The iPad provides a window to the future of University learning. Since fall of 2010, Notre Dame has utilized the iPad for app development classes. Thirty iPads were individually configured and tailored to a specific class at the launch of this pilot program. As the program expands, with 135 iPads being distributed this semester, it is no longer feasible to individually manage and update each device. Consequently, Notre Dame has turned to Apple’s Profile Manager server for iOS, allowing iPads to be registered to a specific group and managed remotely. The Profile Manager server provides the ability to efficiently update and configure iPads simultaneously.

Professor Elliott Visconsi recording audio for his  custom iBook used in his class.

Using this server, each serial number is registered to a group that contains an associated profile including security, network and VPN settings, airplay capabilities, and email for exchange. When students register the iPad for their class, profile settings for that group are installed and made active. Changes and maintenance for the group can be made remotely, and immediately pushed down to all of the iPads registered to the group, eliminating the need to update each individually. If an iPad is stolen, it can be wiped remotely, preventing the loss of personal information. For students who already own an iPad, the class settings can be added to their personal device. The program expansion resulting from the use of the server creates exciting opportunities for professors and students at Notre Dame.

Andre Murnieks, assistant professor of art, and Elliott Visconsi, associate professor of law, are utilizing iPads registered to the Profile Manager server in their classes this semester. Customized iBooks give students relatively inexpensive access to the class textbook, and apps in the group profile allow for new forms of collaboration and discussion. The profile includes access to airplay, allowing content to be displayed wirelessly over a network. Using Apple TV’s AirPlay, students can display work from their iPad on the classroom’s projection system. Professors can present slides, video, audio files, and iBooks right from the iPad, enriching class discussion and changing the learning experience.

Using Apple TV AirPlay, professors can present slides, video, audio files, and iBooks right from the iPad.

Utilizing the iPad creates valuable opportunity for discussion outside of class. The Profile Manager server gives students access to VPN settings, allowing them to log into the Notre Dame network from off campus. Visconsi, for example, utilizes apps such as Google+ for forums and class discussion. Course content can be uploaded to ITunes U and shared with the class. This minimizes handouts needed, reduces the material and textbook cost for students, and minimizes the amount of material that needs to be carried around.

The Profile Manager server has allowed Notre Dame to expand their pilot program of class iPad rentals, stepping into what very well could be the future: iPads replacing textbooks as the primary instrument of University learning.

As a student, there is nothing more frustrating than feeling lost in class. Students often do not  realize how confused they are until they try to tackle their homework or their exams, and professors often do not detect this confusion until they are grading exams. The DeBartolo B011 classroom integrates technology thus allowing the professor to monitor student work and provide targeted feedback.

The classroom has a central cluster of computer monitors surrounded by tables and eight monitors mounted around the perimeter of the room.  These eight monitors can be controlled individually by wireless keyboards, allowing students to work on problems. The professor can easily see if anyone is struggling and can intervene during the learning exercise.  Walls function as dry erase boards from floor to ceiling, and faculty and students can use this space to brainstorm, make notes, or otherwise augment the content on the digital screens.

When the professor sees work that is a good example for the class it is easily pulled up onto the monitors clustered in the center of the room through a Crestron touch panel. This allows the professor to focus on an individual monitor without disrupting any of the student screens. The Crestron system also makes it simple to switch between the Mac and PC operating systems without rebooting, saving valuable class time to really focus on problems. It is as if B011 were designed to help us confused students!

OIT and the Hesburgh Library teamed up over the summer to create a unique space where students and staff can explore some of the newest technologies at Notre Dame. The Interactive Exploration lab is part of Hesburgh Library’s newly renovated first floor. It showcases emerging technologies that can be used for teaching, learning, and future library applications. Among the technologies currently featured in the IE lab are an iPad kiosk, a wall mounted Samsung touch screen, a PixelSense Surface Table, and Microsoft Kinect. The IE lab space offers visitors the chance explore these new technologies.

The iPad kiosk at the entrance to the Lab space gives a brief overview of the featured technologies and their applications. The iPad itself is the easiest and least expensive to program and implement. It is ideal for displaying basic information about an exhibit, including floor plans and maps.  The iPad’s portability and ease of use makes it an ideal technology for simple kiosk applications around campus.

The Samsung interactive touch screen installed on the Lab’s south wall functions similarly to the iPad, but features a much larger 46-inch display. Controlled by a Mac Mini hidden behind the screen, this display uses sensitive infrared technology and a high-resolution screen to display interactive digital information. This technology is ideal for digital signage. The screen’s content can be managed remotely via the campus network, allowing content to be dynamically changed on a hourly, daily or weekly schedule.  The Samsung display current features an interactive book and a high resolution panoramic photograph of campus taken from the 14th floor of Hesburgh Library.

The potential for using Interactive touch screens are further highlighted by the Microsoft PixelSense Surface Table. With an interface that is able to recognize multiple gestures and real world objects, visitors can use specially designed apps to navigate a satellite map of campus, or move through the Solar System. The PixelSense technology is also ideal for showcasing rare books, delivering interactive games or activities, and allowing for physical books to interact with virtual content. Microsoft PixelSense makes vision-based interaction possible without the use of cameras, and recognizes over 50 simultaneous inputs. This unique feature allows for multiple people to work together, simultaneously interacting with the data and each other.

Touchless interaction is taken a step further with Microsoft Kinect. Using an infrared projector camera and a microchip to track movement, the Kinect allows for gesture, facial, and voice recognition.  This exciting technology is ideal for digital visualizations and makes it possible to control  digital displays from a distance.

The IE lab technology features interactive capabilities, allowing people to connect with computers in intuitive and natural ways.

it opens up exciting possibilities for Notre Dame. The library space gives faculty and departments the opportunity to see firsthand what these new technologies offer. For students, the IE lab space can also serve as a welcome study break.

Microsoft Surface enables multiple people to collaboratively and simultaneously interact with data and each other through an interface that recognizes multi-touch, hand gestures, and tagged real-world objects. Faculty and undergraduate students are exploring innovative ways for people to interact with computers in intuitive and natural ways that take advantage of the unique capabilities of Microsoft Surface: Direct Manipulation (no keyboard or mouse needed), Multi-touch by multiple people simultaneously (social computing and group collaboration), and Object Recognition (tangible computing).

At Notre Dame, the first Microsoft Surface table was used in an interdisciplinary business/engineering/design course. It is also being used in user interface design/programming courses and IT management courses.

Overall, faculty and students at Notre Dame are developing and demonstrating active learning principles with Microsoft Surface:

1. Investigating the difference between using and developing applications for Microsoft Surface and touch enabled tablets like the iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab Android tablet.
2. Using intuitive and natural hand gestures to easily manipulate digital objects and environments.
3. Experiencing augmented reality through the interaction of real-world objects and digital objects.
4. Collaborating with multiple people simultaneously to explore and manipulate digital content.
5. Ideas for creating educational applications for Microsoft Surface to use in class, labs and campus public spaces.