Overcoming a Lack of Flash

One of the biggest challenges I have had to overcome with using iPads in the library is the lack of Flash. This is particularly annoying because the eTextbooks we use require Flash to access them. How frustrating it has been to hand students log in information, but tell them they have to use the computers to access the books.

Thankfully, this summer I discovered the Rover App for iPad. Rover is a web browser that specifically designed for K-12 education to give access to materials that were previously unavailable on the iPad, this includes resources like educational Flash based movies and games. Rover uses the iSwifter platform to run Flash on a web server. It has built in cloud based web filtering to ensure that what students access using the app is appropriate and it even comes with some built in content for elementary, middle and high school.

It runs a little slowly, but that is to be expected when trying to stream Flash content. The best part is that it is FREE!

I will be sure to install Rover on my library iPads so that when I hand out log in information for our textbooks, I can also hand out iPads so that students can work comfortably at tables.
Rover opens so many doors for educational uses of iPads, and I can't wait to introduce it to my students!