What to do with the school-owned iPod touch?
May 9, 2008
Here’s me asking for help…
I found out the other day that my school bought an 8GB iPod Touch a few months ago. They had bought it with the intention of seeing whether this kind of wireless, handheld device had any serious implications for education. They’ve not seen any yet, so they gave it to me to try.
I’m sure there are loads of posts about this already, but I’d love to hear the best ways to use this in a classroom setting, my classroom to be specific.
So what do you think? How does this bad boy fit into a classroom routine?
NB: I’m not going to jailbreak it, so let’s stick with stuff that’s on the level.
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May 9th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Hoping to post about this soon, but there is growing use of mobile video (iPod/iTouch/etc) as a way of having instant access to videos that model the correct behavior for autistic students and others. Growing research behind it!
My test school this year had great success. We’re putting it into 10 teachers’ hands next year.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Hi Chris,
Have a look at this category list to get you started:
http://joedale.typepad.com/integrating_ict_into_the_/ipods/index.html
Best wishes
Joe
May 9th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Hey, Chris. Just read the end of your post after sending my tweet. I still think you should jailbreak it, particularly if you’re the guy charged with understanding its potential. It’s amazingly easy and risk free. And once you do it, you’ll realize it’s the most powerful computer you own.
http://edtechlife.com/?p=1991
For web based apps you can use regardless, start with the list at Apple: http://www.apple.com/webapps/
Oh, and don’t miss PocketTweets: http://www.tuaw.com/2007/07/09/pockettweets-twitter-for-iphone/
May 9th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
IF it’s easy to restore back to a non-jailbroken state, then I can’t see any reason why you shouldn’t!
I play various types of music in my classroom a lot. Have you considered trying to use it to remote control iTunes? Apparently it can be done…
May 9th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Chris,
There are NO uses for it public or private education. Your best option, at this point, is to immediately send it to me.
I’m just sayin’….
May 10th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Chris,
I was awarded a $6,000 grant last year to obtain handheld computers with keyboards. Although not the same as the Ipod touch, I believe there are similarities that you might find helpful. The website that got me started was http://www.k12handhelds.com/
Off the top of my head:
I bet you can use keyboards with the ipod.
record data from science experiments
watch teacher prepared slideshows
united streaming and teacher tube videos
vodcasts related to your instruction
student created vodcasts
student photos- photo scavenger hunt for concepts you are teaching
Hmmm wonder if you can sync info from one ipod to another? (files etc.)
May 16th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Chris,
I was considering buying 10 for a classroom where the teacher already has laptops for each student and does an already excellent job using a variety of technologies… to teach Spanish. I ultimately decided against it until the iPhone software 2.0 debuts later this summer. For us, it provided playback of podcasts/audio/video, and the obvious web experience. But since we already have iPods, and we can’t reasonably monitor what they pull up on the touches, we decided to wait it out. I hope you share what becomes of yours.
We’re considering purchasing some for princpals; it would be a nice handheld for accessing student data via our web-based Powerschool.
May 17th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
We have been testing these great wireless devices for about a year now. Our school uses FirstClass for the time being and it does a decent job linking to email. Contacts and calendar syncing is a bit more problematic. I blogged about this very topic in more detail.
http://antonioviva.com/2007/12/09/ipod-toucha-treo-killer
A general overview of our experience to date will be posted in a few weeks.