Last week I met with our blue ribbon app selection committee.  These individuals were issued iPad 2s  in advance of our order of “new” iPads for the entire staff.  Our pioneers explored a wide-range of apps which might be pre-loaded on our staff and student iPads.  Since the seventy new staff iPads will soon arrive, we need to pin down our basic starter set.  Teachers from art, science, religious studies, health, and social studies have contributed to the selection.  Our IT Director and our Associate Principal/Academic Affairs also contributed

Here are the finalists.  Your feedback is still (and will continue to be) very welcome:

 

Animation Creator– With simple, yet powerful drawing tools, layers, shake to undo, color palettes, color sliders, and easy to use frame management. http://bit.ly/GO8wrC

 

ArtRage– A stylish, intuitive painting and drawing package that makes it easy to produce natural looking artwork on your iPad. http://bit.ly/GIcqGr

 

Avid Studio (or iMovie?)– an easy-to-use app that enables you to edit video, audio, and photos at the speed of your creativity. http://bit.ly/GGvFz7

 

Calculator+– designed with simplicity, usability  http://bit.ly/GPimr8 

 

CloudOn– lets you view, edit, and create Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents on your tablet, which can then be saved directly to your Dropbox. http://bit.ly/zzlBu7

 

Dragon Dictation– voice recognition application that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text or email messages.  http://bit.ly/GHLDTv

 

Dropbox– Simple to use and extremely useful, this file synchronization app will keep all of your files in step.  http://bit.ly/GGPtxu

 

EMD PTE– a new education app which provides teachers and students extensive information about the periodic table of the elements. http://bit.ly/GGQENt

 

Evernote– helps you remember everything across all of the devices you use. Makes these notes completely searchable.  http://intel.ly/GGbhL8

 

Flipboard– Aggregates news, images, video, social networking updates, and shared links in a magazine-style layouts.  http://bit.ly/GJvL7g

 

Gmail– brings Gmail “push notifications” to iPad meaning that you can be notified the moment a new message hits the Gmail servers.  http://huff.to/GN1ruO

 

Google– presents you with big, colorful links to several Google services, including Calendar, Docs, Google+, Picasa, YouTube and Google Books. http://ti.me/GGbuP9 

 

iAnnotate– “go-to app” for taking notes on lecture slides, annotating important business documents, revising screenplays, grading papers.  http://bit.ly/GIm1gs 

 

iPhoto– really powerful image manipulation tools here and yet Apple has made them simple to use thanks to instinctive touchscreen controls. http://tgr.ph/GGFSeW 

 

iTunesU– gives access to complete courses from leading universities and other schools — plus the world’s largest digital catalog of free education content.  http://bit.ly/GGibQz 

 

Keynote– Keynote allows you to create, edit, and share multimedia presentations with graphics, animations, and charts.  http://bit.ly/GI8O0F 

 

Kindle– gives users the ability to read Kindle books, newspapers, magazines, textbooks and PDFs on a beautiful, easy-to-use interface. http://bit.ly/GGOH8T 

 

LanSchool– allows teachers to manage computer activities in the classroom from Apple’s new device.  http://bit.ly/GH1e7f 

 

Noteshelf– Noteshelf is the handwriting note taker that features super natural digital ink. Export your notes to Evernote or Dropbox.  

 

OneNote– Create searchable notes with text, pictures and bullets. Then keep your notes in sync using free Microsoft SkyDrive.  http://bit.ly/GFKnCO 

 

Pages– Create, edit, and view documents wherever you are. Pages works with iCloud and looks brilliant on Retina display. http://bit.ly/GHvnag 

 

PowerTeacher — Is designed to integrate with Pearson’s student information system, PowerSchool. http://bit.ly/GMQdX6

 

Prezi Viewer– View and present your prezis anywhere with simple, intuitive multitouch gestures. http://prezi.com/ipad/

 

Pulse News Reader– An RSS client that displays your feeds in a simple grid configuration that scrolls horizontally and vertically.  http://zd.net/GRu4Tt 

 

ShowMe– ShowMe allows you to record voice-over whiteboard tutorials and share them online. Extremely easy to use.  

Wolfram Alpha–   Alpha is a long-term project to make every bit of systematic knowledge available and, more importantly, computable. http://macw.us/GHTi4V

 

Word Web Dictionary– fast searching, spelling suggestions, definitions, usage examples, synonyms, related words.  http://bit.ly/GOdreM