USM announces Samsung Tab pilot program.
Samsung Mobile recently announced that, beginning this fall, the University of Southern Mississippi will provide students in the USM Honors, McNair Scholars and Gulf Coast programs with Samsung Galaxy Tablets, the Hattiesburg American reports.
Students with access to advanced classroom technology, like a tablet computer, an interactive whiteboard or a HDMI projector, experience a more in-depth and engaging education. At the collegiate level, technology leaves a student that much more prepared to enter an increasingly tech-dependant professional atmosphere.
The tablets, which will give students wireless access to course content, electronic textbooks, syllabi and communication platforms, were purchased with a private grant and will be distributed to 700 USM students in a pilot program designed to weigh the effectiveness of the technology and determine the value in a potential expansion of the program.
"Tablets are like the Swiss Army Knife to academic excellence," said Homer Coffman, chief information officer for USM. "By leveraging this new technology, we are committed to transforming the way students interact, engage and learn in the classrooms."
While the program was met by and large with positive reviews, some students felt that the partial integration of the tablets was an act of favoritism on the part of the university, noting that if the administration believes in the educational advantages of tablet technology, it should make tablets available to all students.
