Go Shopping!

It is so exciting the iPads are arriving! After you set up your mail and create an account with iTunes, I would urge everyone to browse the app store and download some apps to get comfortable using the iOS platform. There are a lot of free apps -  Dropbox - for document storage; CNN - for news; Twitter to network; Evernote- for note taking. With these apps, it will be possible to digitize everything. So, get connected, synch your life, and shop for apps. One super app I learned about is App Shopper. With App Shopper, you put in the apps you want on a wish list. For instance, Notability is the best note-taking app on the market, but it is also $5.00. App shopper will let me know when the price goes down, sometimes these apps are free or at greatly reduced prices. If you were thinking of buying an app at $5.00 but thought it was too expensive, you might spring for it at $1.00.

Wireless Network Upgrade

After researching multiple products and receiving quotes from multiple vendors, I finally ordered our new controller and access points. Because this is a public forum I will forgo naming the brand of product, I will say that our wireless system should be pretty robust and position us well for the upcoming school year and beyond. In addition we finalized the contract for a 100x100 fiber connection so the overall surfing experience should be great. The controller and access points should be here and installed by spring break. However the fiber upgrade will not take place until July.

iPads Received

Today, we received shipment of our first 10 iPads. There are 10 more on the way, and we should have an additional 40 by spring break. A small sample of teachers and administrators received theirs and have the opportunity to begin experimenting.

I began using mine yesterday, and have quickly become accustomed to it. It is generally easy to use, but I needed google to figure out how to close open apps. In the process I also learned about gestures.

To close open apps you first need to see the open applications. In order to do that, double-press the home button. Once the open apps are revealed, touch and hold the icon for the one you wish to close, and a white minus sign in a red circle will appear. Touch the minus sign and the app will close.

The same thing can be accomplished using gestures. From the home screen, place 4 or 5 fingers on the display, then swipe up. The open application bar will appear. Use the same steps to close desired applications.

Implementation Plan

The fact that we will be rolling iPads out to all of our freshman next year is not nearly as scary as the fact that we still have to get everything in place before that point in order to make it successful. Fortunately, the plan is comprehensive and based on the best practices of other schools who have had successful implementations.

The two biggest areas of concern are infrastructure and training. Where infrastructure is concerned, we will be adding industrial grade access points that are centrally controlled. Our total installation should support over 2000 devices across our entire campus. We will also be adding 100x100 fiber and may keep our 50x10 cable connection.

Training is another animal. To make it most effective, it will be tiered. We will have a sample of faculty and staff receive their iPads and have a chance to familiarize themselves prior to the full roll out just before spring break. In the beginning, the iPads will be just for fun. Everyone will have a chance to explore what they can do and hopefully figure out a bit of the how. A handful of faculty and staff will have a chance to attend the iPad conference in Atlanta, and hopefully have the opportunity to come back and share what they learned.

Faculty and stall will continue their self education into the summer, but at that time we will also begin offering formal training sessions from in house faculty and staff as well as representative from other schools. In the fall, we will introduce training sessions with Apple in both small group and one-on-one format.

By that time, freshman teachers should be well prepared to begin using the technology with the new freshman.