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Thing 13 21st Century Conference – iPod Touch in the Classroom

image by pchow98

image by pchow98

I have been very interested in the thought of using the iPod Touch in a classroom:  What applications might be used?, What would make this a tool that would be better to use than a computer?, How would you go about making sure that teachers are trained in using it? The 2009 presentation by Kern Kelley is a good start for basic information. It is a video that assumes that an individual knows nothing about the use of an iPod Touch. It even shows how to open the package and remove the stickers and how to link to iTunes.  This would be a great video for someone who has not had any previous experience.
It did get into some of his favorite applications, some useful peripheral equipment, including the best place to purchase the protection plan if students will be using the Touch, and the possibility of using a Google Sample form for students to use the touch for answering questions.
Several good resources for further information were given and I checked them out. The first was a site of his that repeated a lot of the information that was given in the video. It was nice to have it in written/graphic form. He has also updated this site with more current information. It had resources listed and I followed the link to some of those. One led me to a site by Tony Vincent where he lists iPod Touch tips and tricks. It tells how to set up Parental Controls, how to save screen shots and images and a variety of tricks that may not be as easy to learn.
Kern Kelley also had a link to Learning Continuity which is a list of hundreds of applications, many of them free or low cost. It gives a description of what subject area you might use it for, app title and description, cost and link in iTunes. I can see this being very useful and will continue to explore it more.
There is also a link to a Wiki of people who are interested in iTouch/iPhone and it’s use in the classroom. Anyone who is at all curious can sign up and share ideas or questions. Sounds like a great idea! So originally I thought this presentation might not be very useful, but, upon further exploration, it has more substance to it. If you are at all interested in how iTouch or iPhone might be used in your classroom, this would be a great presentation to view and helpful sites to use as resources.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 26th, 2010 at 1:19 am Filed under Uncategorized and. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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