IPads - the Wave of the Future in Schools or Still just for One.

Catching the wave - will we crash or ride it through?

Don’t get me wrong; I love my IPad, the different apps, the versatility, and the ability to cloud with my mac computers, what’s not to love.  The simple fact is that the IPad was made for one person, not to share.  You have programs like OurPad, which allows you to make your IPad similar to a windows computer, having an individual login for each user.  We’ve done up to 5 users with no problems, but we’re still in the testing stage of this phase. 

So where does this leave us?  Any apps that say they can email the work will not work unless you set up an email address, but if you set up yours, then others can use it and you cannot delete the email unless you factory set it.  Similar yet different from some of the other apps (ITunes’s store) you can have an original email address, put in a second one but when trying to delete the first one (the original) you do come into some difficulty, so the original is the one that stays.  So we won’t put in an email for the students.

Because the IPads go onto the “GUEST” access for Wi-Fi, the generic emails we’ve set up (sullivanheights1@gmail.com) do not work through this access, so we can’t use generic accounts, let alone not being able to control this email account.  Students can go in and change passwords, etc. 

So where does that leave us (did I ask that question already?)?  We can only use apps that have logins on the web with Web 2.0 tools.  Apps like fotobabble, or Edistorm, these Apps feed into their Web 2.0 online site, making things a little easier, although not without problems. 

You must understand that the use of IPads in our school for a cart of computers you can sign out (all teachers use them, and different students use them at different times) is still in the investigation stage, trial and error, but at this point there is a need for teachers and schools to work with the creators of these apps to make these apps as perfect as possible.  Most apps are made for individual usage, personal usage or individual business usage.  Even the educational apps were created for students to have a one-on-one experience, and until that changes, using a cart of IPads will be hit and miss, finding the apps that work without emails.