It’s about time that digital learning took a prominent role in our schools, and what better name to endorse that initiative than the Federal Communications Commission? The FCC has rolled out a 70-page guide, called the Digital Textbook Playbook, that outlines the steps for a smooth transition to digital textbooks within the next five years.

If you consider the fact that technology-assisted learning has been shown to help students learn between 30 and 80 percent faster, this is a huge leap forward. However, funding for the initial roll-out represents the biggest impediment to nationwide adoption, despite a savings of $600 per student in the long-run. 

We’re hoping that this is just the beginning of complete adoption of iPads in schools nationwide. For now, it’s one step closer to faster learning with more intuitive, versatile learning tools, of which SyncPad is thrilled to be part of. 

Apple is making notable strides to innovate education by putting the iPad front and center. In a keynote presentation delivered last week by Sr. Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Philip Schiller, Apple unveiled the iBook 2 and iTunes U apps for the iPad. iBook 2 reinvents the classic textbook by providing interactive material that can be integrated into the curriculum, while the iTunes U app brings course material from schools worldwide to the hands of anyone who wants it, for free.

Students and teachers both agree that engagement in the classroom derives mainly from bridging the gap between technology and course material. We, like Apple, know that by arming students with new learning tools in the classroom that resemble their user experience outside of the classroom, mainly using devices for everything from research to collaboration to playing games, teachers are better able to capture their students’ interest. This is why we have always taken great care to work closely with educators to create a product that simulates real-life settings, yet is portable and interactive regardless of location. We understand the challenges faced in education and continue to enhance our product features to make the work of educators easier by helping students become more engaged and collaborative with a fun, familiar tool that they can use anywhere.

The iPad is no longer influencing education, but becoming an integral tool, as evidenced by its growing usage and relevance: there are now 1.5 million iPads used in education institutions, 1,000 iPads used in 1-to-1 programs and 20,000+ learning applications built specifically for the iPad. We applaud the achievements of leaders like Apple and are proud to support the cause towards the advancement of innovation in education. Join the cause by adopting SyncPad for your classroom today!

A nice breakdown of how much cost to create an entire iPad lab by Edudemic.

It’s great to see such adoption rate of iPads in schools and we are so proud to take part to this digital revolution in the educational space.

The other day we received this e-mail from one of our users:

I have used Air Sketch for classroom presentations for over the past year. I have a networking background, so I could always patch together something to make it work. My colleagues were always very interested, yet they couldn’t grasp the complicated network setup of 2 wifi adapters, ad-hoc network, etc. that I needed to get the other app to work on a complex campus network.

Your app is the perfect solution for instructors that want to present remotely over the campus network. Making the client app browser based means that this can be deployed without any approval or involvement by campus IT.

I look forward to the future enhancements. In the meantime, every iPad carrying instructor I know will be using SyncPad.

Alan Gandy, Instructional Technologist at Lone Star College

This is the type of email that inspires us to work even harder to provide our customers with the best remote whiteboard solution possible.

Thanks to our friends at ALS, Fifth Layer and SyncPad had a strong presence at BTC. Since 1983, BTC has been the only Italian trade show exclusively dedicated to events (events, meetings, conferences, conventions, incentive and business travel), the sector related totourism, marketing and communication.

As soon as we saw Google+ Hangouts, we immediately realized how SyncPad could be the perfect complement for it. That’s when we decided to build a Chrome and Safari extension that will allow all the participants of a video conference to easily connect to the same SyncPad room. 

Using the SyncPad extension is really easy, just click on the following links to download and install it:

Download SyncPad for Google+ (Safari extension)
Download SyncPad for Google+ (Chrome extension)

Next time you’ll start an Hangout you will see a blue SyncPad button. Clicking that button will open in a new window a SyncPad, common to all the participant of the same video conference.

Of course, in order to write in the SyncPad room you will still need (for now) a copy of SyncPad for iPad or iPhone, but it will make it easier for everyone to be on the same page. Just copy the room name on your device and you’ll be good to go.

We just released the 1.4 version of all our applications (SyncPad, SyncPad Reader, SyncPad for iPhone). 

In this version we finally added an algorithm that makes the lines you draw smoother, and we are sure you’ll love it. Please note that in order to use SyncPad you will have to update to this latest version because older ones aren’t compatible anymore with the old system.

Many people are using SyncPad during conferences as a way to engage the audience and interact with them. One of the most common problem organizing an event is maintaining the WIFI network reliable so that attendants can connect to internet and, in our case, use SyncPad without any problem. This is a list of tips that can help you with your network.

Here’s a nice iPad whiteboard for those of you (like me sometimes) who prefers sketching with a real marker. Too bad it doesn’t come with real-time sharing ;)