Technology. This is what I work with every day. Currently, I’m an Information Systems Architect by trade. Basically, it’s a fancy title for saying software architect/developer. I’ve kept this blog pretty much free of technology so far, but as I was trying to think up a new topic to write about, technology kept coming to mind. I’ll try not to bore you with deep technological details, but keep it real high level. It’s something I love, so I figure why not talk about it once in a while.
I was talking a while back on the phone with my mom, who’s an English/Language Arts teacher. As a teacher, it’s getting that time of year where they are starting to get asked to plan for next year, especially when it comes to technology. This is the time to write grants, fill out paperwork, etc. in order to get anything for next year, especially anything that’s cool or costs money. We were talking about cool technology she could add to her room, since all rooms already have a projector, and she was thinking maybe get one of those camera things that you can 
project books with. This was right after the announcement about Apple’s iPad, so I suggested it may be worth looking into.
That’s how I came up with iPad Use #347. As more has come out about the iPad and accessories, I’ve learned that there will be a VGA adapter, which would be perfect for connecting the iPad to an external monitor of some sort…say, a projector. How cool would it be to be able to connect up an iPad to an overhead projector, load up whatever textbook or fiction book students are reading on the screen, and then zoom in and out on different areas of the book, maybe highlight, take some notes, etc?
The iPad also runs iPhone applications. Wouldn’t it be cool to be load Google Earth, and zoom in and out, spin around the world, look up cool places? Sure, you can do it on a regular desktop computer hooked to a projector, but the iPad makes it incredibly user-friendly for teachers in front of a class by being able to do all these things on a very responsive touchscreen. Just think of all the apps you have on your iPhone or Touch. How many of them would look sweet on an overhead projector? I just pulled out my iPhone and quickly counted ten apps that would look much cooler on an iPad rather than a desktop computer.
- Google Earth
- White House
- The Weather Channel
- Animatch-for really young kids
- epicurious-to make your home ec class much cooler
- USA Today
- ColorSplash
- Kindle for iPhone
These are just some I have on my iPhone. I know many people complain that they don’t see uses for the iPad, and that it’s just a large iPhone without any of the cool features. To an extent, I was one of them. I thought it was great technology, but wasn’t sure of the application. Now I’ve found at least one that I think it’s perfect for.
