iPad In Education
May 19th, 2010 at 2:39 PM EST | by inu846W
O’Reilly announced the immediate availability of iPad: The Missing Manual on Wednesday. The 320 page book by J.D. Biersdorfer explains how to use your iPad for work and fun, how to add videos and music to your iPad, and more.
The book explains how to manage your iTunes library for your iPad, how to add ebooks, using your iPad’s Wi-Fi and 3G data connections, how to effectively navigate Apple’s iTunes Store and App Store, includes undocumented tips and tricks, and more.
Read more: MacObserver.com
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May 19th, 2010 at 6:50 AM EST | by inu846W
Many colleges have offered free laptops to attract students. Now, some schools are offering the hottest new technology: Apple iPads.
On Tuesday, the Illinois Institute of Technology joined a few other schools in announcing it will give all 600 of its new freshmen a free iPad this fall.
School officials say it’s not a gimmick. The South Side school really wants to integrate new technology into the curriculum. And the iPad was logical, officials said, because the school has started some of the nation’s first courses in mobile application development.
“IIT is committed to providing students with the tools and support to thrive in a constantly evolving technological landscape,” Provost Alan Cramb said.
Read more: Chicago Sun-Times
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May 7th, 2010 at 11:34 AM EST | by inu846W
Timothy M. Chester, the CIO of Pepperdine University, discussed the ongoing controversy of how higher education has and should deal with the encroachment of the iPad on campuses throughout the country. Using information gleaned from the Educause CIO listserv, he found two camps being formed, and a bit of misinformation.
The first camp’s motto seems to take the position that if there is a new, potentially useful technology, it should be welcomed immediately. Seton Hill University announced that it will give an iPad to every full-time student in this fall, while George Fox University, a school that has been giving out computers to all incoming students for twenty years, is giving students a choice of either being handed an iPad or a Macbook.
Their position is that they aren’t willing to say which is the better choice, and many students already come to school with a laptop. To a large extent this is a marketing gimmick. When was the last time you heard of Seton Hill or George Fox University? But on the other hand, I know from experience that IT departments function more cheaply, and most often more effectively if their mission is to not support every digital device in the known universe. Tech support staff that only need to support a small number of platforms need less training, and parts inventories can be drastically reduced. However, Chester writes that putting an iPad into every student’s hands would cost Pepperdine around US$800,000 which he posited would be much better spent on hiring new faculty.
The second camp of schools want nothing to do with iPads and are banning their use since they cannot be handled on many existing systems without costly upgrades. This is not entirely true, at least not for the schools that got a lot of press over potential bans. Last month we wrote about Princeton and George Washington Universitity’s iPad bans, that weren’t bans at all. At Princeton, the system couldn’t handle the way that iPads allow DHCP leases to expire and then go on using the same IP address. Students were told to keep iPads off the system, at least until April 19th when they posted a workaround to buy them some time.
George Washington University seemed more like a ban, since no iPads would work on their system due to failure to pass the GW security standards. Sounds like a ban to me, but they are quick to point out that they are working with Apple and expect to have iPads functional, to some extent, this summer with full functionality expected by Spring 2011. To me, it seems that as long as the problem is being worked on and expected completion schedules are announced, it’s more of a great inconvenience than a total ban.
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May 5th, 2010 at 5:36 PM EST | by inu846W
My 22-year-old son, Kevin, is both physically and mentally handicapped. He’s a lover of technology, and has an iPod Classic, and an iPod Touch, and uses our iMac daily. The company that provides him with employment training has just applied for a grant to purchase 22 iPads for clients with various needs. I offered to do some research on apps that could be used for those with mental and developmental issues.
For Kevin’s purposes, the Calendar app will be a benefit, providing him with reminders through his day. The Notes app, or a similar journaling app, will also help.
Beyond that I’m looking for some help from the greater world of iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users. For instance, Kevin’s workday (at this point) is primarily job training, and he needs to memorize and recall certain pieces of information, such as his phone number (he got that one last month!), address (still working on it), and such things. A flashcard program would be ideal, especially one that is simple to use. Simplicity is the key – just calling my cell phone can be a challenge.
A basic database program like Bento might be helpful as well; are there any others that people have used?
I also think that a program that steps through response to emergencies would be fantastic – fire, power outages, sickness, personal safety, etc.
The apps probably fall into two categories: Learning applications to help with memorization, and Supplemental applications that allow Kevin (and others) to bypass memorization.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone with thoughts on this, or from those who are also interested in identifying apps that would make the iPad a tool for the mentally handicapped.
Thanks!
Gregory Lawhorn
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April 26th, 2010 at 5:10 PM EST | by inu846W
There have been several stories published recently, both on the web and in print, about ivy league schools banning iPads. Fortunately for students, they aren’t true. Philip Elmer-DeWitt points out an article by Steve Wildstrom that explains what happened.
Read more: TUAW.com
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April 8th, 2010 at 11:48 AM EST | by inu846W
A day after Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad, Dr. Cheryl Bacon, chair of Abilene Christian University’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communication vowed that the student newspaper would be the first to make it to the iPad. This week, ACU has accomplished that goal.
The Optimist is a nearly century-old student newspaper publication of the JMC Network, the student media operation at Abilene Christian University. The iPad edition of The Optimist is a dynamically updating version of the print edition with multi-touch photo slide shows, content selectors, updated ACU Wildcat sports scores, and coolest of all, access to five years worth of Optimist archives all right from the iPad.
Read more: TUAW.com
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