As I type this blog on my tablet I know that I will be partial to working with a tablet. I have to or I feel stupid for getting one. I really feel it is more fun.
One thing that we would like for students is something that is an all-in-one and is portable. I think that a tablet is more portable than a net book. They both can be an all-in-one though. I listed pros and cons of a tablet and really ended up with more cons but I enjoy it more. Lets start with the pros. A table is more portable, is just as fast as a net book and has the cool touch screen. Who does not love a touch screen. A con on both is battery life. I don't think either would last a whole school day of use on one battery charge. One big con on my tablet is I cannot download any programs off the internet that I may need to use. The big one was a flash player when I first got this. That thankfully was fixed a couple of weeks later in an update. There is no Microsoft Office on a tablet. Of course I can always access Google Docs and that takes care of that problem. I can't save anything directly to my tablet, but again I can use Google Docs and the cloud to take care of that. The last thing is the touch keyboard. I thought that I would beable to two hand type with it but it was getting to be too much of a problem. So I gave in and got a bluetooth keyboard to type with. Life is so much better now with it.
I had so much fun trying out apps that I could use in a classroom. Being a math teacher the first thing I looked at was a graphing calculator. I have found the free ones for the Android system to be very hard to use and follow. I found a nice one on the ipad called GraphCalcPro that was very user friendly and I think could rival parts of the TI series of calculators. This calculator can be used for basic functions and graphing. It also had available a table of values from your graph. It color coded each graph with the table for easy following. Another app I found on the Android was formula lite. This was similar to the formula book I had to buy for my Calculus classes in college. It had formulas for math, physics and chemistry. So it could be used for a reference to find formulas. It also had different calculators in it. It had a basic, scientific and also one that would derive a function for you. Where was that in my calculus class. I don't think I would mention this to my calculus students though for fear of cheating. One last app that I found was called my pocket prof. It is a program that you can use to store all of your notes. I only played with it a little, but you can upload notes from word and excel. It did not give you an option to upload powerpoint presentations. You can organize them by class and chapter. It also has an option that you can create classes and quizzes and sell them. The only problem that I saw was that I needed to get on my pc to upload anything or on the internet site to add in notes. The only thing I could do through the mobile app was to view the notes. I think this could be a neat option to share my notes with my students. There would not be that mess of papers to go through to find something.
I personally try to use my tablet when I can in my online classes. I love that even if I have an appointment I can work on school work while I am waiting. I have done this a few times. It is great for postings, research and blogs. I still don't think that I am sold on all the educational benifits of it. I think right now it would be more for personal use. I don't think this will ever replace my desktop computer.
I really enjoyed scoping out some of the Apps of Android as well. I guess I had never looked at some of the education ones :) I would love to get an Ipad. They seem to have so much to offer!!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for Google Docs huh?! I do not have a tablet, and never knew some of the cons that went along with having one. I am considering using some of my grant from the photo company I work with to get some for my classroom, but now I may have second thoughts. Thanks for the info!
ReplyDeleteGreat info on the tablet! It sounds like there are great pros and a few cons, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteJamie, that is what I have learned and was blown away when researching for this assignment. I couldn't believe how limited tablets like the ipad are. No Office, at first no Flash, no USB ports, everything done via the Cloud. I still want one, but not for professional use.
ReplyDeleteI think the tablet is the way to go myself.
ReplyDeleteTry looking at Dropbox for tranfering information. It's easy. With all portables, power usage is the big setback that I see. All else willl come in time..
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your ideas on the tablet. It definitely does not sound like something I would want to purchase. Not being able to download programs from the internet, no Microsoft Office, not liking the keyboard, and no USB ports would be things that would be a deal breaker for me. I'm in the information-gathering stage and waiting for the time that one device can do everything for me and have a good internet connection everywhere. At one time that would have seemed like a lot to expect, but not now with all the advances in technology. I was glad that you mentioned getting a bluetooth keyboard to use with it. Thanks for a very informational post!
ReplyDeleteI have an iPad and you can download from the internet once it has been set up, like an iPod, to work most effectively you need to sync it with a primary computer, it is not really a stand alone product. While there are not free apps, there are apps that you can purchase to do word processing, spreadsheets and presentations (iWork: Pages, Numbers and Keynote and you can purchase the office software.) You can also store documents on your iPad and when you sync with your computer, you can then save them to your computer and remove them from the iPad. Evernote also works extremely well with adding and sending, so while you do not have the traditional usb port for file exchange, you can very easily exchange via email and file sharing sites besides the sync option with your computer.
ReplyDeleteI would love to have an Ipad.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I would love to have an iPad. You should never feel stupid for wanting to have more fun. In education fun is used to engage students. Work should be as enjoyable as possible.
ReplyDeleteI think my husband is afraid of the idea of me getting a tablet. I live online now, imagine if I could take it with me!!!!
ReplyDeleteI am flip flopping on the iPad. I want it but gosh, so many things it doesn't have. Will the third gen have at least half of them? I don't know but they sure are fun (the iPod is and having more screen real estate will make it extra fun :))
ReplyDeleteOn the calculator. It's been ages since I took math, I almost did math ed and was an engineering student, but when I get a new gadget one of the first thing I do is download an install a better calculator. One that's scientific and if possible financial. I just love big calculators and now I still have all of mine, an HP finance one (wish HP and TI work their keys the same way though, I have to stop and think what to push first when I switch), a TI-89 and I think it's a TI-93... it's the one that's about as big as the iPad :P They were my best friends ha!