Goodbye, Steve

Steve Jobs, the mastermind behind Apple's iPhone, iPad, iPod, iMac and iTunes, has died at the age of 56 after an 8 year battle with pancreatic cancer. In 2005, Jobs provided the following comments to the graduating class at Stanford.

Goodbye, Steve. Your creativity and vision will be missed.

Student Engagement on the Go

"This is my 3-year old daughter the day the iPad came out," said Patrick McGee as he displayed a movie of a young girl sitting at a kitchen counter, gripping an iPad in both hands. The audience watched as the little girl found, launched, and began to use a Dr. Seuss app; all without intervention or explanation from an adult. "Kids know--intuitively--how these things work; even at 3," he said. "We need to use that."

The key reason to implement mobile computing technologies as the iPad and iPod Touch in the classroom is student engagement, says McGee, the assistant principal of a Florida school. He says the technology can be used to increase productivity or involve students in activities that were uninteresting to them as a pen-and-paper process. McGee's experience includes piloting programs for both the iPad and the iPod touch. "We have used them at the elementary level" to enhance reading, improve comprehension, and measure fluency. At the secondary level, the focus of these devices has been on math, science, and for use as a powerful reference tool. "One of the really great things about the iBooks app is that each book comes with a built in dictionary." That's pretty powerful, he said.

McGee also pointed out the many productivity uses of the devices, listing several apps that he deploys regularly, including iBooks, e-mail, LogMeIn, KeyNote, and Pages; many available for both devices. T.H.E. Journal (3/2)

10 of the Best Apps for Education

A list of 10 notable educational apps available for the iPad, iPhone and iPod has been assembled by eSchool News. Recommended apps include the free app Molecules, which allows students to view and manipulate 3-D molecule models. Another free app allows students and teachers access to Blackboard from Apple devices, while the $5.99 Essay Grader helps teachers speed up their essay grading process. The free Today in History app lists historical events that took place that day, and Math Ref Free offers 600 formulas, figures and math tips. eSchool News

iPad Projects in Higher Education

iPad pilots are permeating higher education. Two of the latest announcements involve institutions in Texas and Canada, both of which are running tests projects that put the Apple tablet devices into the hands of their students.

At CDI College, a career college with several locations in Canada, both nursing and business students have been equipped with iPads that hold electronic course textbooks and a suite of educational Web-based instructional portals. In a statement the college explained that it targeted those students for the initiative especially because the program will help them develop their skills for using technology in the workplace.

"The iPads have WiFi capabilities that allow learners to study, take e-notes, and review course materials not only in the classroom and on campus, but anywhere, any time," said Bohdan Bilan, vice president of academics. "As a result, students will become comfortable and familiar with technology as a tool for education and healthcare services."

Students Learn New Ways to Use Technology to Learn

According to Janet Copenhaver, director of technology for Henry County Schools (VA), 70% of children already own a portable device such as an iPod. Therefore, it is important to teach them how to use these devices to help them with their education. Dictionary and encyclopedia applications already are available, and in some cases, entire textbooks can be loaded onto the tiny device.

John Inman teaches an elective digital input technology class at Fieldale-Collinsville Middle School in which students learn new ways to use technology for education or completing school work. Inman said about half the students in his class already owned an iPod Touch when they enrolled, but none of the teachers did. When the middle school received 24 of them to use in the classroom, a representative from Apple taught the teachers to use them during a two-day workshop.

Learning to use new technology in school not only teaches students a new way to learn, but it also prepares them for successful futures, Inman said. “Getting to use an iPod touch in class makes the lessons a lot more fun,” said Logan Huffman one of Inman's students.