Tag Archives: Spring 2015

Ken's iPad Reflection: Programming on the iPad

I reached out for opinions from CS students on using the iPad for schoolwork. The consensus was that there wasn’t really a good way to accomplish most necessary tasks on the tablet, however there was some support for the Surface Pro, a fully functional Windows 8 tablet with a touch screen. I’m actually considering getting one instead of a new MacBook, although I’m not quite convinced about it. It seems like it might excel as a tablet but fall short as a laptop, more research is needed, especially on the keyboard.

There are many mobile and cloud based apps for writing code in different languages, but they typically lack the features and integration you’d want when creating full applications. Services that offer a cloud VM and browser-based IDE like Cloud9 and Koding are beginning to look promising, although they really need native iOS apps in my opinion to be viable on the iPad. Some apps can really be useful for learning the basics of a language, for example a new app Swifty can be used to learn the Apple language Swift on your iPad or iPhone.

In general I think if we’re pushing for iPads on campus there are 2 ways to lessen resistance against it:

  1. Frame the debate in terms of eReader vs. traditional books since it’s definitely a win for portability, cost, and flexibility.
  2. Move to a more optional BYOD model where iPads are offered as a rental, but the student can use their own device. Although I imagine the allure of standardizing on one device is that it’s easier to provide support.

Kate's iPad reflection

When I heard representatives from apple were coming I didn’t know what to expect. What would they add to this conversation? I was pleasantly surprised with with much of their visit. While much of their discussion on garage band was comprised of things I had already explored, it made me look at the app a second time and find a few new features that I had not yet tried. My main take always were the countless ways keynote can be transformed from just a basic presentation app to something that can be applied to many more dynamic projects. It even has some elements that will help me do mock ups of animations and websites. They also mentioned that keynote projects could be imported into the app “explain everything” and the presentation could be recorded I bought this app and love it. Its main down fall though is that it does not import slide transitions and there is no ability to add them in after importing. My only solution would be recording the presentation and then opening it in iMovie. I also liked the idea that iTunes U could be used to create a portfolio. I would like to explore more of these nontraditional uses for these apps and understand their fundamental capabilities so that I can repurpose them depending on my needs.

One of my biggest revelations was to break out of the notion that a single app has to do everything. I do a lot of animation work and not having an alternative to AfterEffects or something similar so I can do trial animations has been a big drawback. I am used to working with software that does everything but now I am seeing apps more as modules that I can move my work through. I have stopped searching for things like animation apps and instead looking for ones with specific tools such as apps that will cut out sections of images and give transparent areas to the images so I can layer them in another app. This has been successful and I am looking forward to developing a system of use with several free apps as well as Explain Everything, iMovie and GarageBand to animate some of my paintings.

[We] Identify as Disruptive Too

A person’s identity indicates something about them. As a set of social classifications, identity is created by viewing two or more people or groups in relation to one another (oneself is included). Identity  is a paradox in two ways.

First,  it is constantly in flux, but at the same time, suggests an ever-developing constant within a person. How someone chooses to identify his/herself (or someone else) can change over time; there can be momentary or long-term changes. For example:

  • Momentary: Role as friend takes precedence over role as student if a friend is in a car accident.
  • Long-Term: Gender or sexuality can fluctuate over time.

Second, a person’s understanding of their own identity affects the lens through which they view his/herself and others.

 

Ken's Tweetly Create

I’m very picky with how I use Twitter to shape my online identity since it’s public for all to see. I use it to retweet things from my apps’ Twitter accounts and some other posts I really like, and occasionally some thoughts I have. Lately I’ve realized that your replies to people don’t show up in your main feed of tweets so I’ve been using it a bit more for communication instead of solely a platform for publishing.

The majority of my tweets are tech-related but sometimes I stray a bit. My favorite tweet of mine is an idea pertaining to the popular open source app framework PhoneGap and its lack of quality plugins.

https://twitter.com/kenfehling/status/522935097600008194

For this assignment I tweeted a link to a list of iPad music apps on Pinterest. I had already shared something similar a couple of weeks ago on Yammer but I thought this relevant for a couple of reasons.

For one thing I think some aspects of Pinterest are useful, especially the way you can share multiple aspects of your identity cleanly by creating different boards for different topics. I try to replicate this on Twitter by using multiple accounts and I wanted to highlight that here. The Twitter account for my app Color Sounds is centered around music and art technology, music apps, etc. So I planned to send the tweet from there, retweet it from my main account and post a link to that, however I don’t think you can link to a retweet.

In any case, I get the feeling I don’t use Twitter the way most people do. I’m on it a lot but almost always for consumption, hardly ever posting. I like finding interesting articles and things on it. Also I don’t think I follow or have a single follower on Twitter that’s somebody I know in real life. For me that’s what Facebook is for. Facebook is social and Twitter is business.

Jay Loomis – Focused Collaboration via BaiBoard

I’ve been using an iPad for several semesters, mainly as an individual, personal organization tool that keeps my notes and research for many classes all in one place… but thanks to the visit from the Apple people I have a new appreciation for the iPad, specifically as a collaborative tool, by using the app called BaiBoard:

Screen Shot 2015-03-24 at 8.54.44 PM

We experimented with this app a bit in class and it facilitates interactive brainstorming and creative dialogue. I’d like to experiment with this app for some group projects in the near future to confirm my intuition that this can be a effective tool for improving effectivity in group projects and team work. There doesn’t seem to be that much of a learning curve in terms of the features that the app offers.

You are what you tweet.

https://twitter.com/jaymloomis/status/579678349502607360

For #CDT450 I tweeted this article about Martese Johnson – he was brutally beaten up by police in front of a bar near the campus of the University of Virginia, where he is an honor student.

Part of the title to the article in the Daily Beast asks: HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? The article addresses issues of prejudice, racism, and the unproportionately high levels of violence that are unleashed on African Americans by police officers. Hopefully, we are becomeing more aware of this systemic injustice thanks to people using social media to get the word out and create an infuriated buzz about it.

What does this have to do with how  Twitter can shape my identity? The first thing that comes to mind is that my choice of tweets says something about who I am.  Why do I want people to know this story? Why is it important to me? I tweeted this article after reading Cole’s post about how UVA students reacted to this act of brutality, and it reminded me that we need more dialogue about  race relations on college campuses in America. We have an excellent opportunity at Stony Brook to open up discussions about race because we have such a diverse community here. Hopefully Twitter, FB, Yammer, blogs, and other social media tools can be useful to help start conversations and to create opportunities for people from different ethnicities and backgrounds to get together and  get to know each other and improve race relations through social interaction – online and face to face.  #Integreat

Weekly Create – Katherine

impressed with all that the iPad can do Now that I know I can make entire presentations just using an app I may never need a laptop #cdt450

— Katherine Hopkins (@kathopcdt450) March 24, 2015

Twitter can have a huge effect on shaping our identities. I believe that everyone has many selves and one of them is how we act on social media. People are usually either much more open on social media or much more reserved. For me, I used to be a lot more open and probably a little too open on Twitter to be completely honest. I would tweet almost every single thought I had, regardless of how appropriate it was. I think people are usually more open on Twitter than they should be. For me, Twitter was a way to say things that I usually was too shy or reserved to say out loud. I ended up getting into some trouble for my tweets, which is why I was apprehensive to even make a twitter again for class. Your identity is determined on Twitter by who you interact with, what you say, and how you say it in such a small amount of available characters. Your identity is also defined by whether or not you are an anonymous account, the topics that you tweets about, your follower/following ratio, and if you only interact with friends/people you know IRL, or you reach out to tweeters that you have never met.

Hello, My Name is Apple

A couple of weeks ago when Apple came to visit our class, I was very excited to really jump into creating content on the iPad. I was disappointed, however, when much of the class was spent on “lecturing” about identity. I was personally taken aback by this as I must have been confused about the reason of their actual visit. It was occasionally disconcerting because of the inevitable Apple advertising.

Eventually we did get into creating some content–that being said, we did not do much creating, ourselves. For me, the most beneficial part of this presentation was the discussion about Keynote. I was surprised at how “perfected” this PowerPoint app really was. I was especially impressed at its ability to create a mock app. As a hyperlink-driven application, I see Keynote acting more as an interactive presentation rather than one say, for an actual keynote or other address. Another app that I would be curious to look at more for actual presentations is Quip. The representatives from Apple did not do a full walk-through, but did mention that it was a very effective app. I hope to eventually explore this one further.

Over all, the effectiveness of Keynote harkens that the iPad be considered further in terms of using it in education. I appreciate the fact that students can create an accessible overview of a project while on the go.

Technically Yours,

R.

P.S. Why yes, yes I did use the word “harkens,” and although Google does not accept it as a modern word and insisted on underlining it with that nasty, squiggly red line, it is the perfect word as it can be read into further.

Kate's identity and iPad reflection

Using the iPad to create this was an over all positive experience. I shot the footage using the native photo app as well as iMovie and a short segment using the “stop motion” app. I made slides using the Phoster app and compiled it in iMovie and added some of the stock music as well as voice recording done in the app. As someone who works with video editing and animation frequently I found several pros and con

pros-

-basic video capture and organization of the iMovie is good for general use. Cutting video was simple. When I think back to classes I’ve taken, I could see this being used to support assignments in most subjects.

-easy to import video and photos from other apps

-sound is decient and easy to record. I liked that I could have several tracks and though it took me a moment, they were simple to move around.

– being able to crop the image and videos

-uploading I will put under pros but at first it was not so simple. In order to up load to YouTube I had to Chang my settings in my YouTube account to allow interaction with “less secure” apps. Though this took some time to figure out and get past it constantly asking me to sign in I know I will not have this issue again and things will go smoothly.

cons

– as someone who works with video editing I wish there were more features such as better filters and lighting adjustments to make it look more professional. I would have liked more control over the text and title features since there was no ability to move them on the screen and change other aspects including the timing and duration of their appearance So I could have had a text overlay/captions. I would have liked more control over the transitions and audio transitions. I also wish it was possible to change how much a video is cropped over time- zoom in and out.

Over all though I think it’s a great app and it can be limited only by a lack of creativity however I would be even happier if those ther features existed.