Just before I went on my summer holidays- an how long ago that seems now-I read Dave Andrew’s blog about using mobile technology to keep parents informed on a residential visit. As with Dave’s other blogs it’s very informative and useful. I remembered trying to do something similar years ago with Hull’s 1st Learning Platform. Of course, in those days mobile devices were called laptops and to access the web, you plugged it into the data socket on the wall as wireless and 3G were also stuff of the future.
Anyway, Dave’s blog got me to thinking that I might be able to put my iPad and J2E app to some mobile blogging use, just to see if it could be done. Well, it can. I should stress that there’s nothing at all wrong in Dave’s approach and these days we are very much in the ‘more than one way to crack an egg’ regarding using technology to enhance learning and improve home/school links. I was just curuious to see if the software I already had access to could do something similar.
Anyway, determined that trying out the mobile blog would be my only concession to work whislt abroad I gave it a whirl and the results are here. Please don’t judge the blog on its content, style or overall literary worth- minimal- it was done as a test to see if J2E and J2Webby would work as a mobile solution.
So, hopefully now schools can read both blogs on the subject and have a better understanding of the mobile blogging options open to them.
As an aside, I should say that my iPad (though i’m sure any decent tablet would have done) did prove very useful whilst away.
Apart from catching up on the Olympics and being able to Skype/Oovoo with family back home. (Whatever happened to postcards?)I found Maps very useful for planning trips. Even when out of wireless area, the route stayed on screen to view.
The TripAdvisor app was used to suss out a range of attractions and the Booking.com app had all the details of overnight stops on it, though I could sense an unease from one hotelier who was obviously much more comfortable with pieces of paper.
Eurotunnel’s booking info was on a gmail for reference and Evernote was handy for noting down those very odd directions the SatNav gave so I can tell Garmin just how untrustworthy their product was with some examples of its eccentricity.
Then there was the crossword, Sudoku, etc apps that would have been used, but.
A friend did tell me that I’d wasted my money on a Kindkle when I could have downloaded the app and had just the one device. ‘fraid not. A Kindle screen can be read in the sun. Try that on a tablet.