Shoulder Injury Diagnosis and iPad (LAB)

Hello!

I did it. :-) I created a lab using the iPad and incorporated it into my class. Below you will find the "pros" and "cons". You can see the lab itself at: http://virtual.parkland.edu/tmburkhalter/ROTATOR CUFF AND iPAD USE LAB HANDOUT_FALL_2011.pdf .

WHAT I DID: I created a lab for my human movement (KIN 186) class that looked at shoulder injury through identification of important anatomy, investigation of the topic at large, diagnosis of case studies and application of key concepts. Three apps were selected and downloaded onto 5 tablets and students in the class broke into groups of 2-4 to work on the using the apps to gather data.

PROS:
-It required very little "lab equipment", yet it was able to cover many difficult concepts
-Students in groups were able to easily revisit a difficult concept or investigate the topic in a different way through the selected apps.
-Students were able to learn how to effectively use a few different apps. My hope is that confidence and navigation technique will translate to the field if they are expected to use media in a new work environment.
-They were able to easily watch videos presented within the app without an internet connection. This makes the iPad very easy to do a lab even in the field!

CONS:
-Some of the apps are for an additional cost. However, a pro would be that each app can then be put onto 5 different devices.
-Groups of 4 did not work as well as smaller groups. I encouraged all students to take turns working with the device. However, it seemed that there were a couple more dominant students in the group.
-For a human movement lab, I really had to work to get the students to do more than merely navigate the apps. So, I had them go through some of the rehab exercises that the app presented and video tape themselves. So, an app based lab in my class would need to be supplemented with additional tasks in order to make it as rich as it could be.