Test Post

Captain Obvious Newsflash: Training is Helpful

What a difference a little training makes!  I participated in the IT Department's iPad Tips and Tricks training session last week, and learned many ways to resolve the problems I noted in my last post usin the iPad with my existing files and documents.  Thanks to Julio, I learned how to more successfully access the MS Word, pdf, and other files that I regularly rely on by putting them into Dropbox and then using the Good Reader app to read them, or Google Drive. 

Interestingly, though, he affirmed that while all of these programs will help me access files, none of these programs are terribly effective at allowing me to modify them.  As Julio advised, the purpose of the iPad is to leverage everything you can do with the web in an exceptionally portable platform with a visual interface that beats a small phone screen.  (A word processor it's not!) 

But to access the web and its content, he explained, you really do need apps.  They're not optional playthings (as tech-dinosaurs like me sometimes presume); they are an integral component of the iPad operating system (figuratively at least).  On behalf of Captain Obvious, I'm on to the next lesson...

--Erin

Starting Anew This Year...

I read the closing posts from last spring with interest, as some really resonated with me.  So far, I have found the ipad to be an amazing tool outside the classroom, but I haven't found as many direct uses for it with my teaching or research as I had expected. 

I suppose I had also been hoping to crowd-source the creativity of my students for ideas about how to use the iPad in connection with our learning--but that also did not pan out as expected.  At the beginning of each of my courses last year, I told my students about the iPads in Education experiment and offered to make mine available to them for any purpose they wanted that was related to our class.  But that opening announcement was the last we ever spoke of it; not a single student indicated any interest in the device. 

In my Negotiation class, where I had most expected to use the device to record and review simulations, the device lacked enough memory to do that job.  In my more traditional law classes, students were fully satisfied with the digital tools available to them in their laptops (or spiral notebooks), and saw no need that the iPad could fill.  The primary benefit that the device could provide to me was portability, but I was unable to shift files back and forth from my main computer to the iPad in a way that allowed me to take advantage of it for remote preparation purposes.  

Granted, these law students are all pretty overwhelmed with managing the old-school technologies of our discipline, and I'm sure there are more immediately obvious possibilities for using the tool in other disciplines.  And as last year was only my first year with the device, perhaps things will go differently this year.  I am participating in the IT Training on iPads next month, and hoping to get some new ideas (and competency) there.  Perhaps when I'm more of a power user, I'll have some more powerful ideas on how to use it!

--Erin

Final Thoughts

Unfortunately, I do not think I was able to maximize the utility of my iPad.  I found that a little bit of technology in the classroom is the right amount.  I hit the appropriate level by relying on the equipment that already exists in the law school's classrooms.  The iPad added little value.  I also discovered that I did not enjoy reading papers, exams, etc. on my iPad so the device was not helpful outside the classroom either.  The device did allow me to leave my bulkly laptop at home on ocassion, but, ultimately, I probably should have been able to leverage the device far better than I did.  I will keep tinkering, though, and hope to find iPad enlightenment at some point down the road. 

Paperless Assignments

My most effective  use of the iPad for teaching has been for receiving, grading, and returning student assignments.  Since receiving the iPad, I have gone from everything in hard copy to everything (except exams) submitted, graded, and returned in digital form.

I grade short, recurring written assignments (e.g., their weekly post to a blog, their weekly entries in a group process log) through comments in Moodle, typed in a comment box.  This helps me remember the purpose of these comments--they are short holistic feedback with a couple of suggestions for improvement.  Typing them in Moodle preserves them for me and for students to access at any point in the semester.

I grade longer essays that will not be revised as PDF files in GoodReader.  I can circle problems or write brief comments in the margins with a stylus and I can use typed pop-up notes for more extensive comments.  GoodReader makes it easy to email the document to students when I have finished grading.

I grade drafts that will be revised in Word using comments and track changes.  Students have been more responsive to my comments in subsequent drafts, because it is so easy for them to access my comments and immediately make the changes in the same document.  I probably could do this in the CloudOn version of Word, but I more often do it in the familiar version of Word on my laptop.

One reason I stayed with hard copy assignments for so long was because I could carry a stack of assignments in my bag and grade whenever I had a spare moment.  The iPad makes that even easier because it is more portable than a stack of papers.  Plus, my grading can be saved to the Cloud.  GoodReader will download documents so that I don't have to have wifi to access documents (CloudOn does require wifi).

Students get feedback from me more quickly and I don't have to rely on them to remember to bring their paper with my comments to office hours--my comments are always available to both of us.

I have found it essential to use a stylus and a bluetooth keyboard.  Writing with my finger was barely legible--it looked like a first grader wrote comments.  The stylus isn't great, but students can read the comments.  My Logitech keyboard lacks some sensitivity compared to a regular sized keyboard, but it is a great improvement over the screen keyboard, which resulted in so many errors (my own and the truly bizarre autocorrects the iPad sometimes makes).

Many of my anticipated uses of the Ipad in the classroom either didn't materialize or weren't so much more efficient or spectacular to motivate me to retool.  I agree with what others have said previously--there is a learning curve that requires time and energy and we are fortunate to have great access to technology in the classroom already.

However, I use the iPad all the time for research.  When I travel, I am able to leave the heavy laptop at home and rely on the iPad.  I find it frustrating that files live in apps instead of folders that I can access in more than one app (though Dropbox helps with this), so I could never give up my laptop entirely, but for short trips, the iPad works well.  All of the articles for a current project are now in Dropbox and indexed in Refworks. I'm using Twitter to stay up to date on public debate related to my research and I track blogs.  I could do these things with other devices, but I didn't.  The iPad makes it easy.

Without wifi, the iPad can't quite meet my needs in the field...

Participating in the iPads in Education program has been an interesting, though sometimes frustrating experience.  As a field biologist, I was most keen to use the iPad with students away from campus, on field trips or when overseas.  Originally I envisioned many uses. Video capture and playback of animal behaviors, along with the use of field identification apps seemed like a great way to help students know what they were looking at.  Data collection into spreadsheets and the potential to upload student assignments for evaluation using a mobile device with a relatively small footprint (compared to a laptop) was another real attraction, especially when overseas.

In preparation for using the iPad outdoors I invested in a couple peripherals.  A Logitech bluetooth keyboard provided protection when transporting the iPad and allowed for a much more comfortable level of typing, as opposed to using the on-screen keypad.  I also bought a couple different screen protectors (because of reflection issues, the matte finish is much better for viewing the screen outside).  Finally, I fashioned a cloth shoulder bag that could hold the iPad while I used my binoculars, spotting scope, or camera. These were all good investments, not only because they reduced exposure to the elements when the weather turned inclement, but also because my iPad would've likely been destroyed if it hadn't been in it's case when I dropped it onto a cement walkway.

My purchase of apps focused on "away from campus" uses.  Along with Apple's iWork suite for IOS (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote), I bought "Quick Office" to see how the different programs handled word processing, spreadsheet needs, etc.  All of these worked well and I recommend them.  I also purchased the Sibley e-guide to North American Birds and iBird PRO HD (now discontinued).  The Sibley guide proved invaluable, offering range maps, excellent pictures, and song playbacks (see my previous blog post on getting cryptic birds to emerge from the underbrush).  This app has replaced the need to take a hardcopy field guide with me, and though the playback is not as loud, it also works well on my iPod touch.

My biggest disappointment with the iPad stems from its reliance on wifi connectivity for file transfers.  While working with students in Tanzania on an overseas program, I was unable to share files with the various devices they were using for their data analysis and write up assignments.  In the end, I had to use my laptop with a thumb drive for this purpose, and if I have to have my laptop along, there isn't really a need for the iPad.  I know that there are some improvements in this area, though I haven't had a chance to check them out.  With another trip to Tanzania in the fall, I will be looking into this further this summer.

So, in sum, my iPad has been pretty useful for local field trips with students, although the video capture and playback never really worked out because the zoom capabilities, shakiness of handheld video, and relatively low resolution of the playbacks made it pretty hard to capture and share anything meaningful with students. At the same time, as a field guide, it is great.  I have also found it to be useful when attending meetings on campus... since I'm easily able to access e-mail and my calendar.

iPads for Physics & Astronomy Education

What most distinguishes the iPad as a teaching tool for Astronomy and Physics is the fact that it has many internal sensors.  For example, the "Star Walk" app that I previously featured utilizes the fact that the iPad knows the direction that it is pointing and so can show you on the screen a map of the stars immediately behind the iPad, as if you're looking through a window onto the universe.  Another app I featured uses the iPads microphone to measure the incoming sound waves and can show a graph of the spectrum of the sound.  For my final post, I'll mention 2 more such apps:
1) Video Physics from Vernier: let's say you record a video of a basketball in flight.  This app lets you click in the locations of the ball at different times and it will then generate graphs of the x and y positions as a function of time, from which you can display velocities, accelerations, forces, etc
2) Graphical Analysis from Vernier: this one utilizes the internal accelerometers and allows you to plot the x, y, and z accelerations of the iPad as a function of time.

My overall assessment is that the iPad provides some unique capabilities for teaching Physics and Astronomy.  I imagine that sometime soon, we'll be able to plug additional external sensors into the iPad to use it as a data collection device.  Putting iPads into the student's hands will provide additional exciting options.

It's been fun reading this blog, so thanks to all.  -Steve