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iPads in the Writing Center

Over on the listserv WCENTER a few weeks ago there was a discussion of iPads and their uses in writing centers.  I brazenly stated that I was going to keep a list of apps that people mentioned, so here goes:


From Neal Lerner of Northeastern University:
GoodReader: Used for reading and annotating files. Ultimately, we hope to have writing conferences in which writing consultant and student are reviewing the student's paper on GoodReader, jointly annotating, and saving the file for the student writer to use when revising. 
Box.net: Used for transferring and having access to files.
Dropbox: Also used for transferring and having access to files.
iThoughtsHD: A mind-mapping tool, useful for idea generation and breaking through those writing blocks.
iBrainstorm: Another tool for generating ideas and then organizing those ideas in ways that nicely lead to a written form.
PlainText: A text editor, useful for taking notes during a consulting session, which can then be sent to students.
Dragon: Voice recognition, ideally useful for recording tutoring sessions.


From me (Clint Gardner):
1) we’ve been playing with both Skype and TinyChat (www.skype.com/www.tinychat.com) for real time online tutoring. 
 2) iBooks has some free writing/language-related online books; there is also Google Books, Nook, and Kindle apps.
3) Wolfram Alpha has a cool app that can answer some pretty complex questions (not writing related)
4) We’ve also played around with voice recordings of sessions. And I’ve been intrigued by Dragon Dictation app.
5) Salt Lake Community College uses Citrix, a server layer that allows iPads and other devices access to office application suites like Microsoft Office. It is pretty slick. 
6) Our home-brewed online reporting system is set up to recognize when a *Pad or smart phone visits it, and formats its output accordingly. I was inspired to update our system to recognize such devices when one of our Peer Writing Advisors showed me how she wrote her reports on her iPhone. Talk about not having a problem with software keyboard.   


From Stephanie Lovelass of Illinois Central College
We use Pages, Dropbox, and various dictionary and translation apps the most. We recently launched Skype-based appointments using the iPads. The Skype app has definitely come in handy! If you're interested, I would be happy to compile a list of apps! 

That is all so far.   If you have more useful apps, post them in a comment and I'll edit this post.

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