Administrators plan to provide all students at 26 campuses with Surface 2 tablets.
CDI College, one of Canada’s leading career training institutions, is preparing students for success in the workforce of today and the future. An early adopter of tablet technology in the classroom, CDI College will be providing more than 5,800 Surface 2 tablets to students by the end of summer 2014 as one of the primary tools students and faculty will use to facilitate the educational experience across all of its campuses.
CDI College recently completed a pilot program at its Ajax, Ontario, campus and is currently running another pilot program at the Surrey, British Columbia, campus. In each program, the students gained valuable skills that will seamlessly translate to their careers post-graduation. For example, students used their Surface devices to do the following:
- Access the college’s Learning Management System, course materials and assignments online
- Access and read their e-books
- Communicate with faculty and fellow students through email, chat and Skype
- Save and share files with OneDrive or with the integrated USB 3.0 port
- Use Office 2013 to complete class assignments and activities
- Submit assignments for classes and real-time peer review
- Use additional apps such as Flash Cards and Nurse Tabs
“The experience students receive with the enterprise-quality technology of the Surface devices and Microsoft productivity tools help us achieve our goal of preparing them with the skills and experiences they need to succeed in their career now and 20 years from now,” said Dr. Bohdan Bilan, vice president of Academics and Regulatory Affairs at CDI College. “We need to provide students with the tools they will use when they graduate and the skills that will translate in the future as technology continues to evolve, so the Surface 2 and Microsoft software was perfect for us.”
Connected to the Internet, and loaded with the Office 2013 RT suite, including OneDrive storage in the cloud, the Surface devices allow students to read, produce, share and store materials. The Windows 8.1 RT operating system enhances student productivity with the seamless ability to multitask among different applications, for example, simultaneously watch a video and take notes in the OneNote app. Students are also able to search across the operating system, the Web and the cloud at once, and with a USB and HD video out port, students can connect to hundreds of peripheral devices such as printers and projectors.
The Surface offers a solution for a college that teaches a variety of disciplines. Healthcare students can use Windows 8 RT anatomy apps to study anatomy and physiology. Students in the business administrative and accounting programs can create reports, spreadsheets and presentations using the Office RT Suite. In addition to the students, administrators anticipate a number of benefits for faculty, including greater flexibility to interact with students and provide feedback within and outside the classroom.
“The Surface 2 makes it a lot easier for us to learn. You can make more detailed notes, using pictures and highlighting things,” said Marlene Bromley, Practical Nursing student. “With the Surface 2, I like the splitting of the screens so I can read my PowerPoint presentations and create flash cards as I go, instead of switching back and forth because it was really time-consuming.”
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