Apple’s cavalier approach to the use of online flash activities on their expensive iDevices robs learners of the opportunity to access thousands of high quality learning activities. This is especially hard to take because many of these activities are ideally suited for use on hand held devices with touch screens! After trying several less than satisfactory options over the past couple of years, I think I’ve now found a free app that does a pretty good job.

Rover makes it possible for online flash activities to run well on the iPad. I’ve tested Rover with some of my favourite flash sites, including Peep and the Big Wide World, Storybird, Starfall.com and BBC Bitesize. Everything I’ve tried has run well. For good measure, I even tried Hyuyndai Canada‘s website, which comes up in Safari on the iPad with “THIS CONTENT REQUIRES THE ADOBE FLASH PLAYER AND A BROWSER WITH JAVASCRIPT ENABLED”.  Hyundai’s website opened and functioned perfectly in Rover.

Rover functions by running the content of the website you select on its servers, and then streaming that content to your iPad. This is probably why there is an occasional very slight lag. I can’t help wondering, too, if this streaming might challenge a school’s broadband capacity if multiple iPads are using Rover simultaneously. Nevertheless, I have found it to be surprisingly effective on a single iPad.

Rover is listed under “Education” in the iTunes store, and its developers (iSwifter)describe it as a “free education app”.  In this regard, Rover is more than a browser app. It offers filtering on its server in an effort to ensure that learners do not access inappropriate content.

As well, Rover “features” sites such as Discovery Education, and includes a built-in “bookshelf” of flash activities that target K-12 learners. It is worth exploring this collection to discover options that may be of value.  This bookshelf, pictured below, is organized into Elementary, Middle School, and High School activities.