"Although the Open Education Resources (OER) movement began almost a decade ago, the Australian higher education sector seems to still be resisting this movement. This project aims to develop a "Feasibility Protocol" to enable and facilitate the adoption, use and management of OERs for learning and teaching within higher education (HE) institutions in Australia. This project will also explore how OERs will enhance teaching and learning, enable and widen participation for key social inclusion targets in higher education, promote lifelong learning and bridge the gap between non-formal, informal and formal learning in Australia. This is very important for the development of Australian education nationally and internationally because it will support educational institutions that are currently limited by the lack of guidance regarding OERs, speed up the process of appropriate adoption of OERs and provide additional venues for universities to pursue innovative strategies to better support current students, attract new ones and be internationally recognised and competitive."
I read on it, a lot. Instapaper is great for saving articles and blog posts for later reading. My iPad is also loaded with PDF's related to my teaching and research, which I often take notes on, using iAnnotate
Add a Bluetooth keyboard, and I have an incredibly lightweight writing machine with enough battery power to last me all day long. And to those critics who argue that you can't create media on the iPad, I suggest they spend some time with the new GarageBand app
traveling or doing any light work for school or work
reading news to keeping up with social networks to blogging to light photo-editing work and uploading (with Adobe Photoshop and Flickr), and, of course, media watching and casual game playing.
LogMeIn Ignition
read the things that I save to Read It Later
read longer scholarly articles using either iAnnotate or GoodReader
take it with me to all my meetings, where it works as a great tool for taking quick notes (using Plaintext, everything gets synced to Dropbox), checking relevant Web sites, or responding to Exchange-powered meeting invitations
small Bluetooth keyboard is simple and adds up to a viable laptop replacement
I can handle classroom management (tracking attendance and calculating student grades) using the "attendance" and "numbers" applications. I can update course blogs (I use WordPress) quickly and easily. I can also respond to student work by using Dropbox and iAnnotate. Then, with a simple e-mail program (Gmail, for instance), I am able to send graded work back to students.
convenient note-taking device
On the iPad, I use Evernote (though any of several text editors would work as well), and so my notes are not only more readable, but they are automatically synced anywhere I might need them. That's nice. The reading/media-consumption aspects of the iPad were not really a surprise, but they've certainly been delightful.
I use Pages and Google Docs a lot.
for reading RSS/Twitter feeds and Web browsing. When I head out, if I'm not up for carrying the laptop, the iPad usually makes the cut.
I have all my files accessible via Dropbox (over Wi-Fi) or a significant percentage of my PDF's synced to it via DevonThink To Go (but I usually read any files in GoodReade
iTeleport for controlling computers remotely (
Instapaper has all those Web articles I never got around to reading