Mobile+Devices

Some Background:
This year, my district had 9 iPads and 9 iPod Touches from a SPED grant in the hands of students. This fall we will put over 100 iPads across 14 elementary schools. The 50 students in our Leadership Academy will each have an iPad starting in the fall of 2011.

Things to know:

 * 2nd Generation iPod Touch devices are starting to become obsolete. It is no longer possible to upgrade the operating system, which means, as you download new apps, they may not work on the older devices. Make sure you know what type of device you are working with and read the requirements in iTunes.
 * Since Apple does not have a return policy or trial period, utilize the reviews underneath the screen shots to see what problems others have. Some apps also have "lite" versions of the paid version.
 * Take a good look at the screen shots. If there are only a couple of pictures, maybe that's all the app does.
 * You may ask, "Why not Android devices?" Right now, they don't have the number of apps available for education that Apple does. Also, you cannot turn students loose in the Android Market like you can in the App Store. That doesn't mean you'll never see an Android devices in education, it just may be a while.

Free apps we put on our elementary iPads:

 * 1) [|Dictionary]
 * 2) [|iBooks]
 * 3) [|Bills & Counting]
 * 4) [|Google Earth]
 * 5) [|Idea Sketch]
 * 6) [|Toy Story Book]
 * 7) [|3 Pigs book]
 * 8) [|Dragon Dictation]
 * 9) [|ABC Magnets]
 * 10) [|NASA app]
 * 11) [|CHALK_BOARD]
 * 12) [|Draw]
 * 13) [|Splatter HD]
 * 14) [|Close to 20...]
 * 15) [|iBrainstorm]
 * 16) MathTappers
 * 17) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Clock]
 * 18) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Estimate]
 * 19) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|Sum]

Free and paid we are looking at for secondary schools:

 * [|Pages]
 * [|Penultimate] or [|Notes Plus] or [|neu.Notes]
 * [|Evernote]

Paid apps we like:

 * [|iWriteWords]
 * [|iMovie]
 * [|GarageBand]
 * [|Intro to Math]

The other stuff we like:

 * Case - [|Speck PixelSkin HD Wrap]
 * Stylus
 * [|For Students]
 * [|For Teachers]

Resources:

 * [|Why the iPad is Different] - [|Dean Shareski]
 * ESU 3 iPad wiki
 * ESU 3 iPod wiki
 * [|I Education Apps Review (IEAR)]
 * [|Apptivities] - great blog, wish it would update more
 * Twitter hashtag search: [|#iear] or [|#edapp]
 * Accounts on Twitter:
 * [|@AppStore]- great for knowing about new or free apps
 * [|@IEAR] - Twitter account for website above
 * [|@iPodsibilities]
 * [|@TonyVincent] - worldwide speaker who focuses on handheld devices. His website is [|Learning In Hand].