Experiment: iPad a learning tool to special kids

SAP Labs tied up with Spastics Society for a social cause, the cause was to spread computer education to the mentally challenged and to kids with learning disabilities.

It was an initative by the SAP to bring in some difference in the society by conducting various computer workshops. As iPad brought in the revolution in the education domain, they wanted to experiment in a workshop where the volunteers train the parents of these special gifted kids to use it as a tool for educating them.

iPad was introduced in the simplest form:
“It a device which has within it the Sound+CPU+Display+mouce+keyboard packaged into one slimmest electronic gadget”.

Proud of participating as a volunteer and all thanks to my iPad for making be eligible for getting into this workshop inspite of being a non-SAP employee.
We had the following apps for the workshop categories in the respective category:
Learning: Dot to Dot Number Whiz, ABC , Kids Match, FirstWords sampler
Communicate: TapToTalk , BDayBragbook, Photo Animals
Fun: Virtuoso Piano, Eensy Harp ,Talking Tom

I was there to educate the kids and their parents on and about iPad, but the fact is, in those 5 hours I learnt many lessons of life:

Parent’s said: Life is not the same for all. It takes time to realize the fact that God had blessed us with a special child and gain courage to give the best life to our kid. We are proud of them for whatever they do with their disabilities. Every day is full of challenges and life gets more exciting when we face them and see our kid making all things possible and breaking his own boundaries and surprises us with his achievements and learning’s.

A mother of a one such kid said “I cry every day but with the happiness that god choose me to be the mother of such a kid, because he knew I can make a difference. I thank my son for bringing in the purpose for my living.”

Teachers: We provide intervention services to kids with Cerebral Palsy, Autism, Mental Retardation, Multiple Disabilities and Learning Disabilities. Every kid is so different and highly talented. It’s a challenge to understand them but we grow everyday with them.

Kids: These lovely innocent kids couldn’t talk to me but yes they communicated with me via their hand movements, eye contact and hugs.
Mayank’s eyes said, “I want to learn more as much as I can. Can do everything like you’ll. I have less time and want to say hello to the whole world”
Vishnu’s hand said, “Thanks for being my friend, be with me forever”
Sonu’s voice said, “I am the dude and I know what I wish to have at the age of 21”
Smrithi’s hug said, “I loved learning and playing with the iPad, Thank you!”

These kids are so cute and innocent, “Living life as it comes, with no complaints to God, always smiling, bestowing faith on all and enjoying every movement without the fear of future”

"The best things in life are free; I realized that it is in giving that you receive. I realize that I have gained 10 times more than what I have contributed. "
View Pics at : http://bit.ly/hxBMnT

Confession from a so called Android Fan Gal.

Yes I bough the iPad and when I said this I know it hurted most of them. So I am not doing any justification on this here, just expressing and sharing my thoughts about iPad.

It all happened during my visit to London last month.

I was at Planet of Apps Europe Conference and luckily was sitting next to BBC Technology Correspondent who was hosting the event for the day. He had 2 devices & no price for guessing – Apple iPad and Samsung recently launched Galaxy Tablet.

We started the conversation and when I asked him “What are your thoughts on Samsung Tablet” he took both the device next to each other and started comparing.

To summarize my observation:

Browser experience, typing experience & video rendering on iPad was far more better then the Samsung tablet. On that sadly Samsung Tab is overly priced and the touch pad is not very responding.

Then my dear boss handed over his iPad asking me to play around with it….that was actually the beginning.

I was falling for iPad as I started :

- Playing games

- Watching youtube videos

- Checking and replying to mails

- Updating my Facebook status

- and tweeting from the iPad twitter app

- Making notes

- Reading an iBook

When I was back to my hotel, I was actually missing something and was hating to work on my laptop, asking myself a question “Have I got used to iPad ?”

I got the answer and early morning I went to the Apple store on Oxford Street and bought my iPad.

The question here is “Did iPad got sold here or its me which got totally sold out for iPad”

As I was back to India….

Mom said- “U were supposed to buy an android phone, has the size of the phone increased these days?”

Sister said- “How could you buy a mac product?”

Dad said- “Why a gadget, why not branded watch, cloths, shoes & diamonds?”

Friends said – “U are an Android betrayer”

But my 6 yrs old niece simply loves playing with iPad and I am happy to see a smile on here face.

I am still passionate about android, but the fact is if a gadget can bring in smile on a face…its any time worth-it.

A good friend Soham Mondal made a productive use of the iPad and here are his thoughts on the iPad (1.0) after a week or two of using the iPad

Pros

1. The web-surfing experience. Apart from the lack of flash, the surfing experience on the iPad is unparalleled to any other device. The zippy touch + screen size experience is much better than that on any desktop or laptop and the galaxy tab doesn't even come close!
2. Videos/Youtube. If you like watching music videos or youtube vlogs/flicks, there is nothing like the iPad, you can now watch videos while you lie down on the bed or while you wait for your cab to reach the office car or anywhere the go, it looks great and feels very convenient to use
3. Apps. Some apps look and feel downright amazing on the iPad, games n newsreaders feel right at home here!
4. Battery life. 7+ hours while watching videos and surfing the net over wifi is no small achievement
5. Form factor, screen size. Apart from the weight, everything feels just right! It is sleek and very portable.
6. You can pair your apple bluetooth keyboard to the iPad to have a mobile workstation on the go, this is a really practical and powerful solution for mobile-workers!

Cons

1. It is a tad too heavy! Yup, you won't notice this when you first hold it, but if you plan to read books or watch videos while you hold it, it really weighs down on you. This is easily the biggest flaw of iPad 1.0 and I'm sure apple will work on a lighter frame for the next version of the iPad!
2. Speakers. One (mono) speaker just doesn't cut it these days. On top of that, the speakers are dry and weak and just do not do justice to the videos played on this device.
3. Apps. Apart from the handful of good free apps, most apps are either outrageously priced(some even free on the iPhone) or just not present. Either way, you can't really complain considering that the iPad has just been around for less than a year.
4. Youtube! Unless you jailbreak the iPad, the youtube player defaults to the highest resolution for videos. In other words for some videos it will default to 720p or 1080p and you have no way to reduce that and u can expect videos to buffer forever for most contemporary channels over 2/4 mbps connections.
5. Lack of camera(s), this doesn't really matter to me but many people might object to the lack of a front facing camera for video conferencing!
6. Lack of a back button. You would be surprised that I would complain about this but after using an android device for the past few months you cannot live without a back button. It is so practical and jumping back to the home screen or using the software back approach is not practical most of the times!

All in all, it is a great device, you wouldn't really think you'd need one until you actually get one. It is great for watching videos and surfing the web and I've actually started using my laptop less after getting this. However, I would definitely want it to be lighter and with a better speaker, if that's the case I would definitely not mind going in for the iPad 2.0 wifi + 3g version!

Final confession: I enjoy all the attention that I get when I carry along with me my iPad.