ETT21 #139: How Will iPads be Used in Education?

ETT21 #139: How Will iPads be Used in Education?
September 29, 2010

Hear how Vinnie and Alex are using their iPads.  Will the iPad be the new new thing of education?  What are the most useful apps?  How do we see the iPad being used in a classroom?

This and more... 

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<Chat Trans>

                                                                     

 12:31:21  Candida ->  Sorry, should I be streaming something?
 12:31:37  alex.ragone ->  Not on yet.  But will be soon!
 12:35:44  arvind ->  Hey there folks, welcome to the chatroom
 12:35:56  arvind ->  We're trying to loop Vinnie into our call, but having some trouble!
 12:37:52  arvind ->  ok, we're live!
 12:37:58  arvind ->  let us know how the audio is
 12:38:13  Candida ->  its very clear
 12:38:20  arvind ->  excellent, thanks
 12:38:30  arvind ->  aah, our holiday tech show will be here before we know it
 12:38:43  arvind ->  how many of you are iPad users?
 12:38:52  Teach42 ->  *raises hand*
 12:39:01  [email protected] ->  me too
 12:39:04  arvind ->  *keeps hand at side*
 12:39:16  Teach42 ->  Hey, is this going to be uStream or audio?
 12:39:23  arvind ->  should be both
 12:39:51  [email protected] ->  just deployed 20
 12:41:05  arvind ->  for those of you, were you PC users to "went iPad?"
 12:41:38  alex.ragone ->  @Teach42 -- should be running on both.
 12:42:17  arvind ->  one of the things that seems weird to be is the form factor. How do you hold it when you need to sit and type?
 12:42:31  alex.ragone ->  @G LOOMIS -- How's it going?  
 12:42:54  [email protected] ->  I hold the case with one hand if there isn't a table
 12:43:40  [email protected] ->  hey
 12:44:06  arvind ->  Alex uses the case from Apple to put it on his lap - typing isn't too bad
 12:45:44  [email protected] ->  I find after 5 months I'm getting pretty good at it! :)
 12:46:46  arvind ->  Is it tricky switching back to a regular keyboard?
 12:47:11  [email protected] ->  I wish all keyboards had a ".com" key
 12:47:21  arvind ->  I find I get confused sometimes when switching from my Android personal touch screen phone to my school-issued BlackBerry
 12:47:26  arvind ->  haha, love a .com
 12:47:59  arvind ->  welcome to the chatroom folks who have just joined. We're streaming live audio and talking about ipads in our schools
 12:48:11  arvind ->  Hi Fred
 12:48:20  Susan Carter Morgan ->  Hi All...I don't have one, but I'm here to learn
 12:48:23  fred ->  hi arvind
 12:48:34  arvind ->  Susan, I don't have one either. But please do ask questions
 12:49:01  Candida ->  neither do I Susan, still a student, can barely afford food lol
 12:49:10  Susan Carter Morgan ->  :)
 12:49:24  arvind ->  Vinnie recommending: Flipboard app for iPads
 12:49:35  [email protected] ->  I love mine and find even if I'm home and have to check servers at work I'm using the iPad not my laptop most of the time
 12:50:01  arvind ->  wow, it's a fascinating evolution
 12:50:04  Susan Carter Morgan ->  Looking at my budget for a kindle, an iPad, and a livescribe pen. I don't know why I waited until I wanted all three at once
 12:50:06  fred ->  pulse is awesome
 12:50:11  arvind ->  Vinnie also recommends the Pulse RSS reader app
 12:50:34  [email protected] ->  popplet is great
 12:51:21  vvrotny ->  I also love Instapaper
 12:51:24  Susan Carter Morgan ->  Has anyone used the app for the livesribe pen?
 12:51:24  Candida ->  So wait your saying that
 12:51:39  Candida ->  i could say I can read my RSS without the internet?
 12:51:46  [email protected] ->  yes our Admissions Dept uses pens
 12:52:15  Susan Carter Morgan ->  @gloomis...do they use the iPad app for it?
 12:52:45  Susan Carter Morgan ->  I think it's called Pencast?
 12:52:51  fred ->  the FileMaker app is quite impressive... connects to server hosted FM files
 12:53:08  alex.ragone ->  Hi Fred!
 12:53:16  fred ->  hey Alex
 12:53:53  fred ->  we've started with our library... they have 16 which they are using to help kids explore online resources
 12:53:59  [email protected] ->  @susan I think they are using writepad?  let me check
 12:54:34  [email protected] ->  @fred that is great!  we have iPads and iTouches as well the kids love them!
 12:55:21  fred ->  @gloomis... the kids do love them!
 12:56:10  Candida ->  Ipad would work amazing for Special Ed.
 12:56:23  arvind ->  for some, definitely
 12:56:48  arvind ->  Am I too much of a skeptic, or are publishers still going to drag their feet on this?
 12:57:02  fred ->  we are really hoping the textbooks start moving to the iPad http://tinyurl.com/368o8dg
 12:57:07  Teach42 ->  I think one of the major problems I have with most iPad discussions is that revolves around what apps there are that can be used in education.  The conversation needs to move to, "What do we need our tablets to do?" and then figure out what workable solutions are out there, App, Web based, or otherwise.
 12:57:56  Susan Carter Morgan ->  Ha ha, I need that too Vinnie
 12:58:07  [email protected] ->  @susan I'm duh-I see what you mean, I have a livescribe pen-the Admissions Dept is using a styllus and writepad with their iPad for when they conduct interviews
 12:58:11  arvind ->  I also wonder how long the iPad stays around. Apple is obviously working on the next big thing. How do we prepare for that reality? Or more, how long should we plan to count on it?
 12:58:30  fred ->  We see a real possibility of finally making progress on the backpack reduction front
 12:58:40  arvind ->  I supposed we could say that for any tech - all tech goes away at some point
 12:59:01  Susan Carter Morgan ->  Thanks @gloomis. I've recently heard such good things about Pencast but since I have neither a pen nor iPad, I was curious
 12:59:02  [email protected] ->  I wish that the iPad had mirroring capabilities-for now we are using our Elmos to project the apps
 12:59:02  arvind ->  Fred, would you keep your laptop program and have iPads?
 12:59:18  Teach42 ->  @arvind Some publishers are moving forward.  We're on the verge of making some announcements.
 12:59:24  arvind ->  iPads on Elmo's. Great idea! Until Apple solves the problem
 12:59:36  fred ->  @arvind, yes we would keep laptops, the iPad would be an addition  ... more technology!
 12:59:46  arvind ->  wow, that's wild
 12:59:58  arvind ->  Android tablets, yikes, more to deal with
 13:00:00  Susan Carter Morgan ->  How does the iPad compare to Kno?
 13:00:03  [email protected] ->  @arvind you have to adjust the brightness but they work great
 13:00:04  Susan Carter Morgan ->  Other than weight
 13:00:30  [email protected] ->  We have anti-glare film on all of ours at school
 13:00:55  alex.ragone ->  Love the anti-glare film.
 13:01:01  cgarrety ->  I'm interested in using iPads as a link for students to the University library
 13:01:06  Susan Carter Morgan ->  Hi Jason...I"m still asking about the Kno in here:)
 13:01:14  cgarrety ->  and to enable collaborative learning
 13:01:19  Candida ->  on discussing equity, is there something you can do for students who cannot afford an Ipad? in terms of funding?
 13:01:45  cgarrety ->  We're going to try and have 20 iPads available for students to check out through our learning commons
 13:01:47  fred ->  Cost of an iPad and laptop currently is less than the cost of a laptop ten years ago
 13:02:09  [email protected] ->  I know some schools using ARRA funds to purchase iPads
 13:03:00  jramsden (raventech) ->  Hang up on him and have him call back, no?
 13:03:15  arvind ->  great idea, Jason!
 13:03:24  jramsden (raventech) ->  Most welcome :-)
 13:03:30  arvind ->  yes, the slate form is awesome. Keeps it from getting between people
 13:03:37  arvind ->  multitasking vs. unitasking
 13:03:38  alex.ragone ->  Thanks.
 13:04:00  jramsden (raventech) ->  Hi Susan.. good. Late to the conversation but interested in how this will all play out. Anyone mention RIM's Blackberry Playbook?
 13:04:26  jramsden (raventech) ->  http://blackberry.com/playbook
 13:04:43  Susan Carter Morgan ->  Jason, I've only been in about ten minutes, but I don't think so
 13:05:06  arvind ->  wow, BB Playbook, no haven't discussed. Everyone is a player in this game
 13:05:10  [email protected] ->  I'd like to check out the playbook-I love my BlackBerry but I still think that students relate better with the iPad OS (iPhone, iTouch, etc)
 13:05:22  Teach42 ->  Bah, been having to jump on and off.  
 13:06:07  jramsden (raventech) ->  @gloomis - agreed, though lots of students do tote blackberries as well.
 13:06:22  Susan Carter Morgan ->  Anyone know why I can't paste a URL?
 13:06:38  [email protected] ->  I downloaded the developer iOS and it will be pretty slick, I'm already liking it and hope to have time to play with it more this weekend
 13:06:45  arvind ->  Macs have trouble pasting url in this chat
 13:06:46  jramsden (raventech) ->  Not to mention that the Blackberry Playbook will do flash ;-)
 13:06:54  arvind ->  drag it from another window and drop it onto the text box
 13:06:54  Susan Carter Morgan ->  :) thanks
 13:07:07  alex.ragone ->  http://blogs.collegiateschool.org/ipad/
 13:07:56  alex.ragone ->  questions: How has the response been?
 13:07:57  Teach42 ->  I think that whole flash thing is overrated.
 13:08:00  Susan Carter Morgan ->  http://kno.com/  ah ha!
 13:08:20  alex.ragone ->  http://blogs.collegiateschool.org/ipad/2010/08/16/two-british-chaps/
 13:08:38  arvind ->  funny name, the Kno
 13:08:40  [email protected] ->  I find that if I need to use Flash, Cloudbrowse has worked for me-but it may be blocked as an anonymizer at your school
 13:08:42  arvind ->  just say kno?
 13:09:28  Teach42 ->  Frash for jailbroken iPads works pretty darn well.  But more often than not, I don't bother loading it.
 13:10:33  Susan Carter Morgan ->  @arvind...ha. They've come up with a single screen and a double screen, but as Jason says, it's heavy
 13:11:03  vvrotny ->  Sorry for the cross-talk. Second graders were backed up wanting to check out books. Didn't want to damper enthusiasm
 13:11:13  [email protected] ->  yeah I jailbroke mine but it frigged up pdfs in DropBox (my favorite app) so I reverted back to the iOS image
 13:11:24  Teach42 ->  That one is huge.
 13:11:30  cgarrety ->  this has been great, thank you
 13:11:45  Teach42 ->  Document cameras are ok, but there's often too much of a glare.
 13:12:08  Teach42 ->  LOL.
 13:12:13  Susan Carter Morgan ->  Thanks to you all
 13:12:57  Teach42 ->  Keep an eye open soon for an announcement from Discovery Education too.
 13:13:15  Teach42 ->  Thanks for the show.
 13:13:25  Candida ->  my prof wanted me to come to one of your sessions
 13:13:29  arvind ->  Thanks for being here everyone!
 13:13:47  arvind ->  candidad, who is your professor and where?
 13:14:07  Teach42 ->  @Candida What prof is that?
 13:15:41  alex.ragone ->  Thanks, Everyone!
 13:15:47  [email protected] ->  thanks
 13:19:03  [email protected] ->  great talk thanks