SOUTH BEND – Students in two Internet-driven courses at the University of Notre Dame will lease iPads instead of buying textbooks under a pilot program this spring.

The computer tablets will go to students in “Introduction to the First Amendment: Freedom of Expression in the Digital Age” and “Introduction to Web-Based Interactivity, and Data-Driven Design.”

Other course materials are free to students, including a custom-built iBook textbook.

Assistant art professor Andre Murnieks says devices such as the iPad give designers valuable touch and gestural input.