Recently I received my Ipad2 that I ordered a few weeks back. I am not sure if I really needed it, but I did want one! I already have a Kindle and Kobo ereader and the Kindle3 is a great ereader and I would go no further than it. So I didn't need the ipad as an ereader.
However in the last year I have started to get The Reading Teacher magazine online and downloading articles as PDFs. I like the idea more, not so many magazines piled up on the bookcase! I have bought the PDF Pro Reader Editon app and this is perfect for reading these articles, the screen is not too bright and I can highlight etc. Possibly a little expensive as an app, but now that I have become skilled at using it I don't regret it. To show how green I am with an ipad I spent about 12 hours wondering how I could enlarge the print. The penny then dropped and I remembered how to make it larger. The downside of this, is now I am touching and swiping and expecting my Kindle ereader to act in the same way! Of course it doesn't!!
A free app that I have downloaded is Flipboard. That makes blog reading and other favourite places like flipping through a magazine. Fun. I have had a go at logging onto Twitter with the ipad. I found myself a little at sea there, finding myself doing things I just don't want. My favourite quote has accidentally changed and I have been in danger of retweeting tweets I didn't want to do.
To see what an upmarket magazine looks like on the ipad2 I tried the most recent Austalian Women's Weekly. Interesting but don't think I will repeat. It took awhile to download, and while the photos were sharp, there wasn't that much reading really in it for me.
I have noticed the finger marks quickly build up and the dust, even though I do have a cover. However all in all I know that I am going to build up my use of this interesting piece of technology.
As a teacher I will be wanting to know what apps are really good for education. I hope to be able to use it in class with a link to my projector. If you read this post and have used the ipad2 in education, please let me know what has worked well (or not!) for you.
A free app that I have downloaded is Flipboard. That makes blog reading and other favourite places like flipping through a magazine. Fun. I have had a go at logging onto Twitter with the ipad. I found myself a little at sea there, finding myself doing things I just don't want. My favourite quote has accidentally changed and I have been in danger of retweeting tweets I didn't want to do.
To see what an upmarket magazine looks like on the ipad2 I tried the most recent Austalian Women's Weekly. Interesting but don't think I will repeat. It took awhile to download, and while the photos were sharp, there wasn't that much reading really in it for me.
I have noticed the finger marks quickly build up and the dust, even though I do have a cover. However all in all I know that I am going to build up my use of this interesting piece of technology.
As a teacher I will be wanting to know what apps are really good for education. I hope to be able to use it in class with a link to my projector. If you read this post and have used the ipad2 in education, please let me know what has worked well (or not!) for you.
Oh, the iPad.....It's just so hard to know if I should buy one or not. I'm glad you did and I will follow you start to use it.
ReplyDeleteIt's really a hard decision because I already feel, like you stated, that I'm gadget heavy with everything else I own. But I hadn't considered the magazine aspect. I tried doing this on my Kindle and found that I didn't like it too much. I really thought the pictures were inferior on the Kindle. And i could see that the iPad's pictures would make it a winner.
So again, thanks for your insights and ideas. Keep posting about what you think, how it is going and whether you see the value investing in an iPad and I might end up taking the plunge. It's very tempting 'cuz I wanna be in the cool kid crowd!!!!
Marsha
ReplyDeleteI felt a bit of that "catholic guilt" when I purchased, but I love it. I love the Kindle as well and that is far superior for reading books. But magazines on the ipad2, and pictures in general, outstanding. I have put the Kindle app on my iPad, so could read my books off the ipad, but the Kindle is my first choice.