New For Dummies Book Selection – iPad in Education

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In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I sort of have a thing an obsession with my Apple products.

I get a little giddy thinking about ALL the things these little powerhouse electronics can do for me. Then, I talk a little too much about it to people who probably could care less.

I’m sure though for every 10 people that tune me out, there is one that wants to know all the neat things I can do. And if they ask a question or two, I’m happy to go on for hours.

One of the things I use my iPad for a lot is our homeschooling. For some apps it’s been hit or miss, but mostly if I’ve researched and read reviews, they’ve served us well. Apps though are usually where most people will stop when it comes to using the iPad for educational purposes, if only there was a resource to teach us educators how to use it beyond that in our teaching…and in an easy to understand manner.

The title alone; iPad in Education For Dummies by Sam Gliksman, intrigued me so much when I had a chance to review another For Dummies book on my blog. I’ve been wanting to use the Apple technology even more in our homeschooling, but felt like I had so much to learn beyond just apps. So when this arrived at my home, I sat down to read it to see if there was anything in it worthy to use in our “classroom.”

After reading through the whole book, I give it two thumbs up, even though much of it doesn’t pertain to homeschoolers at all. What it did give me though, was a ton of information on other ways to use our iPad for educational purposes, that I never even thought of.

Here’s some of what’s in it:

• Ways for the educator to find and organize educational content on their iPad.

• Ways to explore using the iPad in conjunction with apps for digital reading and writing.

• Printing with the iPad (and no you don’t have to have an Apple AirPrint to do this!)

• Using the iPad’s media features.

• Bridging the gap between traditional learning and technology, especially if students don’t have access outside the classroom to it.

I actually found this particular For Dummies title a little overwhelming. Not because it’s difficult to understand, but because it’s loaded with information. I was most excited about the tutorials in the media section because it explains how to go about creating and using animation, storytelling, podcasts and screencasts with the iPad. All of which are things my 16 year old daughter would love to do as a part of her core curriculum.

I dipped my toe in the water by following some of the advice in the finding and organizing educational content part. From Glickman’s advice I started playing with Evernote…he may have created a organized technical home educator with that bit of coaching.

I am actually disappointed that we’re almost done homeschooling now. The amount of things I could have been using my iPad for in the last two years in our schooling is astounding, and this book has such great ideas on how to implement them.

As I said earlier in the review, not every chapter and part in the book is going to be pertinent to everybody. Some portions prove to be very technical, and if you aren’t using iPads in the classroom on a large scale, you can completely skip those parts as they won’t be useful to you. But for $24.99, I would consider the money well spent as a home education resource, especially since one app that’s recommended in the book has already saved me well over that cost, in finding other ways to use my Apple products.

If you are an educator, in a school or at home, or are a parent who just wants more reasons to use their iPad, you should read this book, you’ll find some really neat ways to enhance education with it.

I received a copy of iPad Apps For Kids for Dummies from John Wiley & Sons, Inc. for review. All opinions are my own. Published by Tammy Litke. Affiliate links are used in this post.

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