Patterson School launches iPad initiative

Levan Natroshuili walked out of the UK bookstore Monday with a free 16 gig. iPad.
The giveaway was part of the kickoff of the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce‘s new iPad initiative.  All faculty and incoming students of the Patterson School will receive an iPad, which will be used on an 18-month trial basis.  This will be the first instance where an entire school will use the device, according to a news release.
The Patterson School will work with Apple to develop innovations for the iPad for classroom use.  Currently about 50 students, faculty and staff have the device, but 35 will be added once the 2011 class is selected, according to a news release.  The Patterson School will work with applications such as Teleprompt Plus and PressReader, serving as a model for other schools.
“We are working diplomatically in a different world.” said Carey Cavanaugh, the director of the Patterson School.  He said diplomacy used to be low-tech, and “if you started talking high-tech, we started disappearing.”  Now the iPad gives students better access to information, he said.  For example, Patterson School student Laura Leavell will travel to Cambodia for humanitarian work and can use the iPad to find out what is important to the country before the trip and keep the contact once she returns.
President Lee T. Todd Jr. said the initiative will help UK focus on furthering technology, much like President Obama said in his  State of the Union address.  “This is something we want to do, need to do,” he said.
To follow the experiment, visit the Patterson School’s blog, where updates will be posted about the experience.