I posted a discussion when the iPhone was first announced about how it could be a revolutionary educational computing platform. Alas, I have not been able to convince myself to plop down the cash for one of these devices, but the more affordable iPod Touch has caught my eye for a lot of the same reasons. I recently borrowed a student's Touch and began playing around with it. The wifi worked flawlessly and I was up and running in no time. I have since been checking out a lot of the apps that are available for this device (in both an unbroken & jailbroken configuration) and I believe that the future I envisioned for these devices is approaching. Google is also configuring applications for these devices as they are a testbed for the coming Android-equipped Google phones.

I'm curious as to how any of you might be using (or dreaming of using ) these devices in your classroom. As computing moves increasingly into the "cloud", the low cost of these devices makes their use more justifiable to administrators, too. Thoughts?

Tags: computing, iphone, ipod, mobile

Views: 2979

Replies to This Discussion

I think this is a great idea. If anyone gets some Touches for the classroom, let me know, because I want some for my classroom, too. I just posted a bunch of ideas about this on my blog. There are so many.

I will give the short version:
email accounts
wikis
blogs
google/zoho docs, presentations, spreadsheets
"buying" stocks and tracing them
Tracking weather and comparing to historic weather on that day.

I would love to find out where I can get 10K to get a classroom set of these.
I'm not sure where you would submit in your division for a grant, but I have attached the proposal taht won me a class set of these devices.
Attachments:
Where did you apply with this proposal?

Thanks,
Jenny Moon
Gadsden City Schools
www.gcs.k12.al.us
This proposal was put through my school division to a provincial grant fund. Not too sure what the equivalent would be in the US, but in Alberta, Canada we have (or had until this year) a technology innovation fund that supports innovative uses of Tech.
Jethro, What age group of kids to do you teach? Have you heard anything more about people using iPod touches in the classroom?
We are actually implementing a program for 2009 where all of year 7 - 8 students will be using touches on a daily basis. Some of the applications that we have found so far have been great and it is looking like an excellent tool for engagement of our sometimes unengaged gen y kids. We have also put an initiative forward to our state department as at this point we have at least twenty other schools in our local area interested in the project.
Hi,

We are using the iPhone and iPod Touch pedagogically and socially at Freed-Hardeman University. I am the Director of Instructional Technology there and oversee what we call the "iKnow Initiative". Is here some more detail information on it: http://rmscott.wordpress.com/2008/11/21/insight-into-the-iknow-init...

We have developed our own applications with many more coming.
Sorry, should be "Here is" not "Is here".
I got two grants this year and I now have 5 iPod Touches for my 35 students. We do a lot of group rotations and that helps give everyone a chance to use them. The kids love it.
Hi Jethro,
Glad to hear you got a grant for your iPod Touches.
My Principal just purchased 15 Touches for my classroom. I'm excited and the students are ecstatic!
I appreciate your ideas on your blog...
I'm interested in finding out how others are using the Touches in their classroom.
Melvina, you can contact me via email or twitter @jethrojones and we can discuss how we can both use the iPods better.
Hi Jethro,
Thanks for your reply. I would love to hear back from you about your iPod Touch experiences and would like to continue our discussion on the use of Touches in the classroom.

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