Discussion #2 – Not sure about this….
I was teaching laboratory safety to adults, so it was a 6 hour lecture course and a 3 hour practical. This course has shifted to an online mode where all the 6 hours of lectures were put online, but the 3 hour practical is kept the same.
In this context one advantage of the iPad is having easy access to the lecture material and access to the net to get more information about the risks associated with the organisms, chemicals and radioactive materials that people are working with. I do not have an iPad so I don’t know if there is an app for this, but it may be that there is an app to easily discover the risks of working with specific things.
In conclusion, I really don’t think it would be a practical thing to do right now in this particular context of a classroom, but if a researcher wanted to give their employees access to an iPad so that they could easily access the information that they need, I can see a positive in this. For instance, instead of carrying around a protocol, the protocols can be uploaded into an iPad and have hyperlinks to other notes and associated protocols. The only thing is that it becomes a logistical challenge as there is a high probability that the iPad can get contaminated with biological, chemical or radiological materials. If this is the case, then the lab needs to be cognisant of this and make all their employees aware that these iPads are considered to be “dirty” and that they need to be handled as such.
Another issue that I thought about that could hopefully be answered by the presenters is whether or not the iPad can be used with gloved hands. If that is not the case then, researchers would be constantly taking on and removing the gloves to work with the iPad and this could be quite tiresome after a while. Also, if the iPad can’t be accessed with gloved hands, this could result in the iPad not being used in certain types of laboratories or procedures that require the researcher to always have gloved hands. Another issue is that certain chemicals can severly damage the expensive iPad.
Juliana.
Posted in: Week 09: iPad Apps
David William Price 10:32 am on November 6, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Great example of using mobile as a performance support.
You can probably find conductive gloves or a conductive solution to allow you to use gloves.
There are all kinds of cases and shields for iPads to keep them safe.
andrea 3:25 pm on November 6, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Funny that this should come up – I just saw an ad for the first time this weekend for i-touch gloves, and then discovered this article: http://topiphoneresource.info/best-iphone-gloves/. Even though I live in Vancouver, I am a cold weather wimp and may be investing in some of these 🙂
Deb Giesbrecht 2:26 pm on November 6, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
That is an interesting scenario Juliana.
Presently in the OR at one of our hospitals they are trialing the ipad for instrumentation tracking and control and have found an ipad that is surgically closed (I think that is the term they used) meaning that it is encased in such a way that it can be wiped down with cleaning solution after every use. It is mounted on the wall and plugged in at all times (hence no worries about battery life). Of course this option costs more as that is not the usual consumer package that it comes in. Gloved hands are used in the OR, and there are no reports that this is a negative factor in its use.
It is really hard to setup online learning when the learner is suppose to perform a return demonstration – much harder depending on the angles of the camera, if that is indeed what they are using, to capture all the cues of the demo. For tactile learner, like myself, being shown in person is a lot more advantageous then seeing it on screen.