New Challenges
➤ Resource library. The student affairs physical library
was expanded to include leadership texts, and staff are seeking
ways to expand the library digitally. Using the Kindle application, staff members can purchase an electronic copy of a text
and share it among up to six Kindle-compatible devices using
one Amazon account. Sharing these texts electronically minimizes the purchase of books and makes travel lighter when
attending resource-heavy conferences or institutes.
➤ Student leader training. The office is planning to
administer the initial StrengthsQuest assessment through
the iPad. It can also be used to register students at leadership
retreats and to create accounts in OrgSync for organizations
and individuals.
iPad Offers Additional Options
Colleagues on campuses across the country offer additional
ways to utilize the iPad. Residence life departments are using
it to run housing management software like StarRez to process
check-in and check-out procedures with residents and staff
members. Campus center staff are using the FileMaker Go app
to log statistics in a central database and to share files between
staff members.
Student affairs staff members at Duke University have been
testing the iPad recently across the department, using the iPad
Nearly six months after
proposing the iPad inte-
gration into the student
affairs operation, the new
technology has helped
achieve efficiencies as well
as posed challenges.
as a teleprompter, audio mixer, student registration device,
assessment instrument, reference manual, and even a jukebox
at coffee house events.
The possibilities seem endless for integrating the iPad into
the work of student affairs. Certainly there are ways your
office can take advantage of the many applications to improve
service to staff members and students. LE
Becca Obergefell is assistant director of the Office of Student Involvement
and Leadership at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
