A few things you should know about the Android operating system:
1.) Google codes and maintains the Android operating system. It is "open source." This means other companies can use it on their devices and customize however they choose.2.) There are several versions of the Android operating system. See http://www.androidcentral.com/android-versions for a list and explanation of the different versions.
3.) Manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, etc... can decide which version of Android they want to deploy and on which devices of theirs. Many modify the Android operating system and app store or market to their own version. The manufacturers also decide when to release updates of the operating system and to which devices.
4.) The most current version of the Android Operating system is Jelly Bean. The newest version being worked on by Google right now is Kit Kat, no finish date has been set.5.) The Android market place where you purchase and download apps is open. Anyone can put an app in the market place. This is different from Apple which requires a $99/yr license to have an app in their store and they also do some filtering of what can be in the store. Knowing this should just make you more aware and careful when you purchase a new app.
One of our Chemistry faculty demonstrated her Samsung All Share Hub and explained how it works with both her Samsung phone and tablet to wirelessly stream apps to the in-room projector. If you want to know more about the device visit: Samsung's All Share product page. The device works very well and only requires the phone or tablet o be connected to the guest wi-fi. While this is a proprietary solution only for Samsung devices, it is a good example of an easy and reliable way to stream to the class room projectors. We will continue to research and explore different methods of accomplishing wireless streaming to the in room projectors with our devices.
Two apps we reviewed at this meeting were:
iAnnotate
iAnnotate turns your tablet into a world-class productivity tool for reading, marking up, and sharing PDF documents, Word/PowerPoint files, web pages and images. The iAnnotate app provides a ton of features for marking up a document, pen, stamps, highlighters, comments and more. You can also include audio comments.The app provides several options for bringing in documents that can be marked up. It fairly easy to get started and use right away. There is a slight learning curve because there are so many tools available in the app. One of our math faculty, Dawn, has been using the app successfully to mark up student submitted problems and return feedback as a pdf file. I have been using the app in our web fundamentals course to capture a student's web page and mark it up with feedback. I return it to the student as a pdf file.
iAnnotate: http://www.branchfire.com/iannotate/
Available for ipad at $9.99 (often discounted during teacher appreciation week)
Lite or demo version is currently available on Android for free. A full version will be coming soon.
Evernote
A note-taking tool that is so much more! A whole universe of add-ons, apps, and tools can be found at www.evernote.com. Creating a free account gives you access to an online note-taking tool. You can organize your notes by notebooks. You can search these notebooks and share these individual notes or notebooks through email. There are add-ons for all of the major browsers that allow you "clip" a whole web page, an image or paragraph of text to a note in your account. You can download software for both the mac and pc so you can easily access your notes and make new ones. There are also apps for all major mobile platforms. You can insert audio and video into your notes, record notes on a device that has a microphone and so much more. Evernote is the Swiss army knife for research, note-taking and collecting web-based resources. There are so many uses for it and the best feature of Evernote is that it works seamlessly across multiple devices and platforms without a hiccup.
Evernote provides several video tutorials for getting started: https://evernote.com/video/
Visit https://evernote.com/evernote/ and click the drop-down arrow next to "get evernote for windows" to see all of the options available for mobile and other platforms. Evernote is free. There is a premium version that gives you additional space and features. There are several accessories and tools that you can use with Evernote that available for purchase. Evernote has it's own marketplace because there are so many. Have fun exploring this tool.
Our October user's group will feature a brief overview of the new iOS7 and we'll look at whiteboard and recording apps for all platforms. Hope you can join us. If not, look for another blog post coming soon.
