The iPad made its debut this weekend, and although I am an Apple fan (this blog is brought to you by a MacBook Pro, after all), I was not waiting in line to buy one of the more than 300,000 units that were sold this weekend. Don’t get me wrong—I also have an Amazon Kindle, so I do like tech toys to some extent. But the fact that the iPad has a whole new wave of people—including college students–poking, swiping, and staring at a thin handheld screen begs the question: what ever happened to an old fashioned pen and pad of paper?

Now, I am aware that an iPad can do much more than the old spiral-bound notebooks that I used in college ever could. And even though the iPad can’t multitask—a fatal flaw for some users—what it can do one step at a time is quite amazing. Still, if I were a college student, paying upwards of $40,000 a year at a private institution, I would want to make sure I squeezed out every dollar I could in the classroom and not ruin it all by being distracted by a $500+ piece of equipment.

Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, however, does not share my opinion. This fall, all full-time freshmen will receive not only an iPad, but a MacBook Pro. Seton Hill feels that by arming students with the latest in portable technology, they will create a digitally interactive learning environment, as well as get away from traditional textbooks by paving the way towards eco-friendly e-books.

Perhaps they didn’t read my blog about professors banning laptops in the classroom.

Nevertheless, I think that Seton Hill’s endeavor is great in theory. The potential for using the iPad as a learning tool is simply phenomenal, with lightning-fast capabilities for file sharing, textbook downloads, and note taking. However, as someone who has taught Freshmen English, I fear that students will be spending more time downloading cool apps and catching up on episodes of “Glee” than they will spend actually paying attention to lectures and discussions.

So go ahead–make fun of my old-fashioned notebook and pen, but aside from doodling in the margins and the occasional paper airplane, that’s about all the distractions I’ll have. I’m toying with the idea of going for my PhD one of these days, and unless I’m working on a research paper in the library, my Mac will stay home.

–Barbara Bellesi