Law Students File Canadian Privacy Law Complaint Against Facebook

ReplayNote and Explain Everything are pencasting apps that allow you to post on youtube (http://proteinsandwavefunctions.blogspot.com/2012/01/useful-ipad-apps.html)

Also, I use my iPad during “lecture”: I use peer instruction and polleverywhere.com, and use the iPad to watch the votes coming in, while my laptop is displaying the question.

Ultimately, though, the iPad will be most powerful when put in the hands of students, but it’s in large part up to us, instructors, to create and evaluate apps (http://molecularmodelingbasics.blogspot.com/search/label/iPad) for the day when that is possible and we can’t do this without an iPad in hand:

The combination of a ZAGG keyboard (about $99) and the QuickOffice app ($19) makes the iPad a much better tool for document production.  QuickOffice allows for the creation and modification of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents.

Using iPad with polleverywhere: clarification and update:

I simply log into my polleverywhere account on my iPad and view the poll I have started.  When I see the last votes have come in, I show the same page on my laptop.

However, apparently polleverywhere has made some “improvements” in the last few month to rely more on flash.  Now, when you go to the poll, you have to pick “load your basic HTML chart”.  And this version does not update automatically, i.e. you manually have to reload the page to see the votes coming in. 

I’ve written to polleverywhere, and hopefully they can fix that (it worked fine before).

The iPad is a tool like the laptop, but more portable than a laptop.  The one difference is that the future for a tablet is app base.  As apps develp so does the applicability of the tool.  You could say that as programs develop then so doest the applicability of a laptop, but I don’t see that expansion happening at the same rate as the tablet. 

Teaching with the iPad: Guess What? There’s No App for That

I have to respectfully disagree with
Mr. Talbert’s conclusions about the iPad and its inability to create
content in the classroom because this has not been my experience with
the device.

First I would suggest that three weeks
with the device is simply not enough time to get to know it and
discover what it can do. I’ve had mine for six months now and am
still experimenting. Second, there needs to be better communication
between faculty about how the device can be used. At the institution
where I teach, there is a cohort of faculty trying out the
devices http://ipfw.edu/mobileedu
The cohort has built in meetings where faculty come together to
discuss problems and solutions. We now have over 1/3 of our full
time faculty with iPads. Third, I have to object to the overall
approach of Mr. Talbert. He states, “But I always approach
technology, especially educational technology, with the question:
What problem does this solve?” Given
this approach, I’m not surprised at all by his conclusion that he
“struggled to find an educational problem that the iPad
solves that would not be solved better, and for less money, with a
traditional laptop computer.” Of course laptops – computers –
are better at problem solving, they are built for that. The iPad is
not built for that. It is a mobile device and is therefore
intentionally limited in what it can do. The beauty of mobile
devices is their ease of use, relative cheapness, and fluidity thanks
to the Apps. The educational issue for mobile devices isn’t problem
solving, it is enhancing student learning outcomes. So the question
to ask at the start is, “can the iPad enhance student learning
outcomes in ways that other methods cannot?” The answer to that
inquiry is a resounding, “yes!”

I somewhat agree with one aspect of Mr.
Talbert’s conclusions. He states, “I don’t think my students get
much educational value by me having a cool tech device in my hands;
they have to be able to use it in order for it to be of real use to
them.” I agree that the device is much more useful in supporting
learning if the students also have iPads. In the Fall, I was
fortunate enough to have a pilot class that was a part of our
institution’s mobileEDU project where all of my students did have
iPads and the collaboration that resulted was amazing. I noticed
that the quality of our student’s research papers was declining. A
major reason for this is not a lack of ability or intellect, but
simply a failure to read the paper out loud and to revise (and
revise). They often turn in their first draft as the final draft and
are surprised when the grade is not a very good one. The project I
proposed combined the traditional writing of a research paper with
new technology in order to get the student to spend more time in the
revision process and end up with better text,
to that end, we used iThoughts HD to create and share
amazing mind-maps that we all co-edited using Goodreader. The
ease of Dropbox to share projects was better than any computer
program I’ve run across and facilitated collaboration rather than
frustrate it. Their final project was to create a research paper
using iMovie. Again, the results were fantastic. The text of
their research papers improved thanks to the continual editing that
resulted by using the iMovie and Goodreader Apps. Could
we have done that with laptops? Probably, but the issue isn’t could
we have – it is would we have? The answer there is probably not.

Laptops are clunky, not everyone would
have the same kind, the iMovie program (or similar movie
making basic video editing applications) for the computer is more
expensive and doesn’t run the same on every laptop. There is just
enough frustration there to thwart the project. Not so with the
iPad. Everyone has the same device and the same exact Apps. Each
student having an iPad is akin to requiring the students in your math
class to have the same calculator as well as requiring them to all
have the same textbook.

It is very similar to the experience of
using an iPhone to take pictures. Sure, before I had an iPhone I
could have taken pictures with my more powerful digital camera,
processed them on my powerful computer with the powerful
photo-editing program and then sent them to grandma, and sometimes I
actually did – when I had the time. However, once I had the less
powerful iPhone, grandma gets pictures almost every day. Why? It’s
EASIER: point, click, hit the send button. That’s what mobile
devices have over computers – their ease of use and fluidity
between the Apps. That’s why the question at the start is not what
problem it can solve, but how it can enhance student learning
outcomes.

It is clear that the learning outcomes
and level of student engagement dramatically increases when the
students also have the device, but there are also ways in which an
instructor with an iPad can use the device to create a more engaged,
content-rich class. I also used my iPad for my other classes where
the students did not have an iPad and found, contrary to Mr. Talbert,
that it was very capable of creating content even if the students
don’t also have one. But you can’t go to the App store and find an
App for whatever you want to do. There is no Philosophy 101 App.
You have to think in terms of projects and how the ease of the iPad
might facilitate that project and enhance student-learning outcomes.
For example, my students without iPads worked in groups to come up
with a humorous script to explain Heraclitus’ views on change. They
then used plain paper and Sharpie markers to illustrate the script.
We voted on the best script and shared illustrations to create a two
minute funny movie about Heraclitus. How? I took pictures of each
illustration with my one iPad, had a student narrate the script into
my iMovie App on my iPad and then we stitched together the
pictures to match the narration. We all got to watch the finished
movie together. Could I have done this with a camera and laptop?
Yes. Had I ever done it? No. Why? It was just enough of a pain to
thwart me. Not so with the iPad. It only took one class period and
was very easy and quick. Oh, and the one question that everyone got
right on the final exam was about Heraclitus and his view of change.
So, I think this project enhanced the student-learning outcome of
retention of material and critical thinking.

I also run debates in my classes in
order to attain the learning objective of oral communication as well
as critical thinking. I used the iPad to video the opening
statements of the debate made during class and posted those
statements on a password-protected site (Vimeo.com). The students
viewed the opening statements that night and were better able to
prepare more devastating rebuttal arguments. I found this to be very
effective. The rebuttals formulated during that debate were some of
the strongest I’d seen during one of my classroom debates. Therefore,
simply using the iPad’s video feature and the iMovie App to
edit out some dead air aided in better achieving the learning
objectives of oral communication and critical thinking.

So, the device does allow them to
compose, create, be creative but the teacher has to first be creative
in using Apps that aren’t meant for that specific task and apply them
to projects. You can’t go find the “Two-Minute Philosophy” App –
there is no App for that. You have to mold the App to your project
needs, and it’s worth it.

Dr. Joyce Lazier
IPFW Philosophy Department

I’d reply that the process of creating content in Philosophy is considerably different than in Mathematics. When I speak of creating content, I am thinking of things like: Writing and compiling computer code; running simulations on large data sets; doing mathematical work in a computer algebra system; creating written documents that blend math notation and text; and so on. The iPad, so far, just doesn’t have the breadth of applications that a basic laptop would have in that regard. 

To the extent that content creation is in some way the ultimate student learning outcome, laptops still have the advantage over the iPad in facilitating meaningful learning outcomes. I have a lot of respect for the “hacker” philosophy of taking a device or a piece of software and using it creatively for your needs, but at the same time, I loathe reinventing the wheel, and if a $700 laptop will do the same job as a $700 iPad, and then some, I’m going with the laptop no matter how clunky it may be. (Spend $1000 instead of $700 and you can get a non-clunky laptop!) 

Thank you for your prompt and thoughtful reply – duly noted, the content for Philosophy and Mathematics would be different.  However the text of your original blog was far more general.  Concluding that “the educational value of the device is going to be limited” makes it sound as if the iPad’s value is limited for all classroom experiences.  Certainly it is not the best device for ALL classrooms, but that doesn’t mean the iPad wouldn’t be useful to all students as a part of their general educational experience.  But concluding that the ‘educational value of the device for higher level math courses is going to be limited’ would’ve been far less controversial. 

I still very respectfully disagree with you about the laptop being better about facilitating content creation. But I suppose we are just engaging in semantics about “better.”  Again, for you it is more problem solving and for me it is ease of use and the fluidity that the Apps provide.  I would also contend that it is “better” to reinvent the wheel because I loathe feeling confined to what a program allows me to do and I enjoy the creative endeavor of manipulating the Apps to my needs.  The results I had in my classes reinventing the wheel far surpassed the experiences I’ve had with laptops or computers.  But this difference cannot be resolved since it is personal preference.

You’ve got a good dialogue started here – I’m enjoying all of the various view points.

Having been a lifelong Mac user and MBP user for the last 8 years, my encounter with the iPad was disappointing. It was not a smaller version of a laptop, and I almost returned it the next day, but I stuck with it. Where the heck was the damn desktop??

Fundamentally, the iPad is an alternative interface to access and organize data, and must be encountered on its own terms, rather than as a relative to “desktop” based systems. My argument to my iPad/iPhone pals was simply “Why would I want to get involved with apps when I can get the same information from Safari?” The answers were mostly along the lines of “It’s just different”. Phew!

Over the past two years, I’ve concluded that the app vs. browser experience is significantly different because the same data can be presented in a more contextually relevant way (thus multiple apps for the same data), and can be accessed through a more closely analog relationship to the users perceptions of time, space, relationship, boundary, foreground/background, and information schema. Whether these aspects are more similar (analogous) to human cognition and psychomotor reflexes is not for me to say, but the principles underpinning the iOS gesture-based interface are clearly popular with users.

So to answer the question about whether a gesture-based interface with customized data organization schemes (apps), on a portable Internet and cellular data network connected device has any value to education is like asking Dewey in 1900 whether motion picture film has any value to education. It’s too new for most of us, and the medium is still being utilized like a laptop (filling the new medium with old content and old organization).

IMHO, I believe mobile devices occupy multiple levels of maturity: “young adulthood” for common communication needs, and perhaps “tween” or “early adolescence” for most educators. This is so, perhaps, because educators and technologists are still forming a higher logical order (a meta-utility?) that punctuates instruction through information systems – employing a digital system for a transaction with an analog system, principle, or schema. We assume that a digital system that is “closer” in its analog is somehow better, but we don’t have enough evidence yet to support it. (Maybe we do?).

The first thing we can do to build evidence one way or another is to **stop using it as a laptop**.

This cinches it for me. I was considering an Ipad2 or a Kindle Fire, but saw how small the Kindle is. Instead I’m going to buy an i5processor Laptop, probably Acer. Thanks for the tips.

Hmm. How does this qualify as a review in the Chronicle when this device has been out for nearly a year and the form has been available for almost two years? Three weeks of non-specific, non-intensive use. I used an IPad2 to deliver all of my courses, to do most of my grading, to note take, organize, etc. all of my committee work last semester. In addition, I did my writing on the tablet most mornings.  (Alas, it cannot do footnotes!) I also had one entire class use a first generation IPad to conduct all of their research and to access, read course materials, to take notes, etc. Their post and pre-surveys suggest that they had low pre-course expectations but nothing but praise for the use-value of the device after the class. In another class, I had a student do all of the note taking for a student with access issues, and share her notes with me, the student in need and the rest of her classmates. Students from the class amended the notes in a google doc, and they synced back to the device for the notetaker and for my learning challenged student, resulting in the class crowd sourcing and sharing notes. 

I think it is fine that not everyone wants an IPad or a tablet device. It’s great that some are happy with a laptop, or a desktop, or a typewriter, or quill, or whatever ‘tool’ gets your job done is fine to me. But serious, use-based reviews only please! 

You must be a simpleton.  The article is really not a review that should make you change your mind.

I am coming rather late to the discussion but I wanted to share my thoughts. I’m a faculty member where Dr. Lazier is also a faculty member. I too am a member of the school’s mobile cohort where we are given the iPads to “play and interact” with them. I’ve had mine for 5 months now. I should also say I’m a visual communication designer and teach design. Thus, content creation for me on the iPad is not feasible to the fullest potential. I’m not able to hand code a webpage (though I suspect there’s an app for that) and immediately see it on the browser for example. I’m not able to design a poster to its fullest potential and/or final form because the apps and the device are limited. Though I’m able to quickly do designs or set a layout in several apps including designing typefaces.

But I understood this going in. This is a mobile device with innate limitations intentionally put in there to keep it light and mobile. The iPad allows me though to take copious notes, sketch to my heart’s contentment, keep student records (Gradebook is the best app for that), and take it with me everywhere. It also allows me— in feedback and critique sessions to pull webpages or sites for immediate reference for the students. Thus, cutting the time between telling them “check this out” and the replying “oh sure” and not really doing it.

As a designer, the iPad allows for rich and quick client interaction, quick idea prototyping, note taking, quick views of sites for ideas and content discussion, have my portfolio in it, and countless of other things. As a design instructor, it allows me to do the same things with the students, plus I keep my syllabus in it, take notes of their performance, and etc. I have students in class whose iPads are their notebooks and sketch pads.

I also have a MacBook Pro, a MacAir, and an iPhone. And I don’t prefer the iPhone or the laptops to see content in class discussion and interact the way we interact in my classes with them. The iPad is light, comfortable size, it’s my notepad and sketch pad as well as window to knowledge at my fingertips.

Every new technology brings quite an amount of skepticism and why do this or that? However, the fact of the matter is that mobile computing is more than a possibility, it’s where we are going. Apple predicts that by the year 2013, access to the Internet will in it’s vast majority be from mobile devices. Is three or two weeks enough time to discover, play, and interact with the device? I don’t think so. As I stated before, I’ve had it for a full semester and I just integrated a class project for this semester where the students will use my iPad to design several characters of a typeface thanks to an app that costs $6.99 instead of software and licensing for 22 computers. It took me a semester to think of that one and I’m an Apple user. And by the way I hated dragging my laptop to class. And did I mention that traveling to a conference it’s much easier with an iPad than with a laptop?

“It’s not for me–it’s for them.” I really hope you don’t believe that you being able to do nifty things like wear your ipad is good for students somehow. Just admit you like it and move on