Tablets: Basics for Education

Keynote vs Powerpoint

Similarities:
1.  When working with both programs, a variety of presentation slides are available for use.  The designs vary, of course, but the idea of formatting is similar.  Themes, font choices, layouts, and captions are all visual features which are available on both programs.

2.  Both programs offer a variety of effects for transitions and animations within creating a presentation.  Special effects can be applied to individual objects, text, slides, and images.  Travel paths for visual effects can also be applied to the slides in both programs through either connecting by a straight line or drawing a complex pattern of connectivity.  Overall, the programs offer similar ideas in the area of visual effects.

3.  When presenting live presentations, both programs allow for similar capabilities.  Such features included on both devices include a timer (for the presenter to follow), presentation notes, and a preview of the following slide.



Differences:
1.  Powerpoint offers a variety of effects to apply to graphics on slides (such as 3D rotation and image filters).  Keynote does not offer such effects.  These graphic effects can apply to photos, shapes, font, and color.  When choosing an ascetically pleasing presentation, Keynote does not offer as much as Powerpoint.  

2.  For remote presentations, Powerpoint offers others who are not present for the presentation to view the slides and hear the presenter through accessing the Microsoft servers.  Keynote, on the other hand, does not offer this capability and relies on iChat to engage others in the presentation.

Concluding Remarks:
The iPad provides a user friendly way to access the aforementioned specs on both Powerpoint and Keynote.  However, it must be mentioned that the iPad apps do not offer all options whereas a desktop computer does.  Working on an iPad, Keynote's touchscreen interface is much better than Microsoft Powerpoint since Keynote is an Apple product made for Apple devices.  Another benefit of choosing Keynote for iPad is the meager cost of the app compared to Microsoft Powerpoint.

Box.net

When exploring box.net I uploaded a photo in my personal account.  This program would be beneficial for education purposes in that students can upload work and share their work with the teacher and vice versa.  The link to my account is https://app.box.com/s/1xursursxbg9n1f2hhjan2xk3v48vhkx.

iThought

I can see the potential of utilizing this mind mapping tool within the classroom setting in order to engage students and support schematic knowledge prior to teaching a new concept.  This could be utilized to brainstorm for writing prompts, organize student thoughts for science projects, and even to teach vocabulary units.  Due to the visually appealing options, this program provides a variety of ways to track mind mapping in an interesting way.

Safari and Rover

Similarities:
Both browsers allow individuals to search the internet for content.  In the education setting, students and teachers can utilize these search engines for gathering information for projects and presentations.
Differences:
Rover, created with the education setting in mind, has limitations based on what students can search and what comes up when browsing the internet.

Preferences:
As a future elementary school teacher, I believe Rover would be beneficial to use with my students in class so that content can be monitored (especially in the younger grades).  However, for my personal use, Safari is more beneficial in order to research without having censorships.  I see the positives and negatives of both programs and will utilize both search engines when most appropriate.