Sunday, July 25, 2010

11.5 More Things - Thing 6

iPod apps! Love them! I have had an iPhone for years now. My college age daughter just upgraded to the iPHone4, and my high school daughter has an iPhone 3GS. We almost have my husband convinced to trade his phone in and get an iPhone.
There are so many educational, organizational and entertainment apps out there that there is no reason not to use them in schools. Most students have iPhones and those that don't have an iPod touch which does everything an iPbone does except being used as a phone. But their apps out there that allow the iPod Touch to text and make calls. I think wifi is needed though.
I use both Stanza and Kindle for reading books. I love reading a "real" book and my iPhone will never take their place, however when I am waiting in a doctor's office, in line or in traffic, I love the fact that I have 10-20 books available to read. College students use so many online text books, why not put textbooks on line? It could decrease the amount of money in lost book charges.
The use of Safari to go online gives you access to dictionary.com, and the online databases. I know my daughters both use the flash card app, and study stack to help prepare for tests and other class activities. The translator is used in their foreign language classes.
I use apps for meal planning, grocery lists, and Christmas planning. As well as checking email, facebook and texts. It keeps my calendar, to do list and of course the game apps.

With so many uses I see no reason not to have students use it in schools and libraries. It would be nice for them to be able to use them during lectures so the back channeling could happen. A class set would replace the need for purchasing dictionaries or encyclopedias since they can acces them on line.
Most have video capability so they could create podcasts and video casts that could then be uploaded to itunes and shared with parents or other classmates.

Again it comes down to the fact that even if you had the money to purchase these the sites are blocked and the district is locked down for wifi as well as access to many sites.
I am all for using iPods or iPhones in school.

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