This is a guest post by Alan Jacobs, a professor of English at Wheaton College, and the author of Original Sin: A Cultural History. (You can find a comprehensive list of Jacobs’s publications here.) Jacobs blogs at Text Patterns, and he can be found on Twitter. This is a modified version of a post from Text Patterns; the original is here.)
A few months ago, I bought an iPad — and a week later returned it. It didn’t seem to fit my workflow. I use my iPhone to manage my life and my MacBook to do serious work, and it seemed to me that the iPad just plopped down between those two stools and lay there, useless.
But when the fall semester began, I found myself reconsidering that decision, for a couple of reasons.
First: I have never built (and almost certainly never will build) an entire class session around a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation, but I often want to show a few slides at some point in the class — and yet I rarely do so, because the process seems unwieldy to me: create the Keynote deck, pack up the laptop, unpack the laptop, wake it from sleep, type in my password, etc. But with an iPad I can quickly create a presentation, carry the device to class under my arm, plug it in and instantly have my presentation running.
And second: I am a plain-text guy. I don’t quite keep my life in a single big-ass text file, but I keep it in a lot of little text files. For random notes — ideas, things to remember, links to follow — I use an eccentrically fabulous Mac app called Notational Velocity, but everything else I write in the justly venerated text editor BBEdit: books, articles, blog posts, class notes . . . ah yes: class notes. You see, I backup and sync all these files via Dropbox, and Dropbox has a very nice iPad client which allows me to view all those files. (See previous ProfHacker coverage here and here and here and . . . .) Once I thought about all that I have going here, I realized that I had stumbled on an ideal (for me) teaching workflow — I just needed to get an iPad to make it work. Which I did.
Here’s how it goes. Let’s say I have about an hour before class. I’ve got notes for the session, but I want to show the class a few images and quotations. I grab the iPad and create a new Keynote file, copying and pasting the relevant material from online sources or my Dropbox files. Then I turn back to my MacBook and revise my class notes to incorporate the material I’m going to present. When it’s time to go to class, I grab the iPad. I plug it into the projector and show my slides. When I’m done, I unplug it and open Dropbox, and voilà: my just-updated notes, in a very readable format. No more printing the notes, three-hole-punching them, and putting them in my notebook — and no more throwing away last year’s notes. Just write or revise, and go.
So I’m an iPad user again, and it really looks like it’s going to be the central device of my pedagogical life. At least, until something even cooler comes along. . . .
Image by Flickr user freddyfromutah / Creative Commons licensed
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14 Responses to How Teaching Changed My Mind about the iPad
lfriedla - November 15, 2010 at 9:14 am
Great post. But one question. I can’t get my Ipad to work with any of our classroom projector systems, and, after searching the web and contacting Apple, I’m told that it can’t unless you jailbreak it. Have you done that? Or am I missing something. Thanks.
alechosterman - November 15, 2010 at 5:37 pm
lfriedla – I think you’ll need this, the iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adaptor: http://store.apple.com/us/product/IPAD_VGA_ADP?mco=MTczNzY0NDk
Alan – Have you looked at iAnnotate? It’s an upscale PDF reader which allows me to annotate docs, etc. I put all of my lecture notes into PDFs and use that in class. Great little tool.
dsbergccp - November 16, 2010 at 5:36 am
Very Good.
I want to recommend an app: GoodReader
It is a file management app for the iPad.
Interestingly, it will import powerpoint and keynote, as well as PDF and MS Word files, jpgs and so on.
EVEN BETTER: it will display all of these documents out through a projector — you’re not limited to powerpoint or keynote anymore
My number one app!
By the way it will do the same on iPod Touch 4 and iPhone 4.
catlkelley - November 16, 2010 at 8:31 am
Not all apps will work with a VGA projector. I know for sure that Keynote, YouTube, and GoodReader do provide a VGA out signal; but as alechosterman says, you need the connector to do that.
Many other apps (most of them actually) do not provide VGA however. You really need to check out the apps for this capability BEFORE you buy, and if it isn’t clear, send e-mail to the developer and ask. (If they don’t respond, that is data about how responsive they are to the user.)
I have had a problem with VGA out however in the sense that if I change the orientation of my iPad, I lose VGA and can’t get it back without a hard re-set (i.e. hold down the power switch until the device totally turns off; then turn it on “cold,” i.e. the little apple appears on the screen). I don’t know if this is a defect with my unit, or a problem with all iPads.
fredhag - November 16, 2010 at 8:33 am
It’s all up to the app developers to enable allowing external display through the VGA connector. Nonetheless, jailbreaking your iPad and installing one a few cydia apps for this such as Display Out, you’ll get fairly consistent external video. Apple doesn’t seem interested in enabling the feature for the home screens so jailbreaking is the only way to show the screen itself and such things as Settings.
eszter - November 16, 2010 at 9:43 am
I’m not a Macbook user so it’s hard for me to address how complicated it would be to use that device in the situation described by the author, but as a ThinkPad user (X201) I can confidently say that there is nothing unwieldy about the process of incorporating the laptop into teaching the way the author describes. I also don’t tend to build entire classes around slides and also like to pull up various sites and other visuals on the screen throughout my classes, but have never found it to be too tedious or difficult to do so with my laptop (nor is it a burden to take it to class, I don’t tend to pack/unpack it, etc, but most Macbooks do seem to be larger in size so perhaps that’s the issue.. or some other feature of Macs that makes them tedious to use).
dkompare - November 16, 2010 at 11:00 am
I’m perplexed at how the author finds the MacBook unwieldy to use in lectures. I come to lectures with my laptop and a couple pages of notes. Connect it to the projector, and boom you’re ready to go. That’s it. Maybe we have a more elegant IT setup at my school? The only occasional problem has to do with others attempting to tweak the projector, and the odd WiFi issue.
Meanwhile, the iPad? After a couple of weeks with it, I’ve found it mildly amusing, but that’s it. I could certainly see how it could be used in some work situations, and maybe for some light note-taking and form-filling. But otherwise, it’s a pricey toy. Words With Friends is pretty fun, though.
george_h_williams - November 16, 2010 at 11:25 am
I think it’s important to remember that the author is not trying to convince everyone to abandon their laptops and embrace iPads, instead. He’s simply describing the way he uses it along with the apps that make up his teaching workflow. If you want to try using an iPad that way, too, then great. If you are happy sticking with your laptop, however, that’s great, too.
oh_richard - November 16, 2010 at 11:49 am
I love my iPad too
1) iAnnotate (as mentioned above) is wonderful for editing dissertations and grading papers
2) GoodReader is like a local flash drive in many ways, and allows me to review course readings and journal articles, and it opens files in other programs…like the next two
3) QuickOffice is a nice but simple wordprocessor… you won’t write your dissertation on it, but it is good for simple memos and things
4) TWMobile is TiddlyWiki Mobile which allows me to open several wikis I use. One is for my “to do list”, another organizes my notes about my advisees, another organizes my course notes (and is posted for my students on my course website when I make updates). I can use them on the ipad whether I have a wireless connection or not.
Wireless coverage at my school is… less than optimal, though perhaps getting better. Thus, complete reliance on Dropbox for example is not wise for me yet.
It’s the reading, grading, instant-on-lightweight-laptop that works for me. There are a few apps that let you wirelessly print to your computer’s printer as well, but I’m trying not to print everything so I haven’t used them much.
rtruman - November 16, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Thanks for your post Prof Jacobs.
Anyone else using the iPad app Air Sketch? – http://www.qrayon.com/home/airsketch/default
A “wireless whiteboard,” (and does not require jailbreaking) Air Sketch connects wirelessly via the browser to another computer on the same network, allowing you to present and annotate images and, now, pdfs. In my case, I connect to the podium computer connected to the room projector.
So, I export my keynote or powerpoint slides as PDFs, open them in Air Sketch and get the benefits of:
- using the iPad in class without being tethered to the podium
- built-in annotation tools
- can see my slides on the iPad while teaching (vs. Keynote’s silly interface)
- Can save the annotated slides and/or email them as pdfs
- Full pan and zoom
billso - November 16, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Good article! I’ve been a big fan of my iPad since day 1. Having Dropbox access on the device is very helpful. I haven’t used my iPad for a presentation – although I have used my iPad during class or while grading to look up information in a course textbook. I also keep important files in Dropbox as PDFs or text.
I prefer to use the calendar on my iPad instead of the iPhone. Much easier to see on the larger screen. When Apple does release iOS 4.2, the iPad Mail app will be much more useful for me. iPad Mail 3.2.x gets the job done, but I miss the All Inbox and Archive features.
dsbergccp - November 16, 2010 at 5:50 pm
My two cents again:
If you want a white board app that displays out to a projector, look at: blackboard
Though Safari is the browser that comes with the iPad, it will not project but Expedition and Perfect Web Browser will display out. These are available at the iTunes store for a couple of bucks.
For those of you who use the NEW iPod Touch 4 and/or iPhone 4, Perfect Browser and GoodReader will display out to a projector.
Cables: iPad, iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4 will display out to VGA with the Apple VGA cable. If you want to display to a particular monitor or your home TV, you can also purchase a composite (rca jacks) or component cable.
dphphd - November 16, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Another plus for the iPad: today my laptop broke down, and the IT guy is AWOL. Happily, almost everything could run through my iPad.
And catkelley, a fix: there is a button to freeze the orientation, so a little movement doesn’t throw it off.
jevorby - November 23, 2010 at 1:25 pm
A number of good tips in the post and the comments.
You can learn more about connecting your iPad to projectors and TVs here:
http://ipadacademy.com/2010/08/connecting-your-ipad-to-a-tv-or-projector-how-to-get-the-big-picture
Dr. Andy Brovey
The Portable Prof™
portableprof.com
ipadacademy.com