iPod Touch Schoolwide Implementation
There are a number of posts from individuals interested in using iPod Touches for teaching and Learning. At Culbreth Middle in Chapel Hill, NC we began a pilot this past August to place the iPod Touch in the hands of staff and students.
Our staff development for faculty to roll out the new technology centered on teacher coaches leading their groups in exploration through professional learning communities.
Our AVID students use the iPod Touch in the AVID classroom and in all other courses. They have piloted this program, using the iPod Touches daily for note taking, keeping individual agendas, translation for world languages, and accessing research through the Internet. In addition, our AVID students use many of the apps that teachers sync with these mobile devices. As student leaders, they’ve understood their responsibility to work and share this learning tool in collaborative groups.
This winter we were able to add iPod Touch labs for each of our seven interdisciplinary teams and two labs for our exploratory and resource teams. The interdisciplinary grade level iPod Touch labs are housed with each team and shared among the four content teachers (math, language arts, science, and social studies). These teachers plan together so that their students have access throughout each day. They access the internet as needed and use many apps as well.
Teacher current app favorites include: WordBook, Thesaurus, USA, Countries, Brain Tuner, Blanks, Whiteboard, CoinToss, Lose It!, Word Warp, FlipBook Lite. Of course they are using the included apps: Calendar, Calculator, Notes, Clock, YouTube throughout each day.
We held an iPod Touch Day last week with visitors from all over the state and from across the country. We even had a group from the UK come see our students and teachers in action with the iPod Touch. With almost 400 iPod Touches now in use at Culbreth, we’re happy to share what we’ve learned and what we’re learning.
Our staff development for faculty to roll out the new technology centered on teacher coaches leading their groups in exploration through professional learning communities.
Our AVID students use the iPod Touch in the AVID classroom and in all other courses. They have piloted this program, using the iPod Touches daily for note taking, keeping individual agendas, translation for world languages, and accessing research through the Internet. In addition, our AVID students use many of the apps that teachers sync with these mobile devices. As student leaders, they’ve understood their responsibility to work and share this learning tool in collaborative groups.
This winter we were able to add iPod Touch labs for each of our seven interdisciplinary teams and two labs for our exploratory and resource teams. The interdisciplinary grade level iPod Touch labs are housed with each team and shared among the four content teachers (math, language arts, science, and social studies). These teachers plan together so that their students have access throughout each day. They access the internet as needed and use many apps as well.
Teacher current app favorites include: WordBook, Thesaurus, USA, Countries, Brain Tuner, Blanks, Whiteboard, CoinToss, Lose It!, Word Warp, FlipBook Lite. Of course they are using the included apps: Calendar, Calculator, Notes, Clock, YouTube throughout each day.
We held an iPod Touch Day last week with visitors from all over the state and from across the country. We even had a group from the UK come see our students and teachers in action with the iPod Touch. With almost 400 iPod Touches now in use at Culbreth, we’re happy to share what we’ve learned and what we’re learning.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Susan Wells on
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Joan,
Without some kind of central charging unit will you plan to sync one at a time for podcasting/apps? I think your students and staff will love them. Working out these "nuts and bolts" are the initial challenge.
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Permalink Reply by Deon Scanlon on
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Don't waste money on charging stations - just buy powered USB hubs. They are much cheaper, and will allow you to sync as well. If you use a mac, you can sync many at once. I have read that you can't do this with a pc (unconfirmed rumour?).
I have seen a school where they used a wooden box, and got some high density foam with cut out slots for the iPods. It had a hinged, lockable lid. Looked easy to use, and quite cheap to make.
Hope those ideas help!
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Permalink Reply by Keith on
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You can sync one at a time with a PC but you can sync up to 20 at a time with a Mac.
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Permalink Reply by Jim Hoffman on
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I have not tried syncing multiple ipods to a PC simultaneously, but I saw an interesting web page that shows it supposedly can be done:
http://edtechbytes.com/?p=173
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Very cool Deon!
That seems a brilliant idea, not too challenging to construct and easy to secure.
I do appreciate the recommendation for SentenceSpin. We think its a great app for elementary and middle language arts. We also of course think that CountBy and TimesBy are great elementary math tools.
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Permalink Reply by Joan Ackroyd on
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Thanks, Deon. I had been thinking of doing something with a box, but couldn't quite think it through. If the Tribeam options are too expensive, I'll make my own storage container.
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Get in touch with @jjash on Twitter. And have a look at the Sentencespin app (there's a plug for you, Susan!)
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Permalink Reply by Andrew Pass on
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I always wonder how many quality educational resources, that promote high quality learning aligned with standards, exist for these kinds of tools. What are your thoughts?
Personally, I love the idea of using iPod Touches in class if these kinds of resources exist. One of the greatest advantages of the iPods over smart phones, is that the Touch, is well, not a phone.
www.pass-ed.com
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There are hundreds of online apps accessible via Safari that are available for educators that are high-quality and educational. Don't get caught into the mindset that the iPod touch is all about apps!
As far as web apps go, you are only limited by the inability to access flash animations (which, with any luck, will be resolved in the future by software updates).
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Deon,
I guess my question is, what kind of content exists for these apps? How are the apps used in core content area classes?
By the way, would you ever recommend Safarai for a PC user?
www.pass-ed.com
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I am not a big user of content-based apps. There are plenty of apps you can get that cover things like mental maths, spelling and creative arts.
I prefer to use the iTouch as a communication tool. Safari is the native web browser on the iTouch. Anything you can do in safari can be done in Internet Explorer. I don't use PCs, so wouldn't recommend Safari for PC as I haven't tried it.
So, I have students who use their iTouch to discuss their group novels, and use CoveritLive, which is accessed via the web browser. Some also use the iTouch to upload blog entries for their novel study.
We distribute videos for homework tasks, and the kids have access to YouTube for additional content needs.
With microphones, the kids can record responses to topics, and send them to our online learning environment, Studywiz.
I think that access to web 2.0 tools makes the iTouch very powerful, even more so than the plethora of apps available.
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Permalink Reply by Sheldon Huelin on
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What an excellent idea. I am going to buy an iPod Touch for personal use, but I can see it working really well in the classroom.
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