Tag Archives: Apps

Closing Remarks Chris W.

This class has been a great experience. Coming into this class I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Honestly, I enrolled in the class because I heard we’d get to use an iPad for a semester. While the iPad was nice, I’d say the best thing about this class were the excellent discussion we had in class and how fluid the syllabus was. This class has really opened my eyes to the subtle complexities of community development and really helped me define who I am as a person. The guest we had in class pushed me to do what I want in life (which is to work in the gaming industry). The last section, Design, helped me take a new approach to the creative process that I will definitely use later on in life.

This class has shown me a few apps that I really enjoyed using. In no particular order SwiftKey, Adaptxt, Evernote, and POP.

Adaptxt: If you want swept functionality on your iOS device I would definitely recommend this app. The user interface is clean and is very responsive.
SwiftKey: This is another third party keyboard that has the swipe functionality. From my experience sometimes the keyboard wouldn’t appear and you’d have to tap on the lobe icon more than once. Otherwise it is a great app to use.

Evernote: This app is a powerhouse! From presentations to website layouts Evernote can do it all!

POP: In the design section of the course both teams used this to make the layout of our apps which were our a part of our Final Synthesis.

Lastly, the iPad was really useful this entire semester. Slowly substituted paper with the iPad and it became an integral part of my day to day. This device is useful beyond belief and after this semester is over I will seriously consider buying one for myself.

Cheers to a great semester!

Right Shark's CritQue

Design a mobile app that supports peer critiquing using gamification elements.

No change
Our approach to our design challenge is constantly evolving while the challenge remains the same.

After discussion with students some of their concerns were:
1: How to stop possible plagiarism?
2: What are the specific perks of being a Master in a category?
3: They felt feedback on prose is done better in person.

 

We sent out surveys and conducted group interviews with the population we are looking to connect with.
Stats from survey coming soon…

Weekly iPad Reflection Chris W

After almost a full semester of occupying the iPad, I don’t know how I am going to live without this thing.  All my assignments and a majority of my internet browsing are done using the iPad.

Stony brook University uses a website called Blackboard to distribute assignments, post grades and weekly reminders, and have the students interact with one another. I navigate blackboard exclusively form my iPad. The layout is nicer. The design is nicer. Everything is nicer on the app end of Blackboard.

Screen Shot 2015-04-21 at 1.08.15 PM
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Web version of Blackboard

imageApp version of Blackboard

The main difference between the two is the active panel the app version has. It is easy to navigate the different tabs as well as see exactly where you are.

Weekly iPad Reflection Chris W.

 

One app that would interesting to see in higher education is an app that shows students how much of their tuition is being wasted if they skip a class or something similar to that. This app’s purpose is to show students the dangers and costs of procrastination. If the students want it could give tips on better ways to allocate their time. The content would be clever and humorous. I’d like to call it CrnchTime.

 

(Late post because I need CrnchTime too)

Ken – Student App Idea

My app idea is an online marketplace, basically like Fiverr or oDesk but specific to Stony Brook. People could do small freelance jobs for each other in exchange for credits, which they can cash out or spend on hiring people to do jobs for them. Some examples might be designing a resume site for someone or making a logo for their app. I imagine many departments could use this a lot, for instance if the music department needs a programmer or the computer science department needs an artist. Basically it would create a market for trade within the campus.

I feel that limiting it to the campus would increase the quality of work over other online freelance marketplaces, and offer a greater degree of accountability since you might know somebody who knows the person hiring you. It could be integrated with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Yammer to use already existing social connections, allowing you to vouch for someone or find a friend of a friend with the skills you need. It would also provide an opportunity for networking or friendship among students by working on each other’s projects, and experience delegating parts of their own projects.

iPad Reflection – Chris Williams

SwiftKey

Earlier on in the semester I mentioned how the iPad native keyboard needed some kind of swipe function. After doing some research I found SwiftKey. SwiftKey is a nice keyboard. It functions how it’s supposed to. It connects with your facebook to learn the words you use and learns from there. There have been times where I needed to delete words and reswipe them. Some things this app could improve on is the insisting autocorreit.

Overall. 8/10

If you want a swipe I keyboard on your iOS device SwiftKey could be the app for you.

Paperless Expenses and Evernote Scannable – MacStories

I use Scannable every single day to make my life easier. I am a huge Evernote user, but I take a ton of handwritten notes — especially in meetings where I am given handouts. I used to take them back to my office and put them in a real scanner. Now I use my phone and Scannable.

My favorite feature of the app is that you don’t have to pay close attention to how you take pictures because Scannable will generally make them look better for you once they’ve become PDFs. Blurred text, unclear borders, slightly tilted perspective – in most cases, Scannable can adjust everything automatically, which makes for a solid user experience.

via Paperless Expenses and Evernote Scannable – MacStories.

New ESPN App

I do watch a lot of sports, but I do not typically rely on any specific app for my sports news per se. I like the Yahoo Sports app for the iPhone/iPad because of its speed, but ESPN is more my style editorially. I don’t really use their apps all that much becuase I have histroically found them underwhelming. Apparentally that is about to change. This is really a great read about the changes coming and the design decisions ESPN made along the way.

Outlook for Mail, Calendar, and More on iOS

Several you complained about the built in Mail app on the iPad in class this past week. I’ve not really used Apple Mail for quite some time, instead leaning heavily on the native Gmail app, especially given our access to Google Apps on campus.

I recently switched to Microsoft Outlook for iOS — a huge change for me. It is a surprisingly great app and is actually saving me time during a typical day. Not only does it do email very well, with modern approaches to quickly managing individual messages. The things I really like is that my calendar is built in as is access to my Google Drive files.

Having all these tools in one place not only saves times and taps, but it allows me to easily replace two apps with one in my dock. I don’t know your workflow, but I have to live all day checking email, referring to my calendar, and sharing files from Drive. The new Outlook lets me do all of that from one place. It might be worth a try for some of you.

The new Outlook app brings together the core tools you need to get things done—your email, calendar, contacts and files—helping you get more done even on the smallest screen.

via A deeper look at Outlook for iOS and Android – Office Blogs.

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