The Ipad... and work

I've had the Ipad for a couple of months now... and I've this to say. It's a great tool. Unlike the Ipod which I use mainly for reading on the go, this one makes a great teaching aid and for reading magazines.

I've even read some where that it has eaten into prime time TV viewing hours cos its sofa-friendly, they say. Reading might even begin to be popular again... I think, since the Ipad meets the need for diverse content due to the short attention span of this generation and also at the same time satisfies the itchy fingers' needs to multitask! 8) The rest of the Ipad wannabes like The Galaxy, Blackberry tablet will eventually provide more alternatives to eat into this 'prime time' thingy... yay!

I've put in copies of reference, work and activity books in my Ipad for work. These days, I don't need to search for my books to bring to class. One Ipad would suffice. I had a lesson (with the Ipad to aid) with my class yesterday. The theme for now is People and I usually look for materials elsewhere cos the textbooks are rather boring. So, I found a passage of Kobayashi Issa, a haiku poet who lived in 18th century Japan from one of my many books on my Ipad.

I printed out the passage for my students and made them copy the questions on the board. Half way through the lesson, I decided that a little fun might be nice for them. With my Ipad, I went online to search for Issa's haikus.... as the students tried to answer the comprehension questions. Multitasking! LOL! No problem there and I copied a few of them straight onto the board from my Ipad. Next I looked for other samples for the students to read.... online also from my Ipad. And all the while, I was walking, and still talking to my students. 8)

Oh! Before that I went to Wiki to get some loose guidelines on haiku writing. All that in a short span of a few minutes, made possible by my Ipad. One might say that I will not be able to do all those if the Internet connection is not switched on... that's where my Huawei Ideos comes in handy... my own portable hotspot! LOL! I am loving this....

I love the Ipad, the portability and ease of use. I started experimenting with my Ipad as a teaching tool last week and for me, this is a thumbs-up-gadget where my work is concerned. I wish the gahmen would look educational technology of this sort to facilitate teaching and learning in schools... have real workable models; unlike many which don't seem to get far, cos we don't seem to have (the right) people to get it going.

The Ipad is easy to use... one touch of the button and it comes on. No reloading time, it hardly crashes, everything is just a touch away... plus it's hardy and sturdy. With the right adaptor, you can even project its contents.... if only projectors are affordable and bright enough for class use. It's easier to carry than a laptop, big enough to use as a display in class... I could think of a dozen things to do with it in class.... and everyday would be a journey of discovery. Now, doesn't that take learning (and teaching) to another dimension??? I bought Numbers from the Apps store... which means that I can keep tab of my students' everything on it... cos I can just tap into Google Docs for those docs which I keep there for quick reference.

Years ago, when the PPSMI (teaching of Maths and Science in English) was implemented, the MOE went on an overdrive to fix voltage regulators, cages for LCDs in classes.... Many of those equipment hardly saw any use. And they are now rusting away. I know cos in my school, they've basically turned into junk that never saw the daylight of service. And that's just thousands of ringgit sitting there.... someone got rich on that particular tender but there was no follow-up to make sure they were maintained and used. This is what we get when we have incompetent officials...

Anyway, I am happy that TV finally has some competition. These days, with ads on ASTRO, this 'new way' actually puts some power back into the hands of the viewers.