Having used the iPad since launch, giving up my gorgeous Dell XPS laptop that was previously in operating my Digital Games Studies subject, I’m looking at creating a starting a blog/wiki/page on information regarding the best practices for Teaching and Research with the Ipad. The title CleanSlate is a pun, on what I consider to be the major problem with haptic (touch) interfaces for mobile devices: fingerprints. For the sweaty handed and touch typists ( less so for the one-finger typists)  the iPad accumulates fingerprints, dust and grot at an amazing rate.

The title, CleanSlate, is also a playful dig at reviews and articles like this by Alan Kohler at the ABC online news portal The Drum. My favourite response to the obvious statement that the iPad isn’t a laptop replacement from the comments: “iPad is fine. You’re holding it wrong.” There are some pretty compelling reasons for and against the Ipad, but I want to focus on its application for Research and Teaching. I see a lot of scope to talk/research/advise about usage, management and other related approaches for the iPad, and other mobile devices. The title reflects my approach to the mobility of devices, that requires us to continue rethink our practice – the layering of old habits, new environments, and discovering for ourselves what works, a mode or type of embedded experiential learning.