The iPad to the college student

Unfortunately, I can't write the essay that most of you have, so I'll just throw out some ideas.

In the airport on the way home, I saw a man sitting with a laptop in his lap, a cell phone on his shoulder, and an iPad in his hands. Excessive? Pretty much. But I find the iPad to fill a similar niche. Ultimately, it can't replace a laptop, but instead supplements it. Whether that is completely necessary or not is up to you. It is good for reading or surfing the internet in bed, reading and writing email in the airport or on the couch, or watching a movie rented off of iTunes. Or at least, that's how I use it.

For the course, I believe the iPad has been an incredibly useful tool for expanding our course. Between the discussions and the excellent presentations, we have seen the breadth of topics that can be viewed through the lens of the iPad. e-readers, the internet, how information reaches us, virtual reality, AI, and the publishing industry have all come under our gaze. Trying to utilize the iPad for note taking and presenting has pushed our abilities with unknown technology, and also perhaps rubbed with the idea that young people have some inherent skill with shiny new gadgets. Funny that I just had such a problem trying to post this off of the iPad, and had to email it to myself.

I am looking forward to what we can explore in the second semester.