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"Quietly and almost covertly, Apple's iPad has become a common tool in every realm of professional design. Fashion designers sketch on it, designers collect and curate ideas using it, digital artists paint with it in stunning realism, and architects even prepare 3D models before going to production all from the 9.7″ screen. The device is a near ubiquitous sight inside studios, design shops, and most noticeably at trade shows, an ideal compromise when the pocketability of the smartphone is too little and a laptop is just too large. For a demographic regularly relying upon composing, showing, and sharing projects, the iPad is Goldilocks perfect. Here are several of our favorite iPad apps for creatives with content creation and collaboration in mind."

""When I have a camera in my hand, I pay closer attention," she tells me. I feel the same way. I've written about using photos to document learning before. The process is as efficient as it is powerful, particularly for those who keep a cell phone tucked into their pockets most days. Begin by thinking about the most critical moves learners might make in a given period of time, make sure your phone is charged and easily accessible, and start shooting your data. When you're finished, these four tools can help you curate, share, and analyze the evidence you gather. Be sure to invite company. Accessing other voices will deepen your perspective and help you develop insights you may not have otherwise. This enriches data analysis."

Teachers spend out-of-pocket money each year for their classes and this can really add up. To help reduce those costs and enhance your classroom, take advantage of the following ways to get free stuff. From audio books to activity kits to free software, you will find something in this list that you can use with your students.

Podcast

"The world's first Laser Pico Projector lets you turn up the visual volume on your photos, movies, presentations and more. " And it's pocket sized!

"s mentioned in last week's post, Affordable ISTE 2011, I attend a lot of conferences. I always bring my laptop, but when I'm on the road my mobile devises are indispensible. My cell phone (an iPhone 3) is usually stuffed in my back pocket and I carry my iPad around in my small conference bag. At most conferences, I leave my laptop in my hotel room and use it at night to answer lengthy emails and maybe write a blog post or two. "

"Here's an interesting concept for a case meant to make the iPad usable for blind and visually impaired customers. The Omnifer almost covers the iPad completely, save for a small portion of the screen, and adds raised Braille buttons. What's really cool is that the Omnifer is more than Braille buttons slapped onto a case. Instead, gas stored inside the case raises and lowers the Braille characters, making different ones available, depending on what's on the iPad's screen. The gas pockets are filled with a chemical that expands when exposed to light. The portion of the screen beneath the buttons will light up as needed to raise the proper characters. In this way, a user could "stream" text for reading via Braille."

Record up to five memories of your day and make them memorable forever. Memiary is the weightless pocket diary. Great presentation on using Memiary as a learning tool. Use Wordle to examne the data recorded.

"There are almost as many Wikipedia-based apps as there are articles in Wikipedia. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but there are tons of apps that help put everyone's favorite online source of data in your pocket"

"The cameras on iPhones and Android phones (some of them, anyway) are pretty good. But sometimes we need a little more, like a way to get rid of that dreaded red-eye, crop out a nemesis, or splash some funky filters onto an otherwise mundane lunch. Or perhaps we're looking to get more out of the cameras in our pocket, nabbing DSLR-lite tools or turning a clunker into something usable. Whatever the case, chances are there's an app out there for you -- here are a few of my favorites."

"2014 is just waking up and its house is trashed. There are champagne stains on the carpet, and its iPhone is nowhere to be found. Yikes. If you've followed in the New Year's footsteps and similarly misplaced your pricey pocket computer, there are a few things you can do to find it and prevent an unfortunate instance from ever happening again."

"Imagine a world where resources were limited to what was found in the classroom or the school closet known as the "Curriculum Materials Room." Picture a world where students wrote letters with pen and paper to communicate with other students and adults outside of the building. Due to postage costs, the teacher either sent the letters in bulk or paid for stamps out of his or her own pocket. Can you recall a time when student interests like skateboarding or video were never used as part of learning curriculum because the tools needed were either too expensive or not yet conceptualized? Do you remember a time when non-traditional learners struggled, and absenteeism meant a high likelihood of students doing poorly in school, and possibly having to retake the course?"

"A quality five-minute movie project will suck weeks away from your class time, if done right. Then again, with the right technology--a coupla iPads, apps, and Web 2.0 accounts for example--a decent 30-second video can be churned out in a class period often with just the technology half your kids carry in their pockets. There are three basic categories of movie project: basic non-edited, edited nonscripted, and scripted edited. that more or less align with different levels of assessment: practice, formative, and summative. The products of these project types are also suited to different audiences: self, teacher/peers, public. Since Christmas came in July, and I now have my very own set of 10 class iPads, I've selected an iPad app to focus on for each movie making level."