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"