If you have been reading The Shield lately, I’m sure you are familiar with the newest technological innovation that the university is trying out – iPads.

Students are now able to check out these fun little tablets from the library, which I think is a great thing.

I think this is just a taste of what  is to come.

Like most any new and potentially revolutionary ideas (in terms of our campus), having iPads available to students requires a transitional stage to see if it transcends “sounding good in theory.” This is a time where the details are worked out and any issues or discrepancies are resolved.

I understand that the current circumstances are kind of weird – having only 40 available – and that these circumstances will limit the practicality of this service. But I still think the good outweighs the bad, and I appreciate what the university is doing for us.

This could be the start of a much more digitalized college experience, which would assist students who are already having to adjust their lives to the constant influx of new technology. I know that I, myself, would benefit from such an experience, as I have a tablet of my own and would love to be able to use it in the classroom as much as possible.

So before we add this to our lists of things to criticize or gripe about, I think we need to give the university some time to patch things up.

I don’t think they ever released a statement saying this is what they had intended when they envisioned 13,000 students checking out iPads, and I don’t think they would ever consider finalizing the current student-to-tablet ratio.

Progress doesn’t just happen all at once, so let’s not pretend it does.

It took our university many years to get us to where we are, and it might take many more years to get to where we want to be.

Although that may sound like a bad thing, it gives us something to work towards and something to look forward to.