iPad Basics

Keynote and PowerPoint are both presentations creating applications. They both offer basic features, such as adding new slide, choosing different slide layouts, adding Shapes, Table, Charts, Animations, transitions and so on to meet the users basic needs. They both carry a lot of theme choices for business, wedding and so much more to meet different users’ needs. One of the differences between Keynote and PowerPoint is that Keynote offers the Share button to allow users to share the presentations with others, while PowerPoint doesn’t have this feature.  Keynote features a wide array of templates and transition effects.

I have used Keynote on the iMac; however, this is my first time to try the Keynote on the iPad. Because its multi-touch technology, it feels so different than using Keynote on the Mac. Keynote on the iPad offers a lot of simpler features but enough to make good presentation. The animation effect of Keynote on iPad really amazes me. I can create sophisticated animations using the same objects on two slides; change the position, size, rotation or opacity of the objects; when I finish presenting, I only need to simply pinch anywhere on the slide. I can also tap the tools button and choose Share and Print, and then I will be able to email my presentation or copy it or iTunes on my Mac, in Keynote, PDF or PowerPoint format. At last, I can use iCloud to store my presentations and keep them up to date across my iPad, iPod. Any new presentations or changes I make will automatically appear on my other iOS devices.

iBooks and Kindle app both are free and each is linked to its own dedicated store. There is a significant difference between the two apps. Amazon’s selection of books is far more than Apple’s. Both can be customized and modified the text to suit my needs. Like the Kindle app, iBooks offers its own brightness slider. The two apps take strikingly different approaches to design. iBooks attempts to recreate the feeling of a real book, while Kindle skips details, and just shows the text starkly bare. The Kindle app displays what percentage of the book I’ve read and the actual page numbers. By contrast, the page number on iBooks will change entirely if I switch to a larger font. But iBooks has a tiny line of text that indicates how many pages left in the chapter I am reading, which is a wonderful way to see how close I are to a good stopping point. Since both apps are available on iPad, I have both of them. I cannot only download free books from both iBooks’ store and Amazon but also find the cheaper deal out of the two.

Rover is the browser especially designed for education on iPad. Some educational games require Flash enabled browser. Because iPad cannot open Flash content, in order to browse content with Flash, users have to use Flash-enabled browser. Rover does allow me to access Flash content, however, gestures don’t work well and lag causes delays and problems for interactive sites. It does not support other common web plugins like Unity and it takes tons of bandwidth, if whole class uses it at the same time, it might significantly slow down the Internet speed. The Safari is an Apple designed browser to allow users to browse the Internet. It does not support Flash content. Personally, I prefer using Safari because it does not take as much bandwidth as Rover and can access to the Internet faster. I would like to keep the Rover just in case I need it to access some Flash contents.
           I have registered an Box account and upload some pictures and files to my account. Box can be a great cloud storage. There are Box for iPad, iPhone, Android and more. I can view, manage, and share all of my files while I am on the go using Box from my computers and mobile devices. I can also import my contacts from my email account and collaborate with people on Box. Box does not only offer a great cloud storage, but also provides a platform for collaboration. By adding collaborators on Box, I can send them email, message to collaborate tasks. 

Google Spreadsheet

I have learned a little bit about spreadsheet back to when I was in college. My major is something to do with finance, so I got a chance to learn how to use spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel to collect data, analyze it and apply to decision making. I really enjoy having spreadsheet, because it really helps me organize personal information, especially financial data, such as income, budget and much more.

This is the first time I have ever tried to use Google spreadsheet but it turned out to be a pretty good experience. Google Spreadsheet is kind of like simplified Microsoft Excel, simple and ease with use. However, it does have its own special features. Just like Google document and Google presentation, Google spreadsheet is an online application and is cloud-based storage. Users can access to the spreadsheet from any computer or mobile device that is connected to the Internet. With this feature, users do not have problem with leaving the most up -to- date version at home. Moreover, it provides share feature to allow users collaborate with each other.  

However, Google spreadsheet does not have as many features as Microsoft Excel. For instance, Excel has a lot more layout choices than Google spreadsheet. I think if someone wants to make really professional spreadsheet, then more sophisticated applications, such as Microsoft Excel, Apple Number will be better choice.

I feel that it is not too hard to learn how to use the basic feature of the spreadsheet, but when it comes to the advanced spreadsheet features, it is kind of hard to grasp it.

The requirement of CCSS states that all grade levels share the standard of representing and interpreting data. A shared Spreadsheet is an excellent tool to use to meet this standard. For instance, one of the CCSS of Math is that students need to learn how to design a survey and analyze it. Students can use the Google document to design the survey and use the spreadsheet to collaborate on their survey data, share it, as well as receive comments on it from an authentic audience. This would be a great way to promote the use of higher-order thinking skills that can increase students’ critical and problem solving skills.


Here is the link to the  Google Spreadsheet.

Tablets in Education

There are more and more schools are engaging in eReader and eBook programs, but how do they decide which kind of tablet they want to use, as there are so many out there. There are so many factors that will affect the final decision.

One of the top reasons is the economic advantages, no matter is Nook, Kindle, iPad or other tablets, they all offer digital books. Compared to traditionally printed textbooks, online textbooks can drop the cost of a textbook by 50% or more, and eliminates the problem of lost or damaged materials. Ultimately it saves school a good amount of money on textbooks.    

Almost all the tablets offer digital books, then what other factors that affect schools decision. I find out one of the reasons why some schools choose Nook is because of its support.  In the article, "Our Nook Adventure", the author thinks Kindle is a better device, however, she still chose Nook, because of its support. Barnes & Noble provides 3 separate trainings the librarians and goes to schools for hands on support. In contrast to Barnes & Noble’s hands on support, the Amazon is astonishingly ignorant or indifferent, according to the post, Why we don't Purchase Any More Kindles at the Unquiet Library. The experiences of the librarians tell me that not only the tablet itself but also the customer service that come with the purchasing will affect schools’ decisions.

From the post Clearwater High Gets Their Kindle, I can see that Kindle’s lightweight, remarkable legibility, Text - to- speech feature, holding more than a thousand digital books as well as bringing great saving for schools are important factors that lure schools to by it. As mentioned in the post, the prices of the digital books are cheaper and students can buy insurance to cover damage or loss of the Kindle. Overall buying Kindle can benefit school with huge amount of textbook savings. iPad has all the features mentioned here, but why do some schools still choose kindle? Partially because its cheaper compared to iPad, another reason is that Amazon offers more book titles.

Even though iPads are more expensive, there are still so many schools that choose iPad.  Why? There must be something more than just economic reason. Multimedia creativity and a wide array of apps might be on the top list reasons. iPad integrates the reading, writing, and arithmetic literacies with display visual literacy and critical thinking. The article, 55 Ways to Use an iPad in the classroom., shows how many different and interesting ways that iPad can be used in the classroom. For instance, students can use iPad to practice math skills with Super 7, and to take note with SoundNote. The teachers can use the ShowMe to keep track of students’ learning. I downloaded the ShowMe app and use it to create some videos about how to write Chinese characters. Here is one of links, ShowMe. It is a great app. Teachers also can use Socrative Students Response System to engage their classrooms through a series of educational exercises and games. Another app GoClass might be very useful for teachers. It is for creating short lessons and delivering them to students.  In another article iPads Only Algebra Course, the school who implemented an entirely iPad-based Algebra curriculum saw how students dramatically gain in engagement in learning. The iPad application gives students step-by-step animated instruction, instant feedback on practice questions, the ability to writ, record, and save notes and access to more than 400 videos tutorials. Teachers can monitor performance via Wi-Fi, with real-time, student-specific feedback.