The real key in apps is giving her the right mix of 3 catagories: exploration, productivity, FUN.

exploration: apps that allow a child to gain information in an area of interest. and connect with like minded individuals. Think blogs, kid news sites and other informative apps that have academic content. Unfortunately my review so far is hit and miss, with a lot of education labeled content being non-academic. And even worse inaccessible.

productivity: iWork is a must as it’s accessibility is very good and in the end ‘producing’ is the key to the work world. Education is catching up, but you will want to make a point of allowing alternate media for projects. Many teachers are stuck in the written word as podcasts are gaining steam and technology media schools (I graduated from Full Sail University) are embracing multi-media project designs.

FUN: Kids learn by playing, I think there’s a company named PlaySchool out there? interesting concept, too bad it hasn’t caught on… Games need to engage but also expand a students intuitive feel for the device and medium. They can engage research and challenge.

I say all this because I’ve been disappointed in the lists I’ve found. I’m trying to create an SQL database website for education, but no promises as my plate is uber full. Feel free to contact me.

For school work it is still not exactly what I need. I can use it to follow along with presentations on the Web or via powerpoint (if I can get the slides beforehand). And I can use this wonderful App called iannotate to read pdfs. It gets the type relatively large and I can underline and highlight all over it and then export the annotated version to my desktop. This way, I can do some work on the subway or during my lunch break or even in bed.

I do, however, still have problems getting real work done – like writing papers – on the ipad. It’s having to toggle back and forth from, say, a pdf to the pages word processor. But, all in all, I’m really happy with it.

I really appreciate the distance to screen vs. laptop issue being explained. I’ve been saying this to colleagues for about 3 years, but no one seems to get it! As a Teacher of students with Visual Impairments, it was a duh! moment for me. My one student has used his iPad more than any other device, and as of yesterday is getting realtime braille on a refreshable braille device. It is ridiculously seamless and easy to set up.

I’m still waiting for the large print App market to kick in.

The video indicates that the iBook application that comes with the iPad can magnify text MANY times rather than once or twice. Have you tried to read books with the IBook reader?