NEMCC iPad Initiative Broadened to Students

BOONVEILLE, Miss.–  In 2014, to give their students the best learning environment possible, Northeast Mississippi Community College officials launched ‘ONE Northeast’, an iPAD initiative.

‘ONE Northeast’ has as its mission “to better prepare students for tomorrow’s workplace by leveraging technology while providing an engaging learning environment and a cost savings to the student.”  Northeast was the first community/junior college in the state of Mississippi to make iPad available to its faculty campus-wide.  At the time executive vice president Ricky Ford believed it put Northeast at the forefront of technological innovation in higher education in the state.  This fall Northeast will take the next step.

“Beginning this fall, we will make iPAD readily available for every student that enrolls at Northeast,” Ford said. “Students will have the choice to actively participate in the way the college carries out classroom instruction either electronically with an iPAD or from a more traditional printed book.

“Even though we are integrating a high level of technology in the classroom, we do not want to eliminate the traditional lecture method of teaching.  I don’t think the lecture method would or should ever be eliminated from the teaching process. We are constantly looking for ways to enhance the learning atmosphere within the classroom.”

A few of the college’s programs have already embraced the technology such as the Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT) program, which started with a pilot program of 12 students in 2011 to see how Apple iPad could be integrated into traditional courses. Northeast’s radiology program and other health science fields soon followed suit.

Northeast has been quick to embrace the Apple iPad as one of the essential learning tools of the twenty-first century with a variety of different college divisions taking advantage of the devices’ versatility.

Apple’s iPad has also been the emphasis of the college’s Mobile Learning Conference, which focuses on technology in the classroom.

“‘ONE Northeast’ will help students embrace cutting-edge technology that not only provides a quality educational experience but also allows the student to develop his or her own individualized learning style,” explained Jeffrey Powell, Northeast webmaster, technology specialist and Apple Distinguished Educator.

“While students’ develop their own learning styles, the college’s goal with the initiative is to not only prepare a student for a life inside a technological classroom, but for life in the workforce as well.”

With increasingly more jobs requiring technical knowledge, Northeast now provides students with a key advantage by enabling students to work together in teams, adapt to an ever-changing work environment, communicate well and leave the college technologically adept.

Northeast’s iPad initiative gives students a chance to prepare for whatever the challenges that a student or employee might face, and provides them with the necessary preparations for those challenges in an exciting educational experience. ​

Students will have the choice of an iPad Air or iPad Mini.  Those interested can go to www.nemcc.edu/ipad for details.