Jordan Gerard/ Winonan

Students at Winona State University once questioned how useful tablets would be for their schoolwork, but with a new strategy, this question might be answered.

The Teaching, Learning and Technology (TLT) department recently signed up for a Twitter and Instagram account hoping to “meet students where they are at and provide educational experiences,” Robin O’Callaghan, the senior instructional designer for the TLT department said.

The Twitter and Instagram accounts are named “e-Wazoo” and have the hashtag #AppWinonaState.

“The goal is to increase students using the tablets for academic use,” O’Callaghan said, “however, they are also social beings, so we are also teaching them how to properly use social media.”

By using these accounts, students will be informed about new apps to help manage time, study for exams and get them involved with social media.

New apps will be introduced including a Desire 2 Learn (D2L) Binder app. The D2L Binder app allows students to view content from D2L on their iPad.

On Mondays, e-Wazoo will feature free apps. On Wednesdays, students can claim featured paid apps by winning contests such as taking selfies with the campus mascot Wazoo.

The accounts have nearly 200 followers, O’Callaghan said. Her goal is to have 500 followers by the end of fall semester and 1,000 followers by the end of the 2015 spring semester.

“We developed a strategy to engage students to use the tablet for academic reasons,” O’Callaghan said, “The objective of my program is to increase using their tablet in at least one class during the semester.”

The department is also hosting a scholarship competition  in which ten $1,000 scholarships will be awarded. The topic is “How I use my WSU tablet,” and students can submit videos, photos or design a laptop skin.

Participants must be full-time students and have a laptop or tablet from Winona State. The scholarship deadline is January 1, 2015, and winners will be announced over winter break.

In addition to the scholarship contest, the department is also giving away prizes, or “swag,” as they call it. The swag includes stylus pens, ear buds, screen wipes, tablet stands and a battery booster if students are trained about any app from a TLT student worker.

The big prize to this part of the program is a camping chair attached with a tablet holder. If students sit in the chair, they will be entered in a drawing for the chair. While sitting in the chair, student workers will show them how to use a particular app.

“I think it’s a blast,” O’Callaghan said, “Students are always wired in, and it’s not always on their laptop, it’s on their phone and tablet. That’s where they want to get the information. They don’t want a brochure when they come in.”

The complete rules and eligibility for the scholarship can be found at http://learn.winona.edu/E-Warrior_Aspen_Capital_Scholarship_e-Competition.