Proof and Possibility for the iPad in Higher Education

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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