Alex W - Final Entry

I have mixed feelings as I get ready to return my iPad. Part of me feels a bit of relief (probably because I have been watching it like a hawk/treating it like a flour sack baby ever since I got it since it doesn't actually belong to me!) and part of me feels a loss.  Part of me also feels like I'll have little trouble surviving without it.

Of all my available technology, I feel I'm most tied to my laptop. The iPad had a serious advantage though in terms of portability, which I will sincerely miss.  Additionally, having the ability to more easily carry an iPad and several books/binders as opposed to carrying a laptop and those same books and binders helped me out more than once--whether it was to quickly check email before and after classes, or on the several occasions when I've brought the wrong play to my Shakespeare lit class--I just pull up the full text online and scroll to the passages we discuss. That has been Fantastic!

It's also been great for catching up on the few shows I watch with any regularity--though I will say the video quality was often quite choppy/pixellated (not to mention that I couldn't seem to find a way to watch Glee).

I will not particularly miss typing on the iPad, or the fact that I couldn't print directly from it.

In terms of research (you know, all that stuff that the Library Committee advisors actually asked us to look at) it did come in handy a couple of times. On those days when I had too much to carry (Tuesdays and Thursdays are the worst for some reason), I only had the iPad with me and wanted to spend some time at the library. I also wanted to sort of sequester myself on B1 and didn't want to have to log into a computer to look up some books to check out for my research paper.  So off I went to the library website on the iPad, searched, wrote down a few key call numbers, slipped the iPad in my bag and off I went to the stacks, coming back with WAY more books than I could carry.  Success!

Perhaps it's because I'm not particularly wedded to technology, or perhaps it's because this semester's been particularly busy (especially with off-campus activities), but I have a feeling of "it was nice to have as a resource, but I'm not going to be lost without it." I suppose that's a good feeling to have, seeing as I do have to return it.  I think that they'd be great for the library to have a few on hand, but I'm not sure that students would be using them for purely academic/research purposes.  In fact, I'm almost certain that would not be the primary draw--I've gotten so many people talking to me about it, interested I think because it is definitely still one of those new, shiny, ambiguous things that people want to know about but haven't necessarily tested/seen/tried out.  I guess that's why we SLACers do what we do!

Thank you so much, Trevor and Olivia, for this opportunity!  The iPad has certainly been a great help and great fun to try out!

Final Entry - Rob

As I prepare to part with the Ipad, I am rather sad. I have really grown to like the Ipad and use have used it frequently in class and in my personal use. While I never got to the level of taking notes on the iPad I have found the blackboard help beyond helpful in saving me from having to print everything and even buy books using Google Books on the simple internet.

I loved typing my stories and essays on the Ipad and it will be a pain to go back to the computer. In fact tonight I am typing on the computer to get used to a keyboard while typing again. There were many other things I would have liked to do on the Ipad such as e-reading but I never got around to it.

I was worried that I would need to start saving up for an Ipad after returning this one but I believe I will be fine. However life was easier with it that’s for sure.

Final iPad Blog

So thinking about it over the last few days, I would have to say that my overall experience with the iPad was great! While I probably did not use it nearly as much as I could have, using it the last few weeks has been an enjoyable experience.

If anyone hasn't heard, I am going to France next semester to be an au pair. This should be an interesting experience considering I speak zero french. However, the iPad has given me hope! I downloaded a free french tutor a few weeks ago and am officially addicted to it. I practice whenever I can. There are fun vocab games and if I plug in my headphones, it will even pronounce the words for me in that tricky, throaty french accent. The french tutor app has made the iPad my new best friend. And the touch screen aspect of the iPad makes the french tutor app so much more enjoyable - it's so easy to navigate and use the interactive practice games.

Other than my french tutor app, I have mostly used my iPad to watch TV shows and check my email around campus when I am away from a computer. I've also been listening to music on it more lately than I did early on in the semester.

I would have to say that the one thing that still weakens my enamor with the iPad is the lack of a keyboard. I don't particularly like typing emails on the iPad or taking notes/writing papers for class. It is extremely hard to use the touch screen keyboard for long lengths of time. I much prefer the clickety clack of a keyboard when I sit down to answer emails or write a 10 page paper for a class.

Overall though, I have had a lot of fun getting to know my iPad. It's been a great learning experience and while I may not go out and buy an iPad tomorrow, I did put one on my Christmas list! We'll see how that works out.

Thanks so much to SLAC (Olivia and Travis) for this awesome opportunity! It's been very enjoyable. I don't know what I'm going to do next week when I can't practice my french with my trusty iPad. :(

Weeks 3-5 Nate

The blackboard app for the ipad is finally working and I have to say it is pretty awesome. It looks like an old school teachers black board which is fun but the best part about it is that you can open up any reading or document a professor posts on it and then move them around on the screen to have them ready for class.
I've found that it is really useful except for the fact that if the ipad goes to sleep I have to resign in to the whole thing and reopen every document I had up.

I had my first experience taking legitimate notes on the ipad during a public forum meeting for the epa. Now that I've gotten used to typing on the touch screen it worked pretty well as long as you are willing to have a few spelling errors due to the auto-correct.

I've also started using the calender on the ipad which has been pretty helpful especially since I am not a calender kind of guy. It's nice because the ipad will remind you when you have things going on with a notification.
I still find it to be pretty distracting in classes I don't really care about it really is entirely too easy to zone out on the internet or play a downloaded game to make it through class.
All in all it has been very helpful other than minor distractions in classes.

Week 5 - Alex W.

I love books.  I like to hold them in my hands, turn the pages, carry them, read them.  My dad has a Kindle and while I understand that it's great for traveling/carrying lots of books at once, the thought of losing the tactile aspect of the book has kept me away from e-readers.

Add that to my tendency to write notes in the margins of my textbooks and underline or highlight passages, and the whole e-book concept seems to have struck out on all counts.

However, it was a real relief the other day to arrive in my Shakespeare class, realize I brought the wrong book, and then realize that it was not a problem because I had the iPad with me!

Geek that I am, I had two options at this point: download the Project Gutenberg version of the play, or use the free Complete Works of Shakespeare app that I downloaded as soon as I got the iPad.

I opted to download the play from project Gutenberg.  Both are searchable texts, which is so helpful in a lit-focused class where you want to find particular passages quickly.  I was taking notes in my notebook, but if I'd forgotten that too, the Project Gutenberg version would have easily let me take notes on those cute little "digital sticky notes" that stay wherever you put them in the text.  The great thing was that I had options--and that I didn't have to abstain from participating in reading aloud because I'd forgotten my book.

I'll still always prefer the real thing, but when push came to shove, the iPad was a pretty good tool to have.

Post 4 - Blackboard App - Rob

So, I finally downloaded the Blackboard app and really liked what it presented. Now, the more astute reader may ask, "Why not just go on the internet and go on blackboard that way?" Well, yes that does work. That is until you try and access any of the PDFs the professors have uploaded. The iPad can only display the first page and sometimes not the entire page. Of course I guess you could download a PDF reader for the iPad but I never got around to doing that.

I instead installed the blackboard app which has become as of this week very useful to one class I am taking involving the site quite a bit. So my review of it is that works very well. It displays a slightly different image of the site (cutely redesigned to look like a chalkboard) but it works exactly as the internet site. When bring up the class and then course documents, a PDF reader in the app allows you to view the documents in two styles, either through the web or by temporarily downloading it to the iPad. While it is not as fast as the internet on a computer, it works and is not a headache to pull up.

My only complaint with the app is that currently I cannot make it remember my login credentials. There is a switch to tell it to do so but I cannot toggle it.

Post 3 - This and That - Rob

Well there has been a delay from my last entry to this one due to some stressful school activity but now is well and I can move forward.

I am still heavily using the iPad for word docs in my day to day and really have not done much else. I would really like to get around to some other issues on the iPad however. I intend on downloading the Blackboard app due to one of my class using it frequently so by next Monday I should have given that a good test. Another thing I really want to do is try any of the E-book readers and see how well it performs.

Aside from my document writing it is a little hard to find more leisurely activities to do on the iPad. I have loaded a few videos on YouTube and without a doubt it is better than using my iphone to do it. I do carry it around everyday though and tend to take it out for this and that several times throughout the day either to look up information on the internet or to jot down a quick note to my future self.

I did download the oxford dictionary app for 9.99 and really enjoy the easy to use interface.

That’s really it for now. I will write again after getting the Blackboard app.