Apple released the second generation iPod Touch last Tuesday. This new iPod Touch now contains the one essential feature for making it perfect for education: it now has microphone support!
I have been eagerly awaiting microphone support for the iPod Touch because I believe simplified podcasting creation is essential for educators. You could of course create a podcast with Garage Band or some other software program and sync the podcast to the touch, but educators need a simple, no-hassle, one-step solution for creating podcasts at the spur of the moment. Now the iPod Touch has it. The iPod in Every Classroom Initiative I started a few years ago is about to get revamped.
Now the that iPod Touch can create podcasts on the fly like all of the earlier iPods, let’s review the other great technological features that really set it apart from all the others as a learning tool for the classroom. First of all, Podcasting should be an essential part of every classroom. The iPod Touch will make that even easier. Microphones for the previous iPod line was around $50 or $60, but this new Touch will be able to use a much more economical microphone as a MacRumors post has demonstrated. The post states that the headphone jack will accept a four rung headset with microphone. Video Podcasts will now be even better on a larger screen. Second, the Educational Apps for the iPod Touch are growing at an incredible rate. There are currently over 160 Educational Apps at the iTunes Store, and the list is growing every day. One great app titled Flashcard allows any teacher to create a study tool for the iPod Touch. Third, the iPod Touch’s overall concept of durability, battery reliability, ease of use, and cost ($229) make it a great fit for the classroom. Anyone can pick it up and start using it. It is affordable enough for any classroom. It has built in security features for both theft and volume, and it is a hard one to damage. The “touch” concept makes students addicted to learning. (Teachers control the content on the device.) Last, and by no means least, it has the internet. Students can access the sites you announce instantly via WiFi.
I am excited about making an iPod Touch in Every Classroom a new focus.
Broad Creek Middle School in Newport, North Carolina is using Quest Atlantis to enhance reading skills and as the data is being analyzed it appears it is working quite well.
Quest Atlantis is a virtual reality software program created by Indiana University professor Dr. Sasha Barab. Virtual Reality Software is a software program that creates a three dimensional world with multi-user environment. This particular program, Quest Atlantis, includes games and a story line to assist children with both reading and decision making. This particular model places students in the role of junior scientists, political advisors, business managers, and national park rangers. Students tackle a variety of subjects trying to solve problems in this virtual world.
What began as a successful program in North Carolina has now expanded to Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Florida, and California.
The greatest results have been seen in students who are the poorest performing readers and with disadvantaged students. These students are typically the hardest to reach, and the program has given them incentives and rewards for their work. These students often do not enjoy school but now have great interest due to this interactive world. The game style approach appeals to the students and keeps their interest.
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The school district that I work for invested in a program called Study Island to help us improve our test scores. We are about to get our first comparision data back that supposedly will show how this program is in fact helping us to improve scores. I would like to try Quest Atlantis out with my students for a closer examination. If you have used Quest Atlantis please send me your thoughts. wirededucator@gmail.com
Wired Educator is keeping an eye on the Presidential Candidates so you know where they stand on the issue of technology in Education. This first report will be on promises made during the Democratic Convention. We will follow next week with a report from the Republican Convention once it convenes. (Wired Educator will not endorse a candidate. We simply report the candidate’s platform on Tech in Ed.)
According to an NPR article, Obama calls for a new Cabinet-level position: a chief technology officer” to focus on making sure the best technology tools are being imported from the private sector and Americans are getting the needed training. The article portrays Sen. Obama as the candidate that best understands America’s future economy depends on how we have access to technology and how we empower Americans to use it. Obama embraced a plan to provide phone/Internet service to rural areas that McCain opposed.
In Barak Obama’s own words (courtesy of his website): TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION FOR A NEW GENERATION
“Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age. Let’s set high standards for our schools and give them the resources they need to succeed. Let’s recruit a new army of teachers, and give them better pay and more support in exchange for more accountability. Let’s make college more affordable, and let’s invest in scientific research, and let’s lay down broadband lines through the heart of inner cities and rural towns all across America.”
— Barack Obama Presidential Announcement Speech in Springfield, IL 02/10/07
At a Glance Sen. Barack Obama is an advocate to:
Ensure an open Internet.
Create a transparent and connected democracy.
Encourage a modern communications infrastructure.
Employ technology to solve our nation’s most pressing problems.
Improve America’s competitiveness.
Wired Educator’s will feature McCain’s platform on Tech in Ed after the GOP Convention.
The U.S. Army is increasingly using custom iPods as field translators instead of carrying around bulky PDAs or notebooks. The U.S. 10th Mountain Division has been using hundreds of iPods over the past year to run a special app known as Vcommunicator Mobile which allows soldiers to effectively communicate in an unfamiliar region.
Vcommunicator Mobile is a special application that allows the soldier to use the click wheel to locate phrases in local dialects that match the situation at incredible speeds. A headset plays an audio sample for the soldier. Vcommunicator also contains video of appropriate behaviors to assist cross-cultural communication. The iPods contain text as well to assist in language learning.
iPods are now operating in Iraq and Afghanistan as learning aids.
Vcom3D, the creator of the application, also has a business and travel adaptations for nonmilitary customers.
The military values the iPods for the portability, ease of use, durability, light weight, cost, and extensive battery life. The same reasons I like them in the classroom. The soldiers, like our students, are already familiar with the device and software.
The program has been so successful for the military that they are expanding the use to the 1st Calvary Division and are the program to include iPhone apps for future projects.
The miltary wants results and so do we as wired educators. iPods in the classroom works!
My School, Perkins High School is taking its first steps towards one to one learning. One to One is where every staff member and every student has their own laptop to use everyday both at school and at home. I believe that this will be the greatest single investment in my school district’s future.
Our first step starts this year with every teacher and administrator getting their laptops. Next year we will start handing out laptops to our students. I can’t wait! In case you are wondering, the computers are leased and not bought. This will help with the problem of what do do when it is time to replace them. They are on a four year turn over and will be replaced every four years. Not all of the details have been worked out yet but I can’t wait to get my macbook.
For now I can’t wait to collaborate with my colleagues about teaching methods, and can’t wait to share apple computer apps with them. I just think it is so powerful for students and teachers to get technology into their hands to use both at school and at home. I won’t have to sign out labs, instead I will be able to just have students pull out their laptops and we can get to work on many things.
In case you are wondering, we are transitioning away from an all PC school so in the process we are handing out laptops for the time being with Boot Camp and Microsoft XP on them for slow adopters. Not sure if I will ever use it.
Big Universe: A World of Online Children’s Books is an excellent website for educators and for the child in us all. While this is article is primarily aimed at elementary educators, I believe we can all find some fun and use for this great site.
You are never too old for a good children’s book. Even teaching middle shcool English there are a few times during the year I pull out a big picture book and share it with my students. They chuckle and snort at first, but a good book regardless of the genre makes an impact. I am so happy to have stumbled upon the Big Universe Web site.
I’ve also always wanted to write a children’s book. Now you can do both easily and for free at www.biguniverse.com.
Big Universe’s Web site allows you to read hundreds of children’s books for free, purchase children’s books, and even create your own children’s ebook complete with pictures using the Big Universe Author Tool. You can see a demo of that tool on their site.
You can find out what new children’s books are out, read them, and read comments from others or leave your own. I really like that you can read the entire book, not just preview it. Sure, it is not as intimate as holding one in your hand and sharing it with a child, but I think this site is just great.
Using the online Big Universe Author Tool is very easy. You can upload your own pictures or choose from one of the many libraries provided. The layout and writing format is also easy to use. You can even change the size of the book. Once you have made your book, you can share it with the Big Universe online community, your students, child, or friends. You can also read creations by other Big Universe authors.
This website is doing so much right. What a great find! Please use it and pass this one along.
Here is another clever addition for our iPod in Every Classroom Initiative.
Talking Panda has created a slick application called iWriter that lets you easily create study tools for an iPod. Text and audio files can be placed on a 5th Generation iPod or iPod Nano.
iWriter’s format is similar to the layout of PowerPoint. You select from one of the eight templates and type or copy and paste the content you desire. You can also create your own templates. You can even link it to an audio file on your iPod. The application provides a preview screen so you can see what you have designed. You can easily export it to your iPod. (Other export features are available. For example, .Mac Accounts, email, and other options.)
iWriter is available for both Mac and PC. The price in my opinion is steep at $29.95. You can try a FREE 15 day trial to see if it is right for you before purchasing it. I like it for a nice way to not only get text on an iPod but also to create links within that text to actual audio content.
You can view a demonstration of iWriter in action here.
Wired Educator Recommendation: Go for the 15 day trial and bookmark the Web site it to see if the price drops. Sorry, but $30 bucks is a deal breaker.
I was saddened to learn of the passing of Randy Pausch last Friday even though he had prepared me for it.
If you are not familar with Randy Pausch please watch the short video below. He was an amazing teacher and an amazing man. I truly believe watching this short segment will positively affect the way you live your life and the way you teach. Randy was also a skilled public speaker, as you will see in the following video. Any teacher would be hard pressed not to say they didn’t benefit from watching a master orator like Randy perform. His contributions to education, technology, and humanity are numerous.
In Randy’s words, “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
If you are having trouble viewing the video please click here.
I keep a copy of this video on my iPhone and watch it every now and then to keep the world in perspective.
If you are interested in watching the original lecture Dr. Pausch gave at Carnegie Mellon University please click here.
Ok, I am going to be Honest. I hate windows. That is no surprise. I have been struggling the past two days with a colleague’s Computer. It happens to run windows. It was running slow and poorly so he asked me to take a look at it. So at first it ran slow, and had poor virus backup. Once it was updated it ran a little better and all of a sudden it takes about 30 minutes to boot up and I can’t get a mouse or the trackpad to work at all. It won’t read any CD, not even the boot CD. I am officially giving up after 48 hours of work and not looking at it again.
Now why is windows bad for education. I have a PC at my school that the school provides for me. I kept track… I was not able to use my computer 18 days of the school year due to technical difficulties. Some were viruses, Networking issues, One day was even because our grade-books crashed and we needed the bandwidth to run them. Now we run off a server only so that means that we cannot even run them off the network which is a logistical nightmare. Not for me of course.
I carry my handy MacBook Pro with me every day to school and run my presentations and what not off of it so I have no such problems. When I update my Mac I never have to worry about parts of it not running correctly. I am so sick of windows in education. Everybody needs to go MAC.
I have been promoting the use of ‘An iPod in Every Classroom’ at eTech Conferences and smaller venues for the past few years. I enjoy presenting the many uses an iPod offers in education, and the list continues to multiply each year. What began as a way to deliver audio and video podcasts to students quickly, and more importantly easily, has blossomed into iPods being used to document student readings, interactive personalized quizzes, SAT and ACT practice, PowerPoint conversion, and much, much more. Oh, so much more, but now the I believe even that glass ceiling has been shattered with the release of specialized iTunes Education Content and now, even more amazing, iPod Touch/iPhone applications focused on education. Things are about to get interesting.
In an earlier post I announced the release of iTunes University creating a special section for K-12 content. Educators now have a wonderful library of excellent audio and video podcasts to download and integrate into their lessons for free. Now not only can educators easily create excellent podcasts easily with an iPod, now they have treasure trove of resources.
Twenty-one iPhone/iPod Touch apps are currently in the iTunes App Store with many more about to be released. The current lineup includes foreign language study, flashcards, math simulations, eBook reading software, anatomy, other specialized science content, and more. Some of the apps are free downloads, others are small fees, and a couple are about the price of a good book. Students can study flashcards, create their own, or review with interactive quizzes. Some of the science apps and foreign language apps are just amazing by allowing users to have a pocket palanetarium, view three-dimensional models of hydrogen atoms, or record and play back foreign language practice. As if that weren’t cool encough, the app store isn’t even two weeks old yet.
Certainly more apps are on the way, but what I am really interested in is the ability to easily create my own. I read an article today that Stanford is now offering a class on designing iPod Touch/iPhone application design. I am hoping that an easy-to-use program for educators to create specialized review lessons, games, and other content will be released soon. (That is my hope; I have heard nothing. I don’t think it would be that difficult.)
I will be reviewing education apps independently on site, so keep checking back. If you would like to submit a review on an edcuation app or share how you use technology in our classroom, please send us an email to wirededucator@gmail.com.
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Apple released the second generation iPod Touch last Tuesday. This new iPod Touch now contains the one essential feature for making it perfect for education: it now has microphone support!
