a few of my favorite apps

Here are a few of the apps I love on my iPad for work.

When VoiceThread, Prezi, and Adobe Connect first came out with apps, they were primarily for viewing, but they have improved in subsequent updates to offer some editing, which gives you the opportunity to make needed changes to a conference presentation without dragging a laptop around. I even set up an impromptu Adobe Connect room to conference with a faculty member and figure out a problem she was having by letting her share her computer screen–that was a big step forward on the iPad, where you could formerly only join a room already opened.

For writing that produces documents, I like Pages, Keynote, and Office² HD. Office² HD can save to your Dropbox or Google Drive, making sharing a breeze. I’m familiar with the Apple apps from the Mac versions and the Office app uses a familiar Office layout and tools. Although I have a wireless keyboard, I generally use the onscreen version to stay within the touchscreen mode of working. I am not a great typist/keyboarder, so maybe I don’t understand the difficulty some people complain about with the iPad keyboard, but it works for me.

I’d say my favorite mind mapping app is iThoughts HD, with Inspiration a close second. Maps are useful and easy to make and share and I have used them to explain concepts and relationships in a number of courses.

For audio, I have to say that SoundCloud blows me away with its ease of use for quickly creating a sound file to share, and the nifty embedded object looks very nice in your blog. I just picked up GarageBand, so I can’t say how I might use that, particularly since I am not a musician, but I picked out an old piano tune I remember from my childhood lessons and might find a use for it as a music track for some of the tutorials we make for faculty.

And finally, I am using Bento for both iPad and Mac to gather data for The Letters Project which you can find linked on my front page. It is really easy to use and that means a lot coming from a data-phobe like me. I input my info on the iPad and sync it to my Mac, plus I save a backup file each time.

Thanks for indulging me and my little list of favorite things. Go out and find some for your own device to make your work life easier.