I haven't posted in a while because I don't have much new to say and don't want to bore people. My only news involves trying to use the I-pad for different applications to see which ones work best in the classroom. Tonight, for example, I want to show the new Weird Al video on grammar -- Word Crimes at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc). Hope everyone is enjoying summer!

View Pure

I attended the iPad workshop last week and I wanted to mention one of my favorite (of many things) that I learned at the workshop. One of the most irritating aspects to showing videos in classes are the ads that surround YouTube videos. Greg, the speaker from the CTLT event a couple of weeks ago mentioned a website called ViewPure which is a service that shows videos from other services without the clutter.

Check out the link here: http://viewpure.com/ You can take videos that you like and remove the surrounding ads. I feel that this is a huge boon especially when I think some of the ads are distracting to the students.

While this is a very simple suggestion I think it has major implications in how I teach and how I will use the iPad. Now the iPad can help me show instructional videos in class that students can access. I can also provide the ViewPure link to them through Angel.

One cool thing and one not so cool thing

I've been using the iPad in some out of class contexts that I think are particularly helpful. First, I've discovered Greenley Library's e-brary function. I learned about the e-brary function along with Noodle tools when I invited Prof. Theresa Zahor to speak to my Research Methods class about using the library. She did a terrific job and I encourage any instructor on campus who teaches research or has a course that involves heavy library use to ask one of the librarians to speak about the library's resources. Your students will learn quite a bit about the library's resources and so will you!

The e-brary offers trusted books in an electronic format that you can access using your iPad. I've found that its easy to read books using this method. I have been reading quite a few texts on Bayesian statistics and organizational psychology. Our library has a nice collection of these types of texts.

One thing that I've found in using the iPad that hasn't been very cool is the ability to enter attendance or give feedback through Angel. I've found that accessing information through the Safari or Firefox web browser has proven difficult. Are there any suggestions on how to approach using these browsers? Or should I just download the Angel app? I'm open to any suggestions that anyone might have.

Increased usage

Despite the weather-related, slow start to the semester, I've been better able to use the iPad for my classes. The Anatomy app has allowed me to readily show examples and I can now use the Pad if the computer in my room is down. Looking forward to merging my iTunes accounts so that I can access music & my other apps though the Pad rather than bringing a separate device to class.
For my Independent Study, the iPad has been particularly great sine we can quickly access and exchange clips, charts, and sites, going back & forth quickly and with great graphics.
Learning some new tricks that I hope to share with you soon.

Anjana

One of the best reasons to have the iPad

Technology has affected every aspect of teaching. As technology infuses all aspects of education it becomes a more essential ingredient to all teaching. When the technology doesn't work it becomes a burden because students have come to expect that instruction will be delivered in a specific way (usually via a PowerPoint presentation) or as the instructor you have developed a method of delivering instruction that requires the technology.

As the semester has progressed I have faced this type of issue. One of the rooms that I teach in has frequently had some technological issue relating to the desktop. This means that the PowerPoint presentation that I've developed cannot be displayed on the screen clearly. Normally, this might not be a major issue because in the past I have given students my complete slides for each lecture. However, in an attempt to add value to the classroom experience I've recently provided the students with the PowerPoint outlines without all the notes included. This has lead to students spending more time taking notes rigorously in class and has made the clear presentation of those notes much more important.

The iPad has proven to be a useful back up solution to the desktop in many of the classrooms. When the desktop computer in any of the classrooms isn't working I just take out my iPad with the special connector and plug it in just like a laptop. I store all my complete PowerPoint presentations on Dropbox. With remote access from anywhere, its made my presentation of the material very easy even when the desktop in the classroom hasn't worked.

Ultimately technology can be a part of the problem or it can be a part of the solution. Its up to instructors to develop skills using all of these tools.

A security issue

This semester, I am teaching in a traditional classroom where I used to use an overhead projector to display my teaching materials to the class. This is where I decided to start my iPad classroom experience. When I was practicing the presentation in my office with a projector, I found that presentations of class materials from the iPad can be very dynamic, real-time zoom makes the presentations clear to the students, and switching between pages on the iPad is quick and easy.  

When I was teaching with the iPad for the very first time, I was presenting the class materials with all these excellent features of the iPad to the class. Everything worked well until there was a page where I had to stay there for more than five minutes for detailed explanation. The iPad automatically turned off after this 5 minutes because of the unchangeable security setting. I had to turn the iPad on again to show the class materials. When I entered the passcode on the iPad, the number actually lit up and the whole class was watching me entering the passcode on the iPad. I ended up changing my code after the class.

This was where I found the security flaw when using our iPad to display the class materials.  Do you have this problem? How do you solve it?

SUNY 2020

During the month of November 2013, I was tasked with working with a group of faculty and staff to put together the SUNY 2020 proposal. My main use for the iPad during the writing was for presentation in the President's Board Room. I was able to use the cables provided and show on the screen the Request for Proposal and the websites that were pertinent for the proposal. The cables can get in the way though. The other issue I had was the timeout is too quick so I had to unlock it every few minutes so that we could see the screen because I was not actively swiping my fingers on the screen. I am going to look into the wireless apps that some of the other faculty mentioned during the meeting we had last month. I am also going to see if there is a longer timeout option.

During the meeting we had some brainstorming and I was able to go to specific pages in the RFP to get information to the faculty and others in the meeting so that we knew what was required of us. It worked effectively. I was also able to zoom in an out much easier just by a swipe of my fingers if the text was too small which you cannot easily do when you are using a laptop and a powerpoint.

I wanted to use one of the whiteboard apps but at this time I did not need one.