Not Living up to the Hype

I have a new therapy gadget.  It's suppose to do wonderful things for me and make my work easier.  So far, it's pretty much just taken up a bunch of time.  Not necessarily while I have children in my room; it's the "extra" time.
Yesterday I was ready to throw the thing across the room.  I had just about had it.  This was not making my life easier. 
Now that you're on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what this gadget is:  it's an iPad.  I seriously don't get all the apple hoopla.  The kids think it's really neat, and there are some neat things on it, but honestly, I prefer my Android Tablet.  The battery lasts just about the same, and I haven't had the problems with programs just shutting down like I do on the iPad.  The best thing:  my tablet was about 1/4 of the price of an iPad.  And the kids think it's just as neat.
We have an app on the iPad that has picture cards on it.  In theory, it's a pretty neat app:  you enter a child's name, choose what sound they're working on, choose the words they're going to work on; then they say the word and I click the check or the "x".  It's suppose to keep track of the data and tell me their percentage at the end of the session.  Then, it's suppose to save that data so I can use it as a comparison.  We're also suppose to have the capability of e-mailing the data to ourselves so we can print it out. Notice I said "suppose to".  Here are the problems:
1)  You can't e-mail the data if the wifi doesn't work any in the school except the library.
2)  When I add a student, the app closes.
3)  When I close out the session, it doesn't save the data if the student is working on the sentence level, and,
4)  Yesterday, every time I tried to swipe the screen for the next picture, the app closed and didn't save the data.
So, I went back to the old-fashioned way:  I got the picture cards out of my box and we used them.  I took data the way I normally do:  with a pencil and labels.  I sent a couple of messages to the developers, but haven't heard any kind of reply.
I really, really hate to be a complainer, but I'm wondering if the money spent on all this technology is really worth it?  Nothing, and I mean NOTHING can replace good, old fashioned interactions!

8 comments:

  1. How new is the app? One thing I've found with the ipad is new apps take a while to work out the kinks. There will be updates for a while and they do seem to eventually figure it out. However, I agree that nothing replaces good ole face to face. I was gonna say face time but now facebook has corrupted that word : )

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  2. Oh my goodness! That sounds incredibly frustrating and aggravating. I hope they work out the kinds sooner rather than later. Promise is great, but if it doesn't deliver it does absolutely zero good.

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  3. Hope you get the help you need from support soon.

    I have to wonder, with so many Android choices out there now, if the hype over Apple isn't overrated. I believe that if I were going to buy a tablet, it wouldn't be an iPad. Just my personal opinion. ;-)

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  4. Makes me think that paper and pencil aren't so bad after all. Hope you get things figured out.

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  5. I'm reading this on my ipad, which I love!!
    However, I have never used the app you're talking about. Just sayin...I think you're gonna love it once you get accustomed to it. (I hope. I hope.)

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  6. The husband has the original and the newer version of the Ipad. He thinks the newest one is better.
    Of course, I can't do a darn thing on either of them....not sure why. It's not intuitive enough for me...I need more guidance. :)I DO love my mac laptop....but I don't LOVE the ipad.

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  7. I am so sorry your having issues with it. Sounds like a good program if only it worked! I don't have anything by i.

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  8. That's maddening! Maybe there's something wrong with that iPad or it needs an update? I'd send it to your tech department.

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