iPad Pro IPP 12.9 for teachers?

[kis]

Google is just pointless. Everything about it is pointless. Trying to get rid of Google services one at a time.



Tried Surface devices (several gens), own two Windows tablets, and RDP to Windows 10 from iPad pretty much turns it into one. In a nutshell - they're ****. There's something to be said for having the best of both world - and the Surface/wintabs in general are the exact opposite; the worst of both worlds. Crappy battery life, bad hardware, and neither good as computers nor tablets. I can accept certain behavior from my cheap 7" Windows tablet or my iPad remote controlling a Windows computer, but the scary thing is that a Surface is basically the same experience as that.

Can't agree on the Google thing - it's the only service that allows you to have a personalized domain with aliases (that you can actually send emails from , multiple domains etc. Been using Google Apps for years. I believe all cloud services suck, but I wouldn't know what to switch to from Google Apps. I tried iCloud, but iCloud Drive has been a terrible experience (just wouldn't sync my files reliably), don't really trust Microsoft.

As for Windows 10: have to agree. I've never had decent Windows hardware. All the way back to Windows 95, hardware sucked. Software has always been usable, but bland and uninspiring. Definitely not a fan. The thing is just that I've heard a lot of good things about the SP4

 

[Cptnodegard]

I too use Google, but doesn't mean I like Google.

I can add to this convo that 12.9" Pro's full size split view apps is probably one of the biggest features ever for me VS my old iPad Air 2.

As for workflow, I can also add that I use PDF forms a lot - a feature of the PDF format. I generally make stuff in Word, save as PDF, and then add PDF forms to the PDF either in Windows or on my iPad. I use them for everything - from taking attendance when I'm substituting to grading hand-ins and oral presentations, to making work booklets.

 

[kis]

I too use Google, but doesn't mean I like Google.

I can add to this convo that 12.9" Pro's full size split view apps is probably one of the biggest features ever for me VS my old iPad Air 2.

As for workflow, I can also add that I use PDF forms a lot - a feature of the PDF format. I generally make stuff in Word, save as PDF, and then add PDF forms to the PDF either in Windows or on my iPad. I use them for everything - from taking attendance when I'm substituting to grading hand-ins and oral presentations, to making work booklets.

Oh I definitely don't like Google - for me it's just the cloud service that sucks least, but that's a matter of personal preference.

What PDF software do you use? I'd love to use PDF forms more often, but Acrobat is very expensive

 

[Cptnodegard]

What PDF software do you use? I'd love to use PDF forms more often, but Acrobat is very expensive

On Windows, NitroPDF. On iOS, PDF Office - but be warned that it's expensive, not optimized for the 12.9, and made by Readdle, so don't expect them to do anything major with it for the next 11 years.

 

[Abazigal]

On Windows, NitroPDF. On iOS, PDF Office - but be warned that it's expensive, not optimized for the 12.9, and made by Readdle, so don't expect them to do anything major with it for the next 11 years.

PDF Office only seems worth the money if you really need a PDF editing tool on your iPad. If I already own the other Readdle apps (PDF expert, scanner pro, PDF converter), any reason to use this app?

I signed up for the first year, but decided not to renew the subscription because I just didn't use it all that much.

 

[Cptnodegard]

any reason to use this app?.

Creating PDF forms. I use it a ton, but only for that.

I would advise looking for PC side software to do the same instead though, for the simple reason Readdle doesn't deserve the money they charge for PDF Office. Between the lack of iPad Pro resolution support, no updates since september, and the complete lack of integration with their other apps, it's just overall a bad, typically Readdle app that does one thing well and a whole lot else really badly.

 

[Abazigal]

Creating PDF forms. I use it a ton, but only for that.

I would advise looking for PC side software to do the same instead though, for the simple reason Readdle doesn't deserve the money they charge for PDF Office. Between the lack of iPad Pro resolution support, no updates since september, and the complete lack of integration with their other apps, it's just overall a bad, typically Readdle app that does one thing well and a whole lot else really badly.

I agree that it's sad that PDF office hasn't been updated in a while, but your criticism of them seems a tad harsh. I use scanner pro because I find that it is still the best scanner app in terms of scanning quality by far, and its photo extension is great for cropping photos.

Spark is also a great, if somewhat overrated email app. By and large, I do like their apps. They are good at what they do.

 

[Cptnodegard]

I agree that it's sad that PDF office hasn't been updated in a while, but your criticism of them seems a tad harsh.

I once reported a critical bug to them while an update to PDF Office/Documents was in beta. The bug made it so PDFs created with a certain standard (used by enterprise level PDF software on computers) lost text selection, and thus every feature tied to it. The bug was introduced - i.e. didn't exist, then popped up in a beta.

They pushed the app to live anyways, labeling it as a bug fix. No warning was issued about the bug they by then had made a conscious choice to ignore. They emailed me several times over the months after that saying they had fixed it, which they had not, despite me having given them a test file in said format - the same file I used to check if they had indeed fixed it.

9 months later they finally issued a fix that actually solved it, allowing me to update the release version of the app for the first time in all that time.

If only intentionally introducing a bug affecting certain business users, hiding it from people, and not fixing it for 9 months was the only issue I had with them, but it's only the tip of the iceberg.

 

[Abazigal]

I once reported a critical bug to them while an update to PDF Office/Documents was in beta. The bug made it so PDFs created with a certain standard (used by enterprise level PDF software on computers) lost text selection, and thus every feature tied to it. The bug was introduced - i.e. didn't exist, then popped up in a beta.

They pushed the app to live anyways, labeling it as a bug fix. No warning was issued about the bug they by then had made a conscious choice to ignore. They emailed me several times over the months after that saying they had fixed it, which they had not, despite me having given them a test file in said format - the same file I used to check if they had indeed fixed it.

9 months later they finally issued a fix that actually solved it, allowing me to update the release version of the app for the first time in all that time.

If only intentionally introducing a bug affecting certain business users, hiding it from people, and not fixing it for 9 months was the only issue I had with them, but it's only the tip of the iceberg.

Fair enough. I can't say I have had issues with their software, but perhaps my needs simply haven't been as rigorous as yours.

 

[AlliFlowers]

Only if you add the company Office 365 account, which, so far, I've managed to avoid. Our school seems to think that you're available 24-7 as soon as you've joined the 365 / Borg collective

They don't already think you're available 24/7? Dang! I got called back to school at 4 yesterday, after leaving at 3:15. Then my principal called me for advice at 6:30. Sharepoint nothing. LOL!

As for .PDF files, why is everyone not just using the free Acrobat app?

 

[Cptnodegard]

Fair enough. I can't say I have had issues with their software, but perhaps my needs simply haven't been as rigorous as yours.

They make software there isn't an equivalent of and prioritize their time to maximize the bottom line, which means that screwing over a few people for the sake of that App Store Editor's Choice banner doesn't matter to them. As long as you're part of the majority you're golden - just hope that doesn't change.

We can always hope the upcoming major GoodReader update manages to catch up in terms of features, but it's unlikely.

 

[kis]

I actually went out and bought an iPad Pro 12.9" last night but made sure I could return it in case. Been tinkering with it ever since and have to say that so far, I'm impressed with the hardware and the (Logitech) keyboard. I already type considerably faster on it than on the Macbook. The keys are extremely comfortable.

Unfortunately, I found an inssue that I might not be able to live with (and that I should have realized before I bought it by trying it out on the Air 2): the inability to have more than one instance of Word (or any other app) side-by-side. I'd say pretty much everyone copies text to and from Word documents on a regular basis - I just need this to work. A somewhat limited work-around is to have the Word app running on one side and Word Online in Safari on the other side. That at least gives me two instances, but it takes me an average of 3 minutes to set this up (I actually timed it) every time and that's not acceptable, especially if I need to switch between documents in between.

That's the biggest issue so far - the file situation has somewhat been sorted by using OneDrive instead of Google Drive. I simply copied my files over and that was it. Now I just get sporadic error messages whenever the file picker tries to access OneDrive

 

[Night Spring]

A somewhat limited work-around is to have the Word app running on one side and Word Online in Safari on the other side. That at least gives me two instances, but it takes me an average of 3 minutes to set this up (I actually timed it) every time and that's not acceptable, especially if I need to switch between documents in between.

Do you need to edit both documents? If you are just copying in one direction, then you could try opening the document you are copying from in the OneDrive app. (I think there was a setting somewhere to prevent OneDrive from automatically opening the document in Word) Maybe that might be faster?

 

[kis]

Do you need to edit both documents? If you are just copying in one direction, then you could try opening the document you are copying from in the OneDrive app. (I think there was a setting somewhere to prevent OneDrive from automatically opening the document in Word) Maybe that might be faster?

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

It's a pity: OneDrive really sucks (especially the absence of favorites, it takes me forever navigating sub-folder to find my stuff - and I have to do that over and over again) in terms of file organization. Google Drive is much better (being able to star stuff etc.), but GD is abysmal when it comes to editing files.

 

[Cptnodegard]

Unfortunately, I found an inssue that I might not be able to live with e

Just open the document in two different apps. In Word you could access the file directly from Dropbox - the other instance from e.g. Documents (which is what I sync all files to). Pages is another option for proper editing x2, and there are a hundred other apps that can quickly open Word files.

 

[Hevelius]

I used a workaround of opening one file in Office 365 Online in Safari and the other in the Word app when I wanted to see 2 docs side by side.
However, the clipboard is different for the 2 apps - one is the normal iOS clipboard and the other is the interposed clipboard in 365 online so I couldn't copy from the Word app to the online version.

Has anyone had any joy doing this with a different combo of apps?

 

[Night Spring]

it takes me forever navigating sub-folder to find my stuff -

Why navigate? Use the search function. I just tried it, it's pretty fast.

 

[kis]

Why navigate? Use the search function. I just tried it, it's pretty fast.

If I knew the exact file title, I'd due that. Unfortunately, I have about 8000 files in my work folders, many of them with similar contents for different classes, so finding stuff through search is close to impossible for me

 

[Cptnodegard]

I have no trouble navigating my files, 5400 in total. In Dropbox I have one folder for each year, then each class, then topic, then files or more sub-folders. On same level as years I have a teaching resources folder with "timeless" files, i.e. stuff I can reuse between classes and years. New creations live in the folder of the class I made it for until the occasional cleanup day when I move stuff to the appropriate subfolder (based on topic) in the teaching resources folder.

Then, in Documents, I set up syncing of folders in a way that dissolves the original structure and puts teaching resources and each class folder for the current year on the same level, along with folders for previous years, putting e.g. Class X in the root of Documents rather than inside Teaching->2015.

Anything that isn't recent enough for me to know where it is will be inside teaching resources, in logical folders there.

 

[whg]

Reading through this thread reminded me a little bit of Don Quijote fighting the Windmills. I have a Macbook 12" (1.2GHz with 512 GB SSD) and never encountered the WiFi problems mentioned (at home, at work, in the train tethered to my iPhone, in hotels etc.). I can easily run Windows 10 in a Parallels VM on the Macbook, where I have installed Office 2013, Visual Studio 2013, Matlab 2016a among others. On the Mac side I use Office 2011, Matlab 2016a, Lightroom, Safari, Xcode etc. I have never encountered any severe performance problems. In fact, the Macbook is faster than the Macbook Air 11" i5 (mid 2013) it replaced.

The only thing I can understand if one doesn't like it is the new keyboard. I still prefer the keyboard on my Macbook Pro 15" (retina 2012), but for traveling I can accept the compromise. If the keyboard is a real issue for somebody, I would really suggest to use a Macbook Air or Pro 13" (I would probably take the Air). Another advantage of the Air or Pro is having all the ports, not to forget the Magsafe power connector and the long battery life.

I certainly couldn't use the iPad for work (no Matlab, no Visual Studio etc). I also own the iPad Pro 12.9" but only use it for recreational stuff until Apple makes a real OS for it. If I could have only one computer I would try out the Surface Pro 4 for sure, hoping that the major problems it seems to have will be fixed by Microsoft in the near future.

 

[Cptnodegard]

I would try out the Surface Pro 4 for sure, hoping that the major problems it seems to have will be fixed by Microsoft in the near future.

I had a Viliv S5 once. UMPC that originally came with Windows XP back in 2009.

The thing is, some of the issues with the Surface or other W10 wintabs today are the same I had with the Viliv S5 back then. No matter how much you beat on Windows to make it fit a multi role scenario, it won't be as good as something custom made for one role. History has proven this time after time - Symbian S60, Blackberry OS, Windows Mobile, and Windows proper.

 

[Night Spring]

I just noticed Apple has this page up with information about using iPad in classroom:
http://www.apple.com/education/teacher-inspiration/

Of course, they present only the advantages and don't mention / gloss over the disadvantages, but I thought it could be informative if you read it with a grain of salt.

 

[Cptnodegard]

Of course, they present only the advantages and don't mention / gloss over the disadvantages, but I thought it could be informative if you read it with a grain of salt.

The issue I have with Apple's education endeavors is that it always assume a 1:1 iPad program is in place. My reality, and the reality of many, is using my own personal iPad that I paid for out of my own pocket to work in an environment where everyone else (students and colleagues) use Windows machines - and bad ones at that. I actually print more things on paper now than I used to because the students' 720p computers are borderline useless for displaying anything.

Tools like iBooks Author and iBooks would be very nice had it been multi platform.

 

[RickTaylor]

I bought a 12.9" iPad pro and uss it with Goodnotes 4 as a virtual white board. It works great. The good thing about Goodnotes is that you can set it up so that the students don't see the user interface elements you work with on the big screen. So you can scroll over a page and blow something up to allow you to write more clearly, and all the while the students will only see the full page. And of course when the lecture is over, I can make the notes available to students in pdf format.

I tried a Lenovo laptop with an active pen beforehand, but my handwriting looked better using the iPad.

 

[AlliFlowers]

It isn't even so much the working with students with PCs as the idea that every student has something - anything. We are a Title I school, and will likely never be a 1:1 school. I've managed to get some tablets for classroom use to supplement the cell phones they have, but certainly can't afford even old iPads, so I get Androids for classroom use.

Apple needs to help classrooms if they want us to adopt them.

The issue I have with Apple's education endeavors is that it always assume a 1:1 iPad program is in place. My reality, and the reality of many, is using my own personal iPad that I paid for out of my own pocket to work in an environment where everyone else (students and colleagues) use Windows machines - and bad ones at that. I actually print more things on paper now than I used to because the students' 720p computers are borderline useless for displaying anything.

Tools like iBooks Author and iBooks would be very nice had it been multi platform.