March 2006 — Features
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In iPod We Trust
Not too far away, Mike Albert is a history teacher at South Gate Middle School in South Gate, CA. “For my students, iPods represent the gold medal of ‘stuff,’” he says, “and they’re within reach for most of them, either realistically or on their wish lists,” he says.
Katherine Hallissy Ayala, head of Computer Education at The Brearley School in New York City, agrees: “The kids like having a device of their very own; they personalize their iPods in many ways,” she says. “They also like the ability to carry around so much of what’s important to them—their music.”
A Functional Understanding
The debate over iPod’s educational usage has grown increasingly lively. The iPod’s many capabilities and associated technologies each present distinct learning opportunities, inside and outside the classroom.
Playback. The core of the debate concerns the basic use of the iPod’s playback function to present targeted audio or video material outside of class. “If you can get students to listen to something educational for 30 minutes a day on their way to or from school, that’s 30 minutes more of their attention you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise,” says Robert Craven, coordinator of Educational Technology for the Orange County Department of Education (CA).
Such material can range from music to recordings of speeches, to podcasts created by the teacher or downloaded from other sources, to combinations of slide shows and audio/video clips. The material can be assigned as if it were a book or magazine article given to prepare the students for a classroom discussion. Playback can also be utilized in class, and is especially useful in special education settings. For example, in some OCDE schools, the teachers record some of the daily practices that students do in the classroom, and combine the recordings with photos or other images to be displayed on the iPod’s screen.
“Where the iPod stands out is in its ease of use, and in the seamless integration it offers between audio, video, photos, and text. It’s the Swiss Army knife of electronics.”Robert Craven,Orange County Department of Education (CA)
“Holding the iPod gives the students something tactile in their hands while listening to the audio and looking at the images,” Craven explains. “The combination helps them stay focused and avoid distractions that may be keeping them from really succeeding.”
Audio
Content Capturing. A recording accessory allows the iPod to capture audio
content that can then be quickly and easily uploaded to a computer for later
review, editing, or distribution. “We’ve got students at all levels
doing recordings with the iPod,” Craven says. “Kindergarteners go
to the back of the room and read, practicing to see how many words a minute
they can get. The teacher doesn’t have to take class time to listen to
each student read for a minute. He can listen to it later, store it, and have
a record to show the parents every few weeks. At the other end, you have older
students taking the iPods home and recording oral history sessions with their
families.”
