Khan Academy Announces iPad App

This Fast Company article is the first I've heard of Khan Academy's new iPad App.  I have not downloaded it yet.  But that's next on my list after writing this post.  I'm a big fan of what the Khan Academy is doing and my favorite new school model is "flipped" instruction.  The app supports that model well.

For the growing number of schools that are adopting iPads, the most impactful potential for the app is for Khan Academy's "flipped classroom," in which lectures are watched at home by students, and then assignments are completed collaboratively in class, where a teacher is present. "The teacher is free to do a lot more of the human interaction," says Shantanu Sinha, President and COO of Khan Academy.

I know this blog is supposed to be about corporate learning strategies but so much of what is going on in tech impacts both corporate AND academic learning environments.  Some of the same methods could of Khan Academy could very easily be incorporated into corporate training environments.

Let me know if you are doing anything similar to Khan Academy in your corporate training department.  I'd love to hear about it.

Check out more mobile learning innovations at mLearnCon June 19-21.

99yr Old Writes Limericks on iPad [video]

Here's the deal:  For millions of people a big iTouch is EXACTLY what they need!!!  You don't need to buy one if you are happy with your little iTouch.  So, to all the naysayers out there I give you Virginia Campbell.  She is 99yrs old with glaucoma and now she is reading and writing again thanks to the "big iTouch".  You can read one of Virginia's limericks at "The Unofficial Apple Weblog".


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iPad Fever

Yes.  I did call UPS today and ask if I may lend a hand by driving to the central hub and picking up my, um, "shipment from China" so my driver doesn't have to worry about stopping by my house.  Seriously! I'm just trying' to be helpful.  "That's not possible" she said.  I told her that I'm just a little excited to get my "shipment from China".  "I'm sure you are" she laughed as if she knew me.  We bonded.

My favorite writer and Mac fan boy, Andy Ihnatko, has had HIS iPad for a week already and is GUSHING about how AWESOME it is.  All the other high profile writers have theirs as well and are writing like crazy.  Here's a good blog post with the run down. http://www.publicola.net/2010/04/01/early-reviews-of-the-apple-ipad-hit/

And yes, plenty of my eLearning peeps have been blogging about it.  The only difference being that they have not actually used, or even seen one yet. 

Honestly, I don't think their's much to talk about really.  Its all just too obvious.  The iPad is all the awesomesauce of the iPhone in a larger form factor for doing the things I CAN do, but DON'T LIKE to do, on my iPhone.  

Let's start with playing music.  No, not playing songs in iTunes.  I'm talking about replacing paper sheet music with the iPad.  I can't read a score…even a one-pager on my iPhone while jamming with the band.  but an iPad will sit nicely on the music stand and be easily readable.  Not only that, I can actually make annotations right on the music during practice with one band leader and then start from scratch when rehearsing with the next leader.  And OH SO MUCH more.  This alone is worth the price.  Wait!  Is this app even available?  Maybe I'm just hoping.

I have a long flight to Philadelphia on Thursday which I'm actually looking forward too…and I hate cross-country flights.  I may upgrade to first class for this trip just to experience 5 hours of uninterrupted iPad time in style ;-) I hope Keynote works as advertised because that's the purpose of the trip.  It will be fun to put the iPad through its paces and see how we do.

mLearnCon - Mobile Learning Conference and Expo- June - San Diego, CA
DevLearn 2010 Conference and Expo - November - San Francisco, CA