Basics for Education - 5/27

Pages vs. Word

When comparing Pages with another familiar application, like Word, one would find that they are somewhat similar. Pages and Word are both word processing programs that function much in the same ways. Each have functions that allow you to create a document that looks much the same. The documents can be shared via email and students can use them both easily to perform tasks assigned by their teachers. However, there are more differences than similarities. Technically speaking, both use different operating systems which allows them to different things. Pages will allow you to sync document through iCloud across iOS devices and Macs. Word can't. Pages can also read and write word formatted documents. Word will not allow you to read Pages. These are just a few of the basic differences between the two. 

The iPad will host the iOS Pages program and allow you to do most of the same functions in Pages on the iPad that you can do on a computer. There may be less features to choose from, but it will work much the same. Word will not work on an iPad unless you purchase separate apps for doing so. Using Pages from the iPad will allow you to share the document you created easily with other devices. 

iThought

iThought was an interesting tool. I like the idea of easily creating brainstorming activities in the classroom. This tool would allow the teacher to do it with the students as a whole or the students could use it individually on iPads. Brainstorming is a great tool when doing group projects, writing assignments, or even individual studies. Students could easily create graphic organizers to organize their thoughts, create outlines, and define what they need to do to finish their assigned tasks. It could also be used for note taking by the students or just for the teacher to create a list of things to get accomplished. I can see multiple uses for this product.

Safari vs. Rover

When comparing Safari and Rover, I prefer Safari. Safari is a web browser that is so easy to use and one can use it with little pre instruction. I really saw no advantage to using Rover except that it allows you to use flash based products. Safari has many of the same tools and is pretty self explainatory when it comes to use. Safari seems much faster and can meet more quality expectations than Rover.