An IB Evaluation Visit – Did the Kensington Keyboard fulfill its Promise?

So how does the iPAD hold up to three days of continuous notetaking during a continuous set of meetings – where not only are you the minute taker/important point taker but also the questioner. Add to this you have little time between each meeting to prepare yourself and often have to move from room to room to meet different groups – all with different conditions. Yes an almost impossible but enlightening challenge – and can technology help or hinder this?

Kensington Key Folio in Action 2

Kensington Key Folio in Action 2

Well the obvious answer is help – and after my last IB Evaluation visit where I felt very much the digital immigrant relying on a moleskin notebook with pen and pencil to write all my notes. Only to find that night when reading through my notes not being able to read most of my own writing. The problem has always been that using a laptop however small – in any sort of meeting ends up with that feeling of a barrier between interviewer and interviewee/s. And my preference is always to have no barrier rather than an easier notetaking method. However if I could have both then it would make the meetings and then the feedback much more efficient.

So when the iPAD presented itself with added keyboard peripheral – I decided to see how effective it would be in this situation and then would have a better understanding if it would then be able to be used in a similar way within the classroom?

The first question is obviously why the keyboard when you have a touch screen interface and on screen keyboard? Well as many will know – extended typing on an onscreen keypad however good you have become at the tapping is never going to be as quick or accurate as that of a normal QWERTY keyboard. So maybe the combination of the two would be an excellent method of combining speed and usability alongside portability and on the move quick notes.

Kensington Keyboard

Kensington Keyboard

So how did it work you ask? Well in many ways well – setting up the link through bluetooth was very easy and then typing into my favourite Daily Notes application was excellent. The rubber keyboard is definitely not the best – but perfectly suitable for the job in hand.

But as with everything there is always a number of downsides which I will explain below:-

* While typing the keyboard had the habit of dropping out – as the bluetooth connection for whatever reason decided to stop working correctly. In the middle of a typing session and mid interview I can say this is not pleasant and I did become very adept at retyping and connecting but I would imagine for many this would be off putting.

* The reason the iPAD is the iPAD is because it is not a laptop – hhmmmm? What I mean by this is the Kensington KeyFolio although not overly cumbersome does make the iPAD become much thicker and less agile to handle – and especially when flipping the keyboard around to use the touchscreen.

* The stand is a little shall we say difficult to get at the correct angle with only one main viewing angle really allowed – I believe more thought would need to be put into its design long term to give it more flexibility.

So the ultimate verdict – will I use it again. Simply the answer is yes – whatever the downsides the effectiveness and reasonable usability meant it made my notes very effective. I will be off to the Hague for the IB Conference this next weekend – so undoubtedly will use again and hopefully you will be seeing the immediate outcomes of my notes to the number of IB / iPAD sessions that I will be attending.

NOTE – after this article I have researching and Kensington has updated the keyboard although supposedly the quality of the case might have been reduced?

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