Technology as a Tool
Monday, November 15, 2010 at 10:00AM After seven weeks (28 actual class days) of working with iPads, netbooks and desktop computers in the classroom in a 1:1 environment, my students have settled into a pretty swell routine. The apps most used by students to get their work done are Safari for Internet research, and Office2 HD for creating documents and/or adding them to their Google Docs. For fun I catch students playing Chess or Rush Hour. Along with Doodle Buddy, still a favorite, those are the apps students use the most.
On my iPad I find myself using Office2 HD whenever I need to work with documents. I also use Mail, Reeder, TwitBird Pro, Read It Later, Evernote, Wordpress, Facebook, and Dictionary the most. I have used Gusto a few times when I want to edit my HW webpages on my iPad instead of pulling out my laptop. Our tech guy also turned me on to Desktop, which has been great for connecting to my Macs from my iPad, but I haven't used it as much as I thought I would. Having the PDF Reader has also been invaluable since I get a lot of attachments via email.
What I'm most delighted with has been how students work in a 1:1 environment and how well they make use of the iPads for learning. They are truly using the technology as tools. It's not about the technology, it's about learning and working. I filmed a typical day of my students at work. What you see in that video is what I see every day! This is what I was hoping would happen. The technology is no different than books, paper and pencils were when I was in school. This is how it should be. Check it out:
Reader Comments (2)
Looks like they are learning and having a great time doing it. I will be working with a class set of Ipads next year, and was wondering what apps you would advise checking out. I teach LA and SS. . . functionality, documents, class response etc.,
thanks for your input.
DH
Hey Doug,
I still have to say after almost a full year of using iPads in Science that Safari, for blogging, has worked very well. Office2 HD for word processing whether saved on the iPad or in Google Docs or in Dropbox has been a fantastic app. Doodle Buddy is still their favorite for drawing, whether it's drawing for fun or making an image to go on their blogs or on Office2 HD. Having a way to get their images uploaded like Photobucket for iPad or FTPView has also been essential for getting images on their blogs.
I haven't had a chance to try out too many content area apps. I think I'll check more of those out this summer.