Paper free

K-State veterinary medicine students adopt a new paperless format this fall

 

This fall K-State's College of Veterinary Medicine will require its first-year students to use laptops and electronic notes.

The college is moving to a paperless curriculum, said Melinda Wilkerson, an associate professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology. That means each incoming student will be issued a Toshiba Tablet with which to take notes, cross-reference course materials, zoom in on images and even interact with the instructor via an "audience response system."

"Implementing new technologies into the veterinary curriculum is a directive of the latest foresight recommendations by the American Association of Veterinary Medical Education," Wilkerson said. As interim associate dean of academic affairs, she will help facilitate the college's departure from paperwork.

The conversion involves more than ordering a truckload of computers.

Professors have to become familiar with current technology, although many will continue to use their routine teaching methods, Wilkerson said. Turning lecture notes into electronic form falls to the college's support staff, which had to be reorganized to accommodate the job. Copyright of newly released electronic material also had to be resolved.

With the change, each student can expect to spend an additional $600 annually, according to Wilkerson.

Iowa State University's veterinary school also is turning to tablet PCs this coming year, Wilkerson said, and medical schools such as the University of Kansas program have recently gone paperless.

But Wilkerson doesn't expect the PCs to come between students and their instructors. The tradition of face-to-face teaching and learning will continue, as will another academic ritual: pencil-on-paper examinations, she said.

 

Photos: (Top) Toshiba Tablets will allow students to take notes, cross-reference course material, zoom in on images and interact with instructors. (Bottom) Veterinary medicine students using the new Toshiba Tablets. This is the first semester students are required to use laptops and electronic notes.