One thing that I had mentioned previously that I found quite hard with the iPad was the lack of flash on it. Today Sumich posted a letter from Steve Jobs about the whole Flash vs Apple debate that has been a thing that has often let people down about Apple products such as the iPad and ITouch. It's an interesting letter that sheds light from another perspective on the conversation. It's always good to know both sides, I guess!
It also got me thinking as to how and what video/multimedia we are uploading to our class blog. With so many people accessing the web via smartphones, iPods and iPhones etc it's a good forward move to start thinking about other video sites that allow for all our media to be shown no matter what platform our audience are viewing from. I have begun looking at alternative sites to upload material to that allows for viewing across a range of platforms.
Another really interesting piece of reading that I came across was from the iPad in the Classroom blog which talks about the idea of multiple iPads being able to be synced from 1 computer. Obviously the logistics of this would be a nightmare but not so bad when you're talking a class set synced through 1 computer. This also means that 1 App could be brought to cover multiple iPads. Once again whether this is entirely legitimate seems a bit unclear in terms of user agreements and schools.
I've been really impressed with the battery life of the iPad. From 1 charge it's withstood continual use for the whole day in a range of Apps like Rock Band, PopMath and drawing programmes. Meaning that charging could occur overnight and the iPads would be good to go during the day in the class with no need for chargers around the class. A nice thought!
The kids are putting it through it's paces. We are still yet to work out a work around for the writing at the moment as google docs is unable to be edited via the iPad - which is a shame as this would have been a great way for students to collaborate during writing. I am ideally looking for a free writing/text edit programme that the students can use - but Pages may be the only way ahead on this?! Am going to trial DraftPad tomorrow - it allows writing to be emailed when completed, not sure how it will go with saving writing but we'll give it a try.
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I saw trolleys in the Californian schools that were used to sync a class set of iPod Touches with one laptop. They were very slick but are not available here. A less stylish option is available though apparently and does about 15 at once. I'm assuming something similar will come out for iPads. The class we saw using iPod Touches were mainly typing in apps like iFiles or sometimes even just using the Notes app then emailing it to themselves to be added to a blog/wiki.
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