My iPad — Friend, innovation tool, and productivity guru
June 20, 2011
I love my iPad. At first, I was wary. I was “testing” it out. I wanted to see whether she would be viable. Believe me, I have used my share of devices like palm pilots and treos, all with little keyboards I carried around in my backpack to meetings. But I always slipped in my process at some point. Tired of the tool, and pulled out my little lined notebook. I have also owned a Kindle. That didn’t last long either, as the hardware seemed old school and the device so one-track minded.
Not so with my iPad. In fact, my love and respect for it has grown (probably along with the apps). I am beginning to believe that this little thin device may be well on the road to being a game changer for computing and for educational technology. Here are a few things that really work for me:
- So thin and light — I even got a special small timbuk2 bag (the Freestyle) to go with it. I spent all last week in L.A. at the Sakai Conference. I did both my presentations from the iPad and I left my laptop at home in Berkeley.
- Small apps that provide very focused functionality keep me focused. I am learning to jump quickly between them, and the good ones are starting to build more integration points.
- The cloud rocks. I use Evernote everyday for all my meeting notes. I can access them on my phone, my iPad, my laptop. I am never without my information and paper is printed rarely. iAnnotate also helps with this process.
- It is my friend. It helps me find my way, find good restaurants when and where I need them, access email on my way to the snowshoe trail in Tahoe… It is my personal assistant, connecting me to the information I need when I need it and my colleagues and more.
Also, Some apps are developing collaboration tools using bluetooth or the network to share screens and co-edit. This has many applications in the classroom. I am thinking we should buy a fleet for our new Active Learning Classroom Test Kitchen. What do you think? Can any of you share use cases for within the classroom? Love to hear from you.
