Jerry’s iPad moments: Conference going (Part 1)

My main intention for this column is to write about how I use the iPad in my teaching practice, but this time I’ll use this space to focus in on another aspect of our teaching profession- attending conferences. I used my iPad for the first time at a conference this weekend in Nagoya, at the annual JALT gathering, and I must say it enhanced my overall experience in subtle yet significant ways. To help you consider how you might use an iPad at a conference, I’d like to share my thoughts and reflections on how it went. In this first of two posts on the topic, I’ll go over some of the apps I used most and consider some other ways I used my iPad in part 2.

The workhorses: Google Maps, Safari, and iCal
Far and away the most useful apps were ones that came pre-installed on my iPad: GoogleMaps, Safari, and iCal. All were extremely handy in various situations.

Google Maps
Google Maps was invaluable when walking around the downtown area. Thanks to the built-in GPS of my iPad 3G, Google Maps was able to track my movements. This helped me get smoothly to the conference site from the station, to my hotel from the conference site, and to some good drinking places. Watching that little blue ball move down the street as I walked made it feel like I had a car navigation system in my hands. It was surprisingly accurate, especially when I zoomed in close. As a result, I was able to eliminate stress from not being able to get around. Mental energy that could have been lost dealing with issues of simply getting from point A to point B was redirected toward more important ends. I could relax and concentrate on my presentations and other things I needed to do. It may seem like such a simple thing, but not having to worry about where you are going really made a big difference. It also made me feel glad I had spent the extra yen for the 3G model- you could still make use of Google Maps with the Wifi-only iPad, but you wouldn’t have the benefit of having the app track your movement in real-time.

Safari
As you can imagine, Safari, the web-browsing app on the iPad, was also extremely helpful. Especially when combined with the iPad’s slim and light form-factor, it really felt like I had the Internet in my hands. And yes, as Steve Jobs has said, it was “magical.” For example, during the 2nd plenary speech, a presentation by Nicky Hockley on using Web 2.0 resources in the classroom, I was able to visit the various sites she mentioned as she was going over them on her PowerPoint slides. What’s more, this ability was of great interest to the people sitting next to me. Not only was I able to check things out in real-time, but doing so helped me interact much more easily with fellow attendees (this “iPad as ice-breaker” effect is a theme I’ll surely return to in future posts. It’s one of the key ways in which the iPad helps improve communication).

As I looked around the hall during the plenary, I could see more than a few other people using laptops to take notes. This is the way I used to do things. It is still a good way, of course, especially if you can access an Internet connection (like Daniel could with his WiMax gizmo). Since taking notes on my iPad was not as easy for me given the glass software keyboard, my experience this time was focused primarily on accessing supplementary information, on listening and reading as opposed to listening and writing. I had not done this before, and overall I found it helped me stay focused on what the speaker was trying to say. By having the ability to access the net, I could shape the presentation more to my needs. I continued this practice during some of the other presentations, and overall I was very pleased with the control it afforded me. I was now in a position to get more out of the conference and not so dependent on having the speaker “entertain” me.

One interesting experience took place during my colleague Clair’s presentation on vocabulary learning via Smart.fm. One attendee raised his hand and mentioned he was unfamiliar with the service. Without such basic knowledge, I thought, his chances of getting a lot out of the talk would be limited. With a few clicks I found Smart.fm on my iPad, passed it back to him, and he was able to check the site out throughly. When he passed the device back to me, I could tell by the satisfied look on his face he was grateful for the opportunity to have had his question so throughly answered. If I had been using a laptop, I seriously doubt I would have done this. With an iPad, it was like passing around a book. So again, the slim form-factor + Internet connection combo helped create a new way of interacting during a conference.

Finally, Safari came in very handy during the social “liquidation” portions of the conference. While in the flow of conversation, I was able to use Safari to look up pertinent info relevant to the discussion I was having at the time, be it my family’s website, my Facebook page, following the Arsenal-Spurs match live, or to learn about the finer details of fantasy footy from my British mates. This “iPad as social lubricant” really helped bring a new enhanced spin on after-hours chat, helping me share my life, experiences, and ideas in richer ways.

iCal
As a calendar app, iCal was most useful in helping me figure out my plan through each day of the conference. Before arriving, I went through the schedule carefully, inputting presentations I had to do or attend, as well as those I wanted to see. Naturally there were moments of conflict, but having everything there so nicely laid out and easily accessible helped me decide on my priorities. One downside of iCal was that I was not able to share and subscribe to my colleague’s calendars unless I was able to connect my iPad to my MacBook Pro laptop. I felt it would have been nice to email my daily schedule to a few people in order to coordinate our schedules more efficiently. Looking back, perhaps one way of improving this would be to use Google Calendar more in the future. This way I would be able to access and share my schedules on the net, via Safari. This is an area I’ll look to improve on for future conferences. If anyone has any info along these lines, I’m all ears.

To conclude part one, it was the basic built-in functionality of the iPad that I used most during the conference. Google Maps helped me get around, Safari put the power of the Internet into my hands, and iCal helped me manage my time more effectively.

In part two, I’ll take a look at some of the other apps I used at the conference and also take a look at how I can improve my conference going experience in the future.

Finally, I’d love your feedback on what I’ve written or just to hear about your experiences at the JALT (or any other) conference. How have you used the iPad in this situation? Which apps did you use most, and how did the iPad enhance or inhibit your overall experience?

iPhone & Google for Assessing Student Recordings (Updated)

Last term, one of the tests I used to assess my speaking classes was to have my students record conversations in pairs. I find it nearly impossible to give accurate assessment while listening live to a conversation, so I find recording for future listening to be essential to the process. In addition, I find that when I am physically near the students, they tend to look at me for help or reassurance, which artificially affects the performance.

While there are many ways to record students, I decided to use the iTalk iPhone app from Griffin to record the conversations. After transferring the recordings over to iTunes on my MacBook Pro, I placed the files in a playlist and synced the playlist to my iPhone.

I used Google Docs to set up spreadsheets with the student roster and made categories for assessment. Then, while on my way to school and back (I have a long commute), I used the Google Mobile iPhone app to access the spreadsheets. The beauty of this system is that I could assess student recording while standing on a crowded train with one hand holding the train ring, the other hand punching (actually, touching) numbers into the spreadsheet and using the remote control when a pause or rewind is needed.

Unfortunately, the Google Mobile iPhone/iPad app does not (as of this post) allow the creation of new docs and has limited ability other than input.

An alternative approach with the iPad is to use Apple's iPhone Numbers app which has compatibility with Apple's iWork Numbers app on Macs. Among the advantages is the greater flexibility and functionality of Numbers. However, there is no Numbers app for the iPhone and I find the compatibility and ease of synchronicity between devices to be desirable. Hopefully Apple and/or Google will address these issues or another party will introduce a solution.

Any thoughts, questions or comments? Have a better solution? Please leave a comment.


*Updated 11/19/2010

Google announced yesterday that it was rolling out new editing functionality for mobile devices. When I looked yesterday, I still did not have it on my iPhone or iPad. This morning when I woke up I had it on both devices. The capabilities are still limited (no formatting for documents), but you can now edit text and you can now created spreadsheets and documents on your mobile device. Nice!

Jerry's iPad moments: livening things up

This morning when the bell rang at 9 am for my 1st period Freshman English class here at Togaku, I sighed when I saw that only three out of 23 students had arrived. Now in the latter half of the fall term, it has become harder and harder for students to wake up and come to class on time. Months of inadequate sleep are catching up. As late students straggled in one by one, I knew that I would need something to help liven up the dragging, low-energy atmosphere.

iPad to the rescue!

During one exercise where pairs of students had to perform a short dialog in front of the class, I used the Desk-Bell & Buzzer app (¥115 from Webvantage Design) to great effect. It went like this: after giving some time for pair practice, I called upon each to present their dialog. Since they were sleepy and didn’t practice with any sort of intensity or conviction, I knew they would have trouble during the performance stage of the activity. Sure enough, as the first pair struggled through it, I surprised them all by pressing the big red buzzer: Bzzzz! The suddenness of this sound made them jump and laugh with surprise. The performing pair smiled, blushed slightly, and continued again. When they finally got it right, I gleefully pressed the bell chime: ping! Again, everyone laughed. I continued doing this during the rest of the activity. By the end, I noticed that the energy level had perked up measurably. We all had a good laugh and were able to continue on with the rest of the class with a bit more energy than before.

This little moment highlighted again for me the truism that the iPad “is what you make it”. In this case, I took a silly little app that I had gotten for my kids and used it to bring a little humor in to my lesson. The coolness factor of the iPad itself combined with the sudden silliness proved to be a potent combination. Fortunately I had the good sense not to overdo it! Humor is something that works best spontaneously, in the moment, as a natural outgrowth of your personality and the situation you’re in. Had I continued to use this Bell-Buzzer app, the joke would have grown old. But just a little bit did the trick…

After the class I got to thinking about all the other fun apps that could be applied in this way. Who says the iPad needs to be limited towards conventional uses? While searching the App Store’s Entertainment category, I could see numerous sound-effect apps, with many of them offering free “lite” versions. While a bell or buzzer might get old after a while, next time I could surprise them with other sorts of sounds... How about a chorus of boos or wild cheering? Or how about some crazy cartoon noises? In search of laughs, if you don’t overdo it and use sounds with good taste and timing, the sudden shock of humor can really help change the vibe in your classroom.

Note:

The Desk Bell & Buzzer app is made for the iPhone/iPod Touch but will, of course, work on your iPad.

Jerry's "iPad Moments": An introduction

Hello everyone! My name is Jerry, and this is my first post as guest contributor to this blog. I’m really grateful to my Togaku colleague Daniel for giving me this opportunity. I look forward to posting here regularly and to helping turn this blog into a useful resource for teachers, especially those teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL).

As Daniel mentioned previously, I’m an iPad enthusiast for sure. But I’m also really into all things Apple. I’ve been using Apple products for years, both personally and professionally. I just love their design and how well they facilitate creative expression. I suppose you could call me a fanboy, but I like to think I’m not attached to the products themselves. What I’m really a fan of is creativity itself and the process of developing it not only in my students but in myself as well.

In this blog I will focus on how I use the iPad in my teaching practice. These days the iPad is really hot, and there is tons and tons of hype surrounding it. Many teachers are getting caught up in the excitement, only to find that actually using one of these gadgets to its fullest potential is not so easy. The iPad and corresponding App Store are growing by leaps and bounds, with hundreds of apps being added each day. Last I heard there were over 300,000 to choose from! It’s rather overwhelming, to be honest.

One way of dealing with this overload of hype and functionality is to learn about what practicing teachers are doing with the iPad. Hopefully by sharing my personal iPad Moments stories and reviews of relevant apps, I can help teachers get more out of using this amazing device. My teaching situation and personal practice may be very different than yours, but by sharing and reflecting on how I use the iPad, I hope to make it easier for you to reflect on how you use it. I’m therefore really hoping that you relate your experiences in the comments section after each post. It would be great to start up a dialog on the various topics I put forth. Together we can stay current on the best apps and practices and provide support for each other when needed.

It may be a cliche, but in the end, the iPad is just a blank slate- it is what you make of it. Through sharing my own personal explorations I hope to encourage similar thinking in you. In this way we can all learn and grow together on how to make the most of this device. In the end, it’s all just about being in a stronger position to help our students learn.

Image attribution: Bib 2.0, "iPads in the Classroom"