Ipad in Education–current thoughts.

End of week one with an iPad.  I’ll go through my thoughts and experiences with it and how I think it relates to education.

1) not a laptop.  This was told to me before I got it and it helped.  I have heard from several people that were anti-ipad people and from what I gathered, their failure in liking it was that they were looking for a laptop replacement.  It isn’t.  I have tried to carry it with me to class and only use it instead of taking my laptop.  While this works for me some of the time, I have found that I need my laptop,at least in it’s bag with me for things that just will not work with the iPad.  If you go at it with the philosophy that it is not a laptop but something different, your success might be greater.  Using remote desktop apps is one way to bypass the shortcomings of the device, but even that is a little clunky.

2) Greatest consuming device I have ever used.  If your objective is to read, browse, find information this is the greatest device.  It’s light, flashy, the interface just screams “use me”, and it’s actually fun to find content on it.  Does it work with every website, no, and that is its greatest downfall here.  I wish it did, heck our own Student Information Program will not even load on it.  But a vast majority of sites do, so that’s what important.

3) Apps, Apps, and more Apps.  This is what led me to want to try it was the vast amount of applications that are available to the device.  There are many sites that have created apps that make finding information even easier.  For example, I am an IMDB fanatic.  One of the most annoying things is to see an actor on some movie and not be able to place where I had seem them before.  The IMDB app on the ipad makes it very quick and easy to find out information.  This is the same for some other sites, such as Kayak.  Same information as the full site, just easier to navigate.  I wonder if the Android market will be the same soon, but currently the Apple is the best right now.

4) Use in classrooms.  No, I don’t think it’s there quite yet.  I have heard of some schools using them for textbooks.  I will write another post soon about how I think textbooks on this format will be the best, but currently, not there.  Using a $500 device to view a PDF on a device that doesn’t do everything you can on a netbook isn’t good use of school money.  If there were MANY apps that were already installed that supported a teachers curriculum and were useful, this might be a viable approach.  You cannot type a large amount of text comfortably, but then again most can’t on a netbook either.  There is no multi-user support, so it isn’t great for a cart in the classroom.  I can see the future, and these devices are the center of it, but I just don’t know if it is primetime for them right now as a classroom device.

• One thing I will say, I could see these devices as something for supplemental in a classroom.  I can remember elementary school and there sitting in the corner was a shiny new apple IIe.  There was hardly a use for this computer in a 3rd grade classroom other than “lemonade stand” or “Oregon Trail.”  But it was technology and the school was right to allow students access to something that they might not have access to.  As well, those games were enrichment that I believe had an effect on most kids.  The iPad might be that Apple IIe in the classroom right now that just provides enrichment to some students.

That’s all for now.  I enjoy using the iPad and hope that it stays as a cornerstone of my professional life.  Apple is on the verge of a revolution, they have the opportunity to take the world by storm with this device if they don’t just cater it completely towards consumers and not have their eyes on education.  Android devices may take them over and it will be interesting to watch how things develop.  With the open source availability of Android you get go cheaper, and wider,  but with the standards that Apple imposes, you have reliability and consistency that would make a great device for education.

Microsoft Web Platform

Geek Level - 4


I've stumbled upon something today that I think is one of the greatest things I've found in a while. While this post is geared somewhat towards network admins, this is great for teachers who are wanting web 2.0 tools available for them, but due to time restrains, the network admins at their school do not want to setup the tools for them.

The Microsoft web platform is a small application that installs on Windows Server 2008. After this is installed, you have the option of installing some of the Microsoft software that a log of web apps run, but you can also just go directly to installing apps. This will install apps such as Wordpress, Joomla, Wordpress, Drupal and the best one -- Moodle. When I say it will install these apps, it does almost all of it for you, and just prompts you for passwords and such to set. It's one of the greatest things I've seen for a while.

I have setup local versions of Moodle and Wordpress on windows machines in the past. Usually I have to set aside several hours of hunting down the current versions of PHP, Apache if I choose to run it, MySQL and others, install them, configure them, edit .ini files then hope and pray that what I have done will work.

When I went to install Moodle today for a new server I came across the Web Platform. I looked at it and thought that surely it wouldn't work right, but I was wrong. Once I selected Moodle and clicked "Install" it started. I watched it download MYSQL, PHP, and all of the other dependencies that is required. After a while, it prompted me to enter the MYSQL root password, then later on the database usernames and passwords that I wanted to use. That was it. I know this saved me at least two hours, and that is coming from someone who has done this before (albeit a few years ago), if it was my first time I know it would have been much more.

This is a great solution for not only network admins, but since this application installs on Windows systems XP and above, anyone could setup their own local test servers on any machine laying around just to play with some of the new software to see if they wanted to push for a bigger install. If you wanted to try out a local version of WordPress, you could set it up, and have our students access it via the IP address. While I wouldn't recommend that as your final install, it would be a great way to test things out.

If you want to take a look at it, you can check out the page here or just go straight to the download here.

Journey to a PLN

PLN - Personal Learning Network. I have never been one that has enjoyed sitting in a mandatory faculty meeting listening to someone go on about whatever new educational acronym someone has thought up. Now I find myself jumping onto the newest bandwagon wholeheartedly.

At first look, one would think that I am taking on this venture merely because it pertains to technology, but I think there is a greater reason. In my position as my schools Technology Coordinator I have had the privilege to take part in an email discussion list amongst other Coordinators around the state. This list has been invaluable to me. So many times someone would post something they had tried only to have me excited to try it at my own school. I have had this thought for years that if other teachers could have the same type of lists to join, especially within their own disciplines, that they too could find something to get excited about and wish to share with their students. One thing that I have found through my own experience, I have always learned the most from teachers that were truly excited about what they were teaching. It's contagious.

So, now I have found that what I had wanted all along has been growing around me and I was completely oblivious to it. PLN's are exactly what I believe can help teachers get motivated, learn new things, make connections, and that will benefit the learning in their classrooms by tenfold.

If you are reading this without prior knowledge of PLN's, there are many great resources that I have found. One great resource is from Richard Byrne over at http://www.freetech4teachers.com. Follow this link to view one of his presentations on developing a PLN. http://www.freetech4teachers.com/p/develop-pln.html

A Beginning

I've been thinking of doing this for a while, and have finally started it. As a technology coordinator for a rural k-12 school district I find that funds are not always readily available. Whether it be for infrastructure or for student learning, sometimes what we need can't be obtained. My goal through this blog is to share what I have done or even just learned about technology that can be used free or relatively cheap. In my next post I will introduce myself further.