iPad for e-learning

[skippybosco]

With the announcement of the Apple iPad yesterday there are companies such as Inkling already spinning up to provide a content e-learning platform for the device (and its smaller iPhone and iTouch siblings).

There was talk in the past of an iPhone app for eFront. How does this change the direction of that app given a larger screen to work with?

To the community, would you be interested in an iPhone / iPad application that provides a device friendly experience for your students? What would you want to see it include?

To the development team, from your previous efforts/thoughts, would all of the content be completely web based or are you envisioning support for offline interaction of eFront content?

[shalb]

I do not like to promote the Apple devices, as the rights management is too restricted.

[skippybosco]

Certainly Movies and TV shows purchased do have protections in place, although I wonder how much of that is Apple versus the content providers themselves?

I distribute content via the iTunes as unprotected MP3 files today for example via a protected podcast.

The new iPad will support ePub, the open source format, which while it allows for DRM you can produce content using it that is not protected.

[alphonse]

There are also many alternatives based on free software to replace the IPAD, for a price much more reasonable, and in general with USB ports, VGA, support flash ..

[skippybosco]

I do agree that instead of targeting a specific device (ie. an Apple Store App) that a vendor agnostic tablet based theme for eFront is appropriate. One that can take advantage of the larger mobile screen while accommodating for touch screen with larger input controls (buttons, etc). Potentially even making use of some of the HTML5 advances such as offline execution and storage for a truly mobile learning platform.