iPods in Instruction

iPods are can be very useful in the classrooms for the purpose of instruction. iPods can be used to play music, listen to podcasts, watch videocasts, and more. iPods provide just one more tool for teachers to use in their classrooms. Technology is so advanced today that teachers have more and more technological devices available for use, including the iPod.

In one site, Mississippi is reported to get a two year grant from AT&T to support an innovative "Early Educators" program. "The "Early Educators" program will provide instructional interventions to younger students from older students, using iPods and instructional podcasts" (Mississippi Department of Education News Release). This information can be found at its site, http://www.mde.k12.ms.us/Extrel/News/2009/09AT&TMSCenter.html. This site's information includes the support of providing innovative technological tools for MS schools and teachers.

Another great site that supports the use of iPods in the classrooms can be found at, http://mtsu32.mtsu.edu:11218/PDFs/Using%20iPods%20in%20the%20ESL%20Middle%20School.pdf. This site gives the results of a group of middle schoolers reading books with teachers and iPods. The results concluded that both teachers reading aloud and students using only iPods to read books produced about the same results. the difference is that the students liked using the iPod better because it comes with music, ease, and field journals.

Duke University did a study for the use of iPods in instruction, and the website can be found at, http://cit.duke.edu/pdf/reports/ipod_initiative_04_05.pdf. Basically they concluded that iPods strenghtened the academics of students. iPods engaged the students more, increased both collaboration and communication, and enhanced support for individual learning. The iPod, they concluded, is an easy-to-use tool for both the faculty and students. The iPod has many different educational purposes, which include course content dissemination tool, classroom recording tool, field recording tool, and study support tool.

Based on my research for iPods in instruction, I think that iPods can be a very innovative technological tool for both students and teachers. I looked at many different websites about iPods used in education, and I found that most people or educators think iPods are very beneficial to education.