We recently attended a webinar on “Proof and Possibility for the iPad in Higher Education”. The webinar presented us with a variety of educational apps to gain an understanding of the functionalities of the iPad. We were also introduced to “free and commercial software that enable faculty to develop and distribute their own eBook content.” The free software is Sigil (http://code.google.com/p/sigil/); the commercial software is pages (available through iTunes) and Adobe Indesign.
We learned more students are becoming more interested in using the iPad throughout their educational career; however, some institutions are having difficulties delivering content to the iPad that utilize flash technology. Flash is not supported on iPad, html is the supported technology. We did learn there is a free software program skyfire (http://www.skyfire.com) which is a mobile browser for android phones, iPad and iPhone that supports flash technology.
List of the educational apps discussed.
Content Consumption Apps
The World 2011
Skepdic
InstaPaper
TED
Reeder
E-Textbook Apps
iBooks
Kindle
Kobo
Inkling
Disciplinary-Based Apps
History of Jazz
Art Authority
3D Brain
Calorie Tracker
Coaster Physics
Planets
Solar System for iPad
Declaration
WebMD
MathBoard
Note-Taking Apps
Awesome Note for iPad
Note Taker HD
DocumentsToGo
iA Writer
Simplenote
InClass
gFlashPro
Flashcards App HD
Sharing and Synching Apps
Dropbox
Printopia
Additional Resources
How Schools are Putting the iPad to Work
http://www.macworld.com/article/153672/2010/08/ipaded.html
iPad news apps may diminish newspaper print subscriptions in 2011
http://www.rjionline.org/digital-publishing/dpa/stories/research-projects/ipad-news-survey
iPad Review: From a Blindness Perspective
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2859598/ipad_review_from_a_blindness_perspective.html?cat=15
For information on the 2011 ACU Exploring Mobile conference, visit http://www.acu.edu/technology/mobilelearning/conferences/summit/tracks/index.html
Apple’s Page on accessibility:
http://www.apple.com/accessibility/
NWMSU Developing Touch Screen Tech. for Army
http://stjoechannel.com/fulltext-news/?nxd_id=187536
The Reed College iPad Study
http://www.reed.edu/cis/about/ipad_pilot/Reed_ipad_report.pdf
The iPad’s Competition
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