iTunes and iPods for Educational Purposes

Dr. Christie makes technology easy for teachers!
Dr. Alice Christie compiled very important aspects of teaching from her forty-years' worth of experience into one website. From exploring her website, I found many items of technology that I never would have imagined to use in the classroom - like GPS systems! Is there really a better way to teach students latitude and longitude than by using a GPS and going on a scavenger hunt? That sounds like something that I would like to do as a college student! Imagine how much fun that could be for a middle-schooler!

If teachers created their own websites for their classrooms- much like a blogging system, I've finally learned - communicating with students and parents outside of the classroom would be so simple. Upcoming projects, field trips, meetings, and important deadlines could be posted for parents to keep up with and organize into their schedules; this website could display daily assignments and requirements for them for easy reference: much easier than trying to keep up with homework sheets. Dr. Christie makes this creation process a breeze; she even shows examples of good and bad websites.

These are just some of the many resources Dr. Christie posted on her website. I will most definitely use her website as a reference when I start my teaching career. This is the easiest things I've come across thus far.


iTunes University
...provides podcasts of lectures for college students to use to accompany their knowledge from classroom lectures - or in some cases, replace them. I read an article about this on the New Science website. Statistically, students who listened to the podcast lectures did better on a comprehension test than the students who instead attended the lecture teaching the material in a classroom. Although the podcast learners only scored average C's, the lecture-attendees had averages in the D's. Motivation was probably the case for these overall low grades, but the results still revealed the advantage that podcasts have over lectures. The question now is one of whether or not podcasts can replace professors.

Class attendance may be affected if the lectures can be downloaded on iTunes University, but perhaps this is a good thing: sometimes it's difficult to attend class, and it may be easier and more beneficial to listen to the podcasts at a time more convenient to the student - when the student can pay more attention them and study in an environment most suiting for them personally. Reviewing difficult points in the lecture is now possible, making note-taking more efficient and making the likelihood of missing something very important very unlikely. Making these podcasts available to students whenever and wherever enables students to use their free time - in traffic, in a waiting room, while eating dinner, etc. - more wisely...especially if that "free time" isn't at the scheduled class time.


...so iTunes on iPods?
iPods are apparently not just for entertainment anymore; teachers and professors can use iPods for engaging their students in lectures and other learning experiences. Education World explains how iPods have a specific education function, offering lesson plans, activities, and downloadable material for enhancing students' experiences.

Just as I mentioned above, the iTunes University can be a very important tool in helping college students succeed at their own pace and at their own convenience. Since iTunes are available on iPods (I assume? I don't own an iPod...), this enables the student to take their lessons wherever they go.

Allowing students to use their iPods is very beneficial; requiring them to have them, however, could create some problems. iPods are expensive - which is why I don't have one - and could be very complicated for some students. I don't know how to use them, but I would be willing to learn if I ever decide to buy one. They should be a supplement for students who wish to use them, not a requirement for the students who don't. Duke University offers iPods to students enrolled in classes that specially benefit from their use. Several case studies prove their effectiveness to the learning experience, and I believe that since they are offered to students - instead of just being another added expense to the students - they are willing to use them. They really can be "a pocketful of learning" if approached the right way.

Wikipedia: Fact or Whatever-you-want-it-to-be?

Almost all of my college professors have made it clear that "outside sources" for papers should be reliable - which means no Wikipedia sources. "Anyone can write something on Wikipedia," they all say. It was never very clear to me why anyone would go out of their way to write something NOT true in an online encyclopedia until I read this article...

NPR: Who's Been Messin' with My Wikipedia Entry?
"Corporations like Diebold, Raytheon, Pfizer, Exxon Mobil and Wal-Mart. Not to mention the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, members of Congress, the CIA, the Church of Scientology and the Catholic Church. They all made changes of some kind to entries that included references or information about them."

It is now that I realize why it may NOT be a good idea to turn to Wikipedia as a source. The information may be true to an extent, but if people are editing entries about opposing forces, the information presented may be biased. What would someone say about me on Wikipedia? If I don't like it, I have every right to go in and change it if it's not accurate - but if someone else comes along and decides "that's not what she did," they may feel like they have the right to change it, also. I'm not sure what the rules are for editing Wikipedia, but if it can be done, that's a problem. Reliability just turned into "what this person thought about it."

If you think you have found a good, accurate article on Wikipedia, perhaps you should check to see WHO wrote it before considering granting it as "reliable." I read in NPR's article about the Scanner that Tracks Who's Changing What on Wikipedia. This scanner allows the reader to trace the IP address of the editors, exposing the editor of the articles. You wouldn't expect to turn in a paper without citing your sources, so why should you expect to use a collaborative website's information without first examining its sources?

Mr. McClung had some wonderful insight on teaching - things that he learned in his first year, published in his blog At the Teacher's Desk. The part that really stuck out to me was when he said, "Technology is our friend and is essential to living in our microwave society of today. We should not become overwhelmed by technology and simply give up before we start." I love the microwave analogy. Mr. McClung may have had a different interpretation, but I took it to mean that technology is just as essential in living today as a microwave is - it makes everything easier and faster, just like a microwave does for cooking.

Moving on... 21st Century Learning

This post by [the Langwitches?] gave a lot of insight for teachers of the 21st Century. Sure, there is the big debate on technology in the classroom that we have been studying for a while - and yet I still can't seem to form a solid opinion of my own. I agree with this post that the goal of teachers is "to equip and enable others to collaborate, connect, communicate, and create," but is this also what the author[s?] believes what makes "21st Century Learners"? Blogging - one of the most commonly pushed forms of the listed C's in classrooms that I've noticed - seems to be what most "technologically literate" teachers are teaching their students. I personally am not too fond of blogging, and I don't necessarily feel like I'm TOO much better off now than I was before just because I've acquired this "skill." Maybe I'm just really not convinced enough... Technology is important, but really how much class time can be allotted to teaching blogging instead of something that will be crucial in helping the students pass their CRT's? Curriculum is probably the issue there, but the point is still clear. Plus, most schools don't have funding for these programs!

I have a feeling that I will not be hearing very good feedback on this post, but I just haven't found my middle ground yet. I'm just not convinced... but the discussion description in Tracy Weber's post "21st Century Classroom or 21st Century Learning" helped put everything into perspective...

21st Century Classroom or 21st Century Learning- Tracy Weber

"Purpose: To encourage educators to plan their classrooms from a learning perspective rather than from a tools perspective. Don’t buy the tool and then figure out how to use it. Instead, figure out what learning should look like, and then focus on obtaining the tools to create that vision."

This analogy made more sense to me than anything that I've read so far concerning this issue... and I really don't think I could possibly have said it better myself - nor can I really even elaborate on it any further...