Adelaide University has embraced technology and is offering new science students a free iPad next year, while The University of Melbourne's Trinity College has offered the device to 50 students and 20 staff as part of a trial.
Both institutions are demonstrating how the iPad – and other tablet-style devices – can help students learn in new ways.
Educational benefits
The University of Melbourne's Trinity College explained in its blog that the educational aims of the iPad trial are "further, faster, and with more fun". The iPads are being trialled by students in Trinity’s foundation studies program, a 12-month course preparing international students for entry to Australian universities.
Trinity is using the iPad in a number of innovative ways. Students can be online all the time in the classroom, researching the web while sat in class. Students can also create engaging presentations of their work, including video and animations. In addition, students can also access education apps.
The iPad is also being used to encourage students to publish their work to the web, creating a portfolio that can be viewed by potential employers or used by other students to promote discussion.
Saving money
The University of Adelaide is also backing the iPad as an essential educational tool. The university is offering the iPad to all science undergraduates starting a course in 2011, with the intention of distributing course content, including textbooks, electronically.
Buying textbooks is a huge cost for some and the iPad could potentially save these students a lot of money. Eventually, the university hopes to phase out printed textbooks altogether.
The executive dean of the Faculty of Sciences, Professor Bob Hill, said: "Our teaching material will be more accessible, more relevant and more frequently updated, providing the flexible learning environment that students are looking for."
Apps
Apple is keen to promote the iPad as an educational tool, and there are plenty of ingenious apps designed for students.
Medical students can benefit from Brain Tutor 3D, a collection of interactive, rotatable 3D images of the human brain with descriptions, while astrophysicists will appreciate Nasa's free app and Star Walk, with its maps of the constellations.
Languages are also well represented on the Apps store, with Pocket English (ESL) for non-native English speakers and 'word of the day' apps are available in many languages through WordPower.
All these apps and more can be found on Apple's iTunes store.
Find courses from The University of Adelaide and The University of Melbourne.