Post 19: iPods in Instruction

How in the world can you use iPod's in instruction? That was the first question that popped in my head. When most people think about iPods- they usually think about music. After doing a little research online, I realized that iPod's are more than just music. I found a Research Brief under the The Principals Partnership and it stated, "iPod is now deconstructing the border between education and entertainment. iPods are becoming study aids for students, allowing them to fast-forward to a part of a lecture they may not have understood the first time or review complicated themes before exams." I had never thought about using my iPod to study with. This is a great idea. The brief also discusses how some K-12 educators and schools have started using the iPod to enhance their curriculum and to support learning objectives in subjects such as mathematics, science, reading, foreign language, history, and more. Lectures and other audio resources can be recorded, placed on the web and then downloaded by students to listen to on their own time. Students can even do this recording themselves.

On another site I read that Duke University gave over 1600 first-year students entering their school iPod's in hopes of encouraging creative uses of technology in education and campus life. Can you imagine? I found another site that lists 100 ways to use your iPod to learn and study better that I found to be very neat and useful for not only students- but teachers as well. You can get different ideas on how to use an iPod in your classroom just by reading what some of the students are doing with their iPods to help them study. Check it out!