iPod Touch in the Classroom

I decided to watch this video because one of the elementary teachers was thinking about writing a grant to get iPod touches for her classroom. Teaching in a computer lab, I find it difficult to think of a way to use the iPod that would be better than using the desktop computers in the classroom.

I was disappointed in what the video had to offer. I was not very interested in how to take the iPod out of the box, and more interested in which apps would be useful for a teacher. One of the pull backs teachers might have would be the ability for the students to download apps that would not be appropriate for school. There are thousands of apps out there and the majority do not have an educational purpose. I did find the resource he sited (http://www.iear.org), was valuable for a new teacher getting ready to use apps on the iPod touch. It had reviews and descriptions of available apps and it was organized well.

I did like the demonstration of the Google forms for data collection. I can see how this would be great if students were going to move about the school to collect data to use for a project. This would require a school to have the correct infrastructure so that students would not encounter problems with wifi access being unreliable.

The major hurtle for a teacher who wishes to bring the iPod touch into their classroom would be professional development and solid comfort level with the technology. This is a tool that students would very easily take off with and leave a teacher feeling stranded if they were not completely comfortable with. It would involve taking risks and not being afraid of what road blocks they might come across.