CASE STUDY: iPad revolution

One of Switzerland’s leading hospitality schools, César Ritz Colleges, recently made the — rather expensive — technological leap from traditional textbooks to iPads

Switzerland’s César Ritz Colleges hotel management school, in an attempt to be at the “forefront of innovation in teaching methods, facilities and courses offered to its students”, recently introduced iPads to its classrooms.
No half measures were taken in rolling out the initiative. Upon deciding to take to tablets, all existing students were issued an iPad and all new students enrolling from now on will receive one.

Rational and Objective
“The iPad has changed the way that students learn right across the globe with information now accessible at the touch of a finger,” says César Ritz Colleges managing director Ronan Fitzgerald, who has led the initiative.

“In the classroom setting at César Ritz Colleges, students and teachers work together, learn together and generate new content to drive an education revolution. The iPad inspires creativity and hands-on learning with features that are not found in any other educational tool,” he adds.

The initiative was launched with several key objectives: firstly, to offer a new learning experience adapted to individual needs and various lesson and study requirements.

Secondly, the aim was to increase interactivity in the classroom setting, and thirdly to reduce the amount of paper used by providing documents on iPad, including textbooks and other academic materials.

The ‘iPad revolution’, as Fitzgerald refers to it, was rolled out in July 2012, at César Ritz Colleges’ three campuses: Lucerne, Le Bouveret and Brig.

Concept and Investment
The conversion from textbooks to iPads posed a significant logistical challenge for the schools’ technical and operations departments.

“We took an exciting step towards the creation of a fully-interactive learning environment. The iPad does not just replace the textbook for students; it is so much more and has really changed the way that students engage with their studies,” says Fitzgerald.

The Swiss Education Group invested an initial 600,000 Chf (around US $660,574) in 2012 and equipped all students and faculty of César Ritz Colleges with an iPad.

The investment is ongoing as each semester all new students are supplied with an iPad, which comes loaded with four useful and study-specific applications called Pages, Numbers, Keynote and iAnnotate.

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In Practice
César Ritz Colleges claims to be the first hotel management school in Switzerland to have embraced the new technology and following the success of the experience, it is set to be introduced to other schools in the Swiss Education Group network over the coming years.

“The iPad has brought to César Ritz Colleges a new level of interactivity and the amazing opportunity for students and staff alike to be involved in the creation of inspiring, up-to-date and instantly relevant information for the hospitality and tourism industry,” comments Fitzgerald.

“We have seen fantastic use in all subjects from accounting to service and just how it is used is being driven by the students and their teachers,” he added.

Zeynep Jaggi, who lectures at the Lucerne campus, says the usage of iPads in the classroom has been a positive experience overall.

“It has helped reduce an incredible amount of paper waste and reduced the time
invested in photocopying to zero — I can invest my time more effectively on other things.

It has provided students a good chance to combine the usage of technology in class with learning practices. One of the best examples of that is the usage of videos in public-speaking classes and a specific example is the TED talks.
The students have the chance to bookmark, share and watch videos either in the classroom or outside of the class as a listening and speaking activity.  Another example is TEDed that I have recently started to use. 

“What is more, the students do not have to carry around different books to each class since the iPad is the main tool that we use. This avoids the situations that people forget books or materials in the class or simply lose them. And the best of all, you can really create dynamic and creative classes for all your courses with different apps,” he adds.

However, on a recent visit to Dubai for the International Panel of Experts Forum at the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, commenting on the initiative, Fitzgerald revealed that not all of the faculty staff had warmed to the idea of scrapping the traditional textbook way of learning.

The results to date
However, six months after the start of the iPad revolution, the feedback from students and staff alike has been very positive, according to Fitzgerald.

César Ritz Colleges bachelor student Felix Münch says: “The iPad makes studying more convenient. It is very simple to use, especially for students who are not very into technology.

It is a first step of showing how later in our careers everything will be connected and communicated through devices like the iPad. And we have the possibility to grow together with the technology.

“Studying is still as hard as it was before, but I am sure that in the future handheld devices will take over in many business areas, and make them as convenient as in the education sector,” adds Münch.

According to Fizgerald, staff who saw the iPad as “just a fancy replacement for textbooks” have discovered that the possibilities are much greater.

Bjorn Lutz, who also lectures at the Lucerne campus, says the iPad opens up new perspectives and adds a new dimension of interactivity to the learning and teaching experience in the classroom environment.

“Learning a new language, working with vocabulary and grammar and looking up new words, the ipad facilitates the preparation of wordlists, quizzes and allows students to share and show their presentations and results via Apple TV in an instant.”

Ultimately, the iPad has transformed the way that many classes are run and the course content being produced by lecturers is constantly being updated and improved.

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Felix Münch,
Bachelor student, César Ritz Colleges

As most of our lectures are working either with PDF or PPT Presentations, the iPad comes in quite handy as it can read all the different formats.
The school gave every student a bundle of apps that increase the productivity compared to an actual laptop.

iAnnotate for example is a document reviewer and apart from just viewing documents, you can highlight, write comments, add links and it will save that way. The iPad helps especially when we are talking about the classroom experience.

With the Airplay function and every classroom set up with a projector connected to an Apple TV, we have the ability to prompt each student’s iPad screen via wi-fi on the wall. This is how the lecturers present their course.
And if a student wants to comment or mention an example, he can quickly take-over the screen and show the whole class his iPad screen.

Ilinca Dobrea,
Student, Bouveret campus

As far as I am concerned, the iPad was an amazing idea. Not only is it an ‘anytime, anywhere’ learning device, but it also allows us to extend the class beyond the four walls. 

With the iPad we have the opportunity to be permanently in touch with the teachers,as well as the other students, through the ‘Ritz CommuniGate’ channel.

I have found the iPad to be really useful in our food and nutrition class where our teacher recommended us a list of applications where we found a lot of interesting information for the class.

I recommend the iPad as a learning device because it is an original method of learning, providing easy access to information and, at the same time it helps students stay in touch with teachers and classmates.

Olga Kampaxi,
lecturer, César Ritz Colleges Brig campus

I had to approach my course objectives and some activities with a different mind-set upon the introduction of iPads at César Ritz Colleges.

I had to re-create aspects of my courses from the creation of video-resumes, internet searches, impromptu student presentations, and an increase in classroom mobility.

It is, however, a journey that I have very much enjoyed. But it is only the beginning.

I see tablets as a tool that has great potential in educational institutions, and at the same time we are helping the students to use it in ways that can help them in their professional careers. Built-in surveys, interviews, podcasts etc. are just a few things that can be transferred to the workplace.