My New iPad for Mobile Learning and Beyond!

This month, I broke down and bought an iPad from Apple Inc. I had registered to attend The e-Learning Guild’s first annual conference on mobile learning, mLearnCon, to be held June 14-17 of this year in gorgeous San Diego, California.

My cell phone isn’t a smart phone (next purchase in 2011), so I walked into my local Apple store to buy a WiFi iPod Touch. How could I attend a mobile learning conference without a mobile device in my hands? (So, I reasoned.)

As I began to play with its features, my e-learning design and development brain just couldn’t wrap itself around the iPod Touch’s very small screen. (That will change as I learn to design for small mobile devices.) Plus, most every thing was displayed in Portrait orientation and not Landscape. Against my better fiscal judgement, I walked over to the crowded iPad table when a person finally walked away and left an opening.

I picked up an iPad.

It was love at first swipe!

Yea, gang, I broke down and bought an iPad, even though I tweeted on Twitter that I would wait until 3rd Gen because I wanted the camera for Web conferencing capabilities. That’s why you see the Comic Book effect applied to the photo above. I’m still cracking up at myself.

(I’m planning to get a smart phone in 2011, when my Verizon contract is up for renewal. By that time, I’ll have even more options to choose from than today, so I’m excited. I am an Apple Fangrrl, but one with an open mind and a love for all tools. So, an Android smart phone could be in my future!)

How I Use My iPad

Here’s a list of how I’m using my 32GB Wifi-only iPad so far:

1. e-Learning Demos in Videos: I used Screenr to record mini videos of my e-learning samples. Now, if I’m at a F2F networking event, I can show people my samples quickly and easily if I don’t have my MacBookPro with me. And, the iPad’s screen resolution is very sharp; amazing, actually.
   
2. Voice Over Demo Reels in iPod: Similar to #1, I uploaded several voice over audio files via iTunes into iPod on my iPad. The iPad’s speakers have an impressive sound quality, and I look forward to using iPad to demo my reels. (My demo reels are also on the WWW at: jenisecook.voice123.com )
   
3. Twitter: I sit my iPad next to my MacBookPro laptop to monitor Twitter while I work. This “second screen/monitor/device” enhances my social networking for my business a lot. In fact, it increases my productivity because Twitter is now off my main computer and on a second device with a 9.5-inch screen, and I can monitor my Twitter feed without switching away from work on my primary computer. (My Twitter account: @jenisecook )
   
4. e-Mail: Second in importance to Twitter, as an independent consultant it’s important for me to check for new e-mail messages in a timely manner. I can now do this with the iPad, and the larger screen and intuitive virtual keyboard make reading and writing messages much easier than on a smaller device. I’m training myself to use all fingers to type, and it’s working!
   
5. Emergency Preparedness: I completed my city’s CEPA program, Community Emergency Preparedness Academy, and I’ve downloaded several apps (mostly free, one only $5.00) to help me monitor news when The Big One (earthquake) rocks California, and to communicate via SMS as we saw people do after the Haiti and Chile disasters. The iPad’s battery life is extremely impressive! It does last all day, and if I use it only for SMS after a disaster, I bet it will last almost two days. I’m very grateful for that feature above all others.
   
6. There’s an App for that: Of course, apps. I’ve downloaded several free apps, plus many Project Gutenburg ebooks that line the shelves of my iBook Library.

In summary, I love my iPad. It’s a mobile device that has features and a screen size suited for my current needs. As my iPad and I get to know each other better, I’ll share more in future blog posts.

I’m looking forward to taking my iPad to mLearnCon in a few weeks. I’m sure the mobile learning experts that I’ll meet there will open my eyes to a new realm of possibilities… on any mobile device.

I feel grateful!