Edstrom Educational Consulting

Greetings, devoted blog followers!  On behalf of all of us at Edstrom Educational Consulting, I would like to wish you a Happy Spring!  It has been awhile since I wrote a blog…did you miss us?  This Principal Consultant had her wing clipped six weeks ago when she broke her arm snowboarding and subsequently had surgery.   However, now castless, we will resume our oh-so-interesting (and dare I say, controversial) discussion of the iPad and its uses in the classroom.

Did I mention I have held one in my very own hands?  A certain friend and colleague is an early adopter and managed to get himself one on Saturday morning.    And out of curiosity and professional interest, I waylaid it over to his house yesterday to check it out.   And I must say, that as I held it in my hands, the earth shook.  Of course, that was more because of a 7.2 earthquake in Baja California than the actual machine itself.   So what did I think?  I have taken it upon myself to provide a report card for the iPad, along with comments…after all, letter grades are really far less meaningful than personal narratives.

1. eReading:  The eReading functionality is pretty cool.  I am the owner of a Kindle, which I must say I love.  However, the soft finger sweep to turn the page was far more elegant than the clunky click-click-click of hitting a “next page” button on my Kindle.    I will also say the screen quality was superb.  We read the free copy of A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh and the original illustrations simply glowed at us in vivid and beautiful clarity.   The backlighting would also be nice for nighttime, although outdoor reading was more challenging.  Although the digital ink technology of the Kindle is lovely, it could not begin to compare with this.  Jennifer’s Grade:  A

2. Word Processing: I was less impressed with the touch screen keyboard.  My adult hands, which are arguably a bit clumsy post-surgery, felt cramped on the keyboard.  Of course, smaller hands would be less likely to have the same issues.  There are supplementary keyboard docks that can be purchased to use, although I am not seeing how this would actually play out logistically.  Since the advantage of the iPad is that it is very portable, I think the keyboard dock is too clunky.  I am just not seeing it and as someone that is not an iPhone user, I haven’t mastered the touch keyboard.   Less impressed with this functionality.  Jennifer’s Grade: B-

3. Applications: Well, Apple Applications are nothing short of genius.  I, myself, have started thinking about some cool ones that EEC can launch for this iPad.   It is going to require the creative minds of tech-savvy teachers to really milk this device for all it is worth.  The lack of multi-tasking still bothers me in terms of using Applications to their full abilities, but Applications like The Elements clearly have direct and fascinating uses for classroom teachers.    Jennifer’s Grade:  A-

4. Design:  It is really cool looking and really cool feeling.   It makes you want to pick it up and play with it.   It will make children want to pick it up and play with it.   I can see a teacher getting a reluctant reader to want to read by using the fabulous eReader or the promise of using a cool educational App as a reward.  Once this device is in a student’s hand, they will feel sophisticated and eager to explore.  That is the genius of Apple.   Jennifer’s Grade:  A+

So the iPad would have made the Honor Roll at my high school.  Imagine what grades this device will get on the 2.0 version?

To wit, I quote the Carpenters, “We’ve only just begun.”  How can we imagine what this device will mean for the future of the classroom? The answer is this…those of us in the educational industry should have heard the starting gun fired this past Saturday.    The race to create content and applications for this remarkable device has begun.  I promise you this, Edstrom Educational Consulting will be right there in the race.  Keep stopping by to hear what we have planned.

How will YOU use the iPad in your classroom?  I will post the 3 best ideas in my next blog!

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Tags: A. A. Milne, Apple, assessment design, assessment design california, assessment design la jolla, blogs, curriculum, curriculum design, educational technology, educational training, instructional seminars, iPad, IPhone, List of e-book readers, Reading, technology, Touchscreen, usage, Winnie the Pooh

This entry was posted on Monday, April 5th, 2010 at 10:21 am and is filed under technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.