The next step forward

Trinity College was one of the first educational institutions in the world to conduct a formal trial of iPads as a teaching and learning device in the classroom. 

The 'Step Forward' report recorded the success of this pioneering trial and identified a range of educational advantages including:

• active learning
• individualising content for students
• real time access to information
• collaborative learning.

The report encapsulated the experiences and recommendations of students and staff and, on that basis, Trinity College allocated TCFS teaching staff with iPads in 2011 and is preparing for full deployment of iPads to all new TCFS students in 2012.

Every new student in TCFS will be issued with an iPad during Orientation Week, which is guaranteed to be a pleasant welcome to Melbourne and make O-Week even more exhilarating than usual. 

iPads will be used across the TCFS curriculum, and staff are already building on the lessons learnt in the August Extended trial. Their imagination and technological skills will enhance the program to ensure that our students are well prepared for university life and future employment.

The ability to adapt, to move from the simple to the complex, to question and critique, to collect, collate and communicate effectively, and to create and inspire, are some of the key requirements of dialogic education and will be defining characteristics of the innovators and leaders of the future.

TCFS students and staff will make films, produce recordings, conduct physical experiments, create and deliver presentations, draw graphs and pictures, write eBooks, essays and reports, and use their iPads in the classroom, on field trips, in the library and wherever they are mobile.

The possibilities for individual work and group projects are myriad – together we will go further, faster and with more fun. 

Glen Jennings, Associate Dean (Academic Operations) and Dr Jennifer Mitchell, Education Technology Manager.