Due to my issues of not being able to access my blog myself and then once I could access it, no one else could, my blogs all came in a rush at the end, which I apologize for. For my last blog post though, I jut want to say how appreciative I was to be able to access such a wonderful piece of technology for the semester. It changed my view on how much you can truly incorporate technology in a college setting but also in grade school. I really hope the study that's being done with our iPad usage is a success and I thank everyone that made us able to use iPads for this class possible. It really has affected my life in such a positive way and my view of technology has broadened. Being able to use the iPad has made me appreciative of what a truly fantastic college education I am receiving with so much to learn and grow from and remember for the rest of my life.

The only problem I experienced with the iPad was the Adobe app did not work for me. It successfully downloaded when I first put in on the iPad, but once it was there it wouldn't open whenever I clicked on it. I don't know if it was the wrong app for the iPad or not, but that was really the only problem. The only other thing was the trouble with my blog not being private. I've tried several times to fix it. Fatima even kindly helped me. When I click on it from Professor Sotillo's home screen it easily opens for me. I don't know what the problem was this semester with that, but otherwise everything went smoothly.

It is so sad to think that Steve Jobs, such a brilliant man that changed the face of technology is longer with us. His intelligence was astonishing. He brought us to the Apple industry and people are hooked! Seeing how technology advanced in such a few short years, it is so exciting to experience what will occur even within the next five years. Maybe iPads will be obsolete! I don't see iPads going any place but up though, but new creations will be here before we know it. People talked robots and such but I don't think we are even close to that. It makes me nervous how much our society is involved in the cyber world and I can only imagine what will occur for the generation being born into the world of iPads and iPods. Very different from when I was going on for sure!

I just remembered Fatima telling the class how to do a screen shot of the screen. It is truly remarkable what technology can do! I tried to post what I took a screen shot of but it did not seem to work. I will have to get my own iPad and try to figure it out myself and take screen shots of everything. Screenshots are helpful while studying or reading a document so you can easily transfer your information. I don't know if you can hook this up to a printer or not but the screen shot can then work as when you hit the control button on the keyboard and the P to print something.

Being that the first time I've ever blogged was in this class was a great experience. I think it was a fantastic idea to have been able to make a blog to connect the class. From this experience, I am now interested in viewing other blogs that are popular. It's fun to be able to express yourself through blogging and you can talk about anything that you want. The freedom of blogging is fun and an interesting way to be creative with your thoughts and feelings. It is important to be able to express yourself and sometimes it is hard to do that face to face with people. Blogging is a way to express yourself in a way that you re some what protected. Sometimes people do not know who you are when you are blogging and that can make the experience more exciting. It is interesting to read people's viewpoints on all different topics.The iPad is a perfect tool to blog with because it takes so little effort to login and start typing away. Your mind can wander as your fingers fly across the keyboard.

I believe the iPads are perfect for storing all your pictures instead of using up room on your computer or laptop. This takes up a lot of room on the actual computer with folders and what not. The iPad is a fabulous source for taking pictures and storing them and you won't have to worry that the pictures will take up so much room and waste memory space. The quality of the iPad photo taking is extraordinary, with better quality than some cameras. Sometimes it is annoying to have to upload all your pictures to your laptop. Also, some people only take a couple pictures at a time and its so easy to use your iPad to take them instead of turning on your computer, plugging in your camera or memory chip and waiting for the pictures to load. A fun tool you can also use on your iPad is Instagram, which is a great tool to edit pictures and add creative designs to them. Pictures are always fun to take and now you can make them even more personal with that app. Pictures are also so important to take for your collection and to remember the great times you've had in your lifetime!

Even though games on the iPad can be time consuming because they are highly addictive and so easy to click and use, they can strengthen your brain muscles. One of Professor Sotillo's favorite games on it is Temple Run, which uses focus and much thinking to not die in the game. These games are fun to play and sometimes its even better than watching television. Sometimes I feel that tv shows are making me dumb with all the reality shows and everything, but listening to Pandora and playing these types of games is actually better for you. I absolutely love the free Boggle version app. I love playing the board game of it. This game involves creating words from scrambbled dice that have letters on them. You have to make words in a certain amount of time and the letters need to be touching for you to create the word. It is fun and you are using your thinking skills the whole time trying to make words, especially longer and harder words to get more points. This type of game is good for children to use instead of coming home and turning on the television. It gets your mind actively thinking and you will want to play more and more to beat your high score!

Denise's presentation was amazing and opened my eyes to even more uses for the iPad. Being too dependent on the iPad is not good but they have incredible uses though. She brought up great pros and cons for the iPad uses and organized it so perfectly. She even introduced us to new apps I had no idea about. It makes me double think about getting an iPad for myself now because like Denise said, we as a culture are getting too dependent on technology. Even with directions, without GPS people would be so lost. It makes me nervous for the future generations on how people are going to be able to think on their own without relying on technology. It is very important to have a mind of your own with your own beliefs. Technology can sometimes distract people too much from reality, as they are too involed with cyber space.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvEe91GJOqA
I found this video to be very inspiring. It is seriously incredible to see how the iPad can benefit blind individuals. Not only have these inventions greatly affected people that can see, but the blind are able to experience the wonderful world of Apple. The apps are astonishing in general and now being able for the blind to use them is so heart-warming. You can only imagine what the future holds for the Apple products and technology in general. Now iPads can be used in school for blind students as well. Using the iPad can bring so much joy to these peoples lives who cannot see all God has created and now they can experience a little bit of technology that others are exposed to. This made me realize to never take being able to use the iPad or any technology for granted ever again.

I substitute teach at Passaic County Technical School and I see teachers using their iPads while they are in the teachers room. They can't say enough on how amazing they are to have in the school setting instead of their laptops or using the computers provided in the classrooms. I see them checking their e-mails and grades for the students on the iPad and as a future teacher, I really think iPads will be beneficial to me. I wanted to bring my iPad, but they unfortunately wouldn't give me the internet access for the school. Nonetheless, iPads are not only beneficial for the students' learning, but also for teachers dealing with organization, reliability and carrying around something lightweight instead of a laptop.

The Pandora app is one that can't go without mentioning. It is a fabulous free app that everyone should have on their Ipod and Ipad. You can select any artist's station you want and only their songs or thoes genre of songs will play. There is no selecting songs after one is finished and you are most likely going to enjoy every song that comes on that station if you like the artist you selected. It is an incredible music phenomenon and can be listened to while you are using any other app. It is so easy and convenient to use, especially if someone loves listening to musis and best of all it is free! What more can you ask for?

Apart from the educational apps, Amy showed me a few great apps for fitness. Every should have some exercise in their lives and with these apps, it is so easy to incorporate exercise into your busy schedule. She showed me the Daily Yoga app, Fitness tips app which I really enjoy reading, and I discovered Workouts. For the yoga one, you can do a full workout or just be shown poses to do one by one. Yoga is an excellent way to relax and with these fantastic free app, you can do yoga wherever you want by bringing the Ipad with you. After you get familiar with the poses and positions, you won't even need to bring the Ipad with you to do it. The Workouts app gives you the option of length of how long you want to workout and the type of routine you want to do. I think this is incredible if you want to work out from home or even if you want to bring the Ipad with you to the gym. Some days you don't feel like leaving your houes to get some exercise in and this is a great way to get your body moving. You can't beat that! There are probably hundreds and hundreds more amazing apps about fitness that will benefit anyone if they take the time to find them and use them proficiently.

The app Educreations that Stephanie showed us in class seems like a very educational app, hence the name of it. It is a way to let your mind explore through the eyes of a child. They love hands on activties, especially with colors and drawing. Having little children use this app will incorporate thinking with creative skills, which is always necessary for learning. A task a teacher can give the students using this app can be to write short poems, then draw a picture of a scene of the poem below the words. Haiku poems would be great for this type of app. Also, the students can take a picture from the classroom of what inspires them and then upload the pic to the app and write words around the picture that describes the inspiration they recieve from the person/object. This is a fun way to learn about inspiration or respect, which is important for any student to have a good grasp on.

The video on how to do the power point presentation from the app for our iPads was very informative. I still can't believe all that our Ipads can do! Then even being able to connect our Ipads to the projector in the classroom is even more amazing. I am interested in seeing how this all plays out in class. Using new ways to enhance our learning in the classroom is always fun and entertaining and that's what these Ipads are all about anyways for us. They are a vice to get our minds thinking more creatively and outside the box.

Becoming a teacher one day, I would love to use Ipads in my classroom. By then, Ipads may already be more common in schools. Hopefully every student will be able to have one to use in their classrooms one day. As technology continues to enhance, this will benefit learning in schools as well. Ipads will surely replace computers one day in the future and I'm interested in seeing how this transformation comes into play.

As I ponder on how Ipads will benefit classroom learning, I have to first think how schools will even be able to afford them. There may only be money enough for one per classroom, even that. With the Ipad in the classroom though, there will be more hands-on learning. There are a variety of applications for learning in a classroom setting, as well as games that can be used for educational learning. The teacher can put students in groups and one group can share the Ipad, each taking a turn playing a level of a game for example. The Ipad will allow the students to enjoy learning in fun, hands-on way.

The blackboard application is one of my favorites. I use blackboard all the time and it is so simple to just click on the app and have it pop right up. I love how it looks like an actual chalkboard. It's so simple to navigate and extremely handy to have on the iPad.

I'm interested in buying an IPad when I have to return mine. It is well worth the money and I can only imagine what the IPad 3 has in store. The convienience of using it is remarkable and I will suggest to anyone to purchase one if they have the money to do so. Technology is incredible and I can't even imagine what the future holds!

My blog has been acting up so I haven't blogged in a while. I love this iPad though. I'm so used to having it and I will be so upset when I have to give it back. It's so much easier then turning on my laptop and carrying it around even my house. I don't bring my laptop to school but I like bringing the iPad to class. It's much lighter and fits easily in my bag. If I have something to quickly look up its so much easier.