The Adjustment Bureau

Moving from a laptop to the iPad as my potential primary device has been bumpy, but exciting. I've spent a good deal of time trying to select those apps I will use on a regular basis. As Will mentioned, the iPad is a great personal device. I can read, take notes, take care of email, use the web, make appointments, etc. Flipboard is great for FaceBook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. As a productivity device, I am still adjusting. I've done little with document production in Quickoffice, mostly because I have grown so comfortable with the multitasking ability of the laptop, but I will migrate with a Image via CrunchBaselittle time. My grade book is in a free app called TeacherPal, and it has been fine, but is not very sophisticated. I am grading papers and tests on the iPad, but that took some getting used to. After trying to get comfortable with iAnnotatePDF because it automatically converts Word documents to PDFs (if you change a special setting), I abandoned it for Noterize simply because the interface was more intuitive for me. I also abandoned my Pogo stylus for the Targus stylus that Todd recommended during the summer.

Classroom use has been limited to date, but now that my classes are in more of a routine, I can take a few more risks with iPad apps, knowing that some will work well and others will not. There are a few apps that seem to have potential in the classroom:

1. Comments - Allows me to annotate a web page while projecting in class.
2. UPAD Lite - For regular note-taking in class that would have been written on the board.
3. Skyfire Web Browser - Converts Flash movies for viewing on the iPad. Takes a couple of minutes so you may want to queue it up prior to class.
4. ScreenChomp - A digital whiteboard that scrolls (one of the few), and records both what you write and what you say. These little online lessons can then be viewed by students simply by clicking on a link that you provide them.
5. VNC - when all else fails, I use VNC to connect my iPad to my laptop (has to be running on the network, but not necessarily in the classroom), and run anything on my laptop from my iPad.

Other than maps, documents, artwork, and quizzes, I haven't found any history-specific apps that would uniquely enhance student learning. I'm still searching. eBooks on the iPad are my other interest right now, and I have created a couple for supplemental World History materials (works in progress) using The Learning Mag, but don't see anything commercially available to replace a textbook that provides a note-taking and annotation environment that will meet the kids' needs.