Ipad-ucation

[barclay_barrios]

Yeah, I did it.  I stood in line outside the Apple store for four hours, moving from human corral to human corral, just to get the iPad 2.  I had lots of reasons for getting one: I’m sort of an Apple fanboy (fanperson?) and generally a very techie person, I travel a lot and was tired of my small but slow netbook, and I was starting to think about how having a device like an iPad might change my teaching. Since it’s already mid-semester the real test will come when I teach this summer, but already I am exploring apps for teachers and thinking about how to create and manage assignments and, most importantly, how to comment and return student work. I’ve already found that the iPad is not the teaching tool I long for it to be.  At the same time I’ve also found that it’s a unique piece of technology that offers pleasure—I can’t help picking it up and playing with it.  So I’m going to give it a go this summer.  I’m aiming for an all-electronic, all-iPad class. I’ll share my experiences as they come but, in the meantime, does anyone have any tips for me?  Has anyone tried something like this for a writing class?  Are there apps you’d recommend?  Pitfalls I might avoid?