The devices came along with the college’s new flat-rate tuition, which it also rolled out this semester, and are meant to fill a need the college’s leaders had noticed in recent years.

“Our goal is always to provide the best education possible we can to our students,” said Dr. Stacy Mentzer, Iowa Central vice president of instruction. “Above anything, we want to make sure we are meeting our students’ needs.”

Mentzer said some of the college’s students have never had a device like a tablet or laptop computer and that some just can’t afford a device. She said a lot of Iowa Central’s instructors use devices for different assignments, and many textbooks are now digital ebooks.

“It’s all about accessibility and equity, making sure that everybody has the same opportunity,” she said.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Kelly Boleyn, a freshman majoring in pre-dental hygiene, takes notes on her Surface Go tablet during a study session at the Student Resource Center on Wednesday. Starting earlier this semester, Iowa Central offers Surface Go tablets to students to use for their classes and textbooks.

Mentzer said the need for accessibility to electronic devices and how they could help was apparent across the campus.

“When you have students who struggle to read, these devices will read the book for them if it’s an electronic book, which is awesome to be able to help in that way,” she said. “For students who don’t have a device to do homework at home or their classes are limited because some of the information is online, or how do students research to write a paper. You would be amazed at the number of students we had writing papers on their phones. It was mind-blowing.”

The college made a huge investment in the plan to get a device in the hands of nearly every student on Iowa Central’s campus. In August, the college spent $1.3 million dollars to purchase 3,000 Surface Go tablets from Microsoft. Mentzer said that was a sound investment in these students’ educations.

Of the 3,000 tablets the school purchased, about 2,300 are being used by students right now, Mentzer said. About 45 percent of the Iowa Central student population are actually high school students, but they don’t receive the tablets because they receive electronic devices through their high schools, she said.

“Of our on-campus students, I think I had maybe 500 or 600 who didn’t get the device,” she said.

When students receive their Surface Gos, they sign a waiver acknowledging that they are responsible if the device is damaged. Students do not get to keep the devices, but will turn them in at the end of the school year, or at the end of the semester if they are not enrolled in the following semester.

“We’ve had a few that have gotten broken, so that’s always a concern,” Mentzer said. “But we’ve not had any theft of any devices, which is amazing. It just shows, in my opinion, the quality of our campus and the students that we have here.”

Overall, the response from students has been overwhelmingly positive, the vice president said.

“Students, from what I understand, are loving it,” she said. “It’s really cool to walk around campus now. Everywhere you go, there’s kids all over with their devices.”

Instructors are also happy with the new devices in the hands of their students.

Sara Carlson, a nursing instructor at Iowa Central, uses the tablets, including her own college-issued Surface Pro tablet, to send powerpoints to the students to take notes right on the screen as she’s instructing the class.

“I like them,” she said of the students having the Surface Gos in the classroom. “Lots of the students have taken advantage of them. They’re smaller, which is nice because they’re all able to carry them in their bags. They have to bring a big binder, books and then adding a computer can be a bit much, but the size of the tablet is great for them.”

She said she also uses the tablets for online tests in class.

“I think it’s just great for those students who maybe don’t have that access to a computer outside of school to be able to have that access,” Carlson said.

Now, 10 weeks into the fall semester and with midterms hovering nearby, Kelly Boleyn, a freshman in pre-dental hygiene, values this tool for her education.

“I really like them,” she said. “I think it’s made class a lot easier to take notes and it’s easier for me to study.”

She also appreciates the smaller size of the tablet. She had actually purchased a laptop to use for school, but prefers the Surface Go provided by Iowa Central because it’s easier to carry around campus.

“It’s a lot easier to manage,” she said.

The college has not been without its hiccups with all these new devices on its wireless internet network. Mentzer said they have definitely had their stumbles along the way, but the school is working on upgrading its WiFi.