.5 hours to 3 minutes per year, and a reduction of more than two million pages of printed paper.
Leadership credits the MacBook program as a significant reason for increased student engagement, which resulted in a 30 percent increase in graduation rates since 2013, making WITCC the top diploma-awarding community college in Iowa.

We are deeply committed to and focused on our students. Because of the foundation we have in place with Apple technology, we can do really creative and innovative things for our community, including ensuring flexible access for all students to academic advising, counseling, mental health resources, tutoring, and student events.

Dr. Terry Murrell, President, Western Iowa Tech Community College