iPads Elevate New Student Day at UMBC

UMBC is always busy on New Student Day with several events happening throughout the day. Before any of that can happen, both new students and parents need to first sign in. This year, the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships used iPads to enhance the experience for parents and new students, creating a new and improved process. 

In the past, parents had to stand in long lines and used a ticket system. Now, with RT powering the login system on the iPads, parents could skip the long lines and ditch the ticket system. Colleen Lindbeck, Associate Director at Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships said “We had greeters to help families login to the iPads,” [with the] signup screen up and ready,” 

Parents did not pass around one iPad; Lindbeck says there were 3-4 tablets at a time being passed around, preventing a backup of people from logging in. “Families were very receptive to it, we got good feedback.”

This is just one example of how iPads can help enhance events and not detract from them. The whole process overall creates no paperwork to manage and everything is automatically tracked digitally.

Imani Smoot, a student assistant on New Student Day, had nothing but praise for incorporating iPads. “I loved using the iPads for New Student Day. It was a lot more convenient and organized than the previous system we used,” said Smoot. “I also think parents and students were receptive to the use of the technology as well.”

Smoot knows first-hand what the previous system was like, and the difference is night and day. Before assisting for New Student Day, she helped prior years as a greeter. Smoot said “The process this year went much smoother with the use of the iPads when compared to last year. I feel like the iPads made it so that me and the other workers had more flexibility and control over the process as well.”

Next year, Lindbeck plans on using iPads again, with more training for staff and the possibility of adding even more iPads for parents and students to use. “I was extremely happy with the outcome, feedback, and how smooth the process went.”

Smoot echos that same feeling, and said “I would hope that we would never have to go back to the old system after trying this new iPad system. It was overall, much more efficient.”