mLearnCon 2010: iPad Panel

Wednesday (16 June 2010, 2:30-3:30 p.m.) Workshop

Featured Panel: iPad – Game Changer or Just Another Tablet?

Panel Members:

• Paul Clothier, TapLearn
• Bill Rankin, Associate Professor, Abilene Christian University
• A.J. Ripin, Director, Moving Knowledge
• Brent Schlenker, Program Manager/Emerging Technologies Evangelist, The eLearning Guild
• Greg Smith, Chief Information Officer, George Fox University
• Carmen Taran, Executive Coach, Rexi Media
• Joe Welinske, President, Writers UA

First, a Few Words from Me

I am owned by an iPad. And, I’m an Apple fangrrrl. However, I am also “agnostic” when it comes to operating systems and manufacturers. I truly believe that our learners will let us know which mobile devices and OSes are “the ones”… not Adobe, not Apple, not Google… the learners will be the judges, and I feel we all need to be “multilingual” when designing and developing mobile learning. That said, I am a HUGE FAN of the iPad. I’m convinced that tablet-based learning will rock our worlds, and it was a fun, guilty pleasure to have attended this featured panel with fellow iPad fans.

Okay, now for my rapid-typing note while everyone spoke. I typed on my iPad, using the Notes application.

Session Notes

Bigger screen. Instant on. iTunes ecosystem. Tansparent media. Kid and grandparent friendly. Simplicity. They are marketing to eBooks and to web surfing. Instant information.
By year end, there may be 25 tablets. How will iPad fare?

Android platform has a complex platform, not as easy to use platform as Apple’s.

The openness of Android is part of it’s problem. Who do I develop for?

iPhone development kit is easy to figure out.

iPad and Microsoft: it’s not an Intel device, cannot run MS Office.

iTunes ecosystem is billions of dollars, and developers have been waiting for a mobile device to take advantage of it; MS is behind the curve.

iPad and mlearning… Potential to be a true digital book, not an eBook, but a full, multimedia digital book, an anatomy book, for example (images, video, etc.), along with social networking. It’s a shareable device… Great for collaboration. Scrabble app.. The iPad is the board and your iPhone is the tray of pieces. Ways of rethinking how we create design and develop learning. Recent upgrade to the Scrabble app actually turns the board.

The iPad is the gateway to the cloud. Rutgers… Syllabus, accessing it. It also can keep people more on tasks because it is so easy to do, to move from state to state. Don’t have to disconnect it from other peripherals, for example.

The body interacts with it, with the gestures. Its larger screen is intuitive, easy to use.

It needs front and back cameras for social collaboration, and creation and sharing of media.

George Fox U gave incoming freshman the option to get an iPad over the MacBookPro, and 10% chose the iPad. But it doesn’t print. There is no file system. Has to be tethered to iTunes. However, iPad has the potential to be amazing in the univ classroom.

Abilene Christian Univ iPod Touch means less engagement than the iPhone. The social and entertainment options gives them educational value. The iPad doesn’t fit in pockets, so they don’t offer the iPad, faculty are testing it. Sees potential for media creation and sharing. SketcchBook Pro, for example.

The Wired app is lovely and catastrophic. It’s not really text. It comes out of InDesign 5. It is a big image, can’t interact with the text. Can’t use gestures. Fear that swipe would replace “click Next” as in elearning.

The iPad is high design, and it is leading in tablet interface design. Innovative ways to exploit the gestures and full features takes time and money, just keep this in mind. Numbers app is well designed, for example, but you will pay $10 for it.

What mlearners will want…
Bookmarking is critical. Copy and paste. Sharing. Transparent interface that appears when you need it and goes away to give you more creative space.

They also want esthetics, beauty in design. iPad can deliver this.

Accessibility features.. Apple has built accessibility into SDK for disabilities.

Disk storage.. Is the iPad for the cloud? Currently, it is clunky because of iTunes but you can use Dropbox or GoodReader. But it’s not easy for non-power users. But because the files are saved in the app used to create it, it resides there. A bit easier to find it instead of trying to remember where u saved it.

Flash
Not a problem, the Flash issue. With the mobile web that delivers content based on devices may not be a problem. Think in 6-12 months it may not be an issue. HTML5 is actively being enhanced. The touch feature is what needs to be addressed. Flash is too mouse driven with hover features. The need is for a WYSIWYG program that makes it easy for you and your SMEs to create cross-OS, devices mlearning. It might take a couple of years. It’s a transition. Pushes our creativity.