iPod Touch Schoolwide Implementation
There are a number of posts from individuals interested in using iPod Touches for teaching and Learning. At Culbreth Middle in Chapel Hill, NC we began a pilot this past August to place the iPod Touch in the hands of staff and students.
Our staff development for faculty to roll out the new technology centered on teacher coaches leading their groups in exploration through professional learning communities.
Our AVID students use the iPod Touch in the AVID classroom and in all other courses. They have piloted this program, using the iPod Touches daily for note taking, keeping individual agendas, translation for world languages, and accessing research through the Internet. In addition, our AVID students use many of the apps that teachers sync with these mobile devices. As student leaders, they’ve understood their responsibility to work and share this learning tool in collaborative groups.
This winter we were able to add iPod Touch labs for each of our seven interdisciplinary teams and two labs for our exploratory and resource teams. The interdisciplinary grade level iPod Touch labs are housed with each team and shared among the four content teachers (math, language arts, science, and social studies). These teachers plan together so that their students have access throughout each day. They access the internet as needed and use many apps as well.
Teacher current app favorites include: WordBook, Thesaurus, USA, Countries, Brain Tuner, Blanks, Whiteboard, CoinToss, Lose It!, Word Warp, FlipBook Lite. Of course they are using the included apps: Calendar, Calculator, Notes, Clock, YouTube throughout each day.
We held an iPod Touch Day last week with visitors from all over the state and from across the country. We even had a group from the UK come see our students and teachers in action with the iPod Touch. With almost 400 iPod Touches now in use at Culbreth, we’re happy to share what we’ve learned and what we’re learning.
Our staff development for faculty to roll out the new technology centered on teacher coaches leading their groups in exploration through professional learning communities.
Our AVID students use the iPod Touch in the AVID classroom and in all other courses. They have piloted this program, using the iPod Touches daily for note taking, keeping individual agendas, translation for world languages, and accessing research through the Internet. In addition, our AVID students use many of the apps that teachers sync with these mobile devices. As student leaders, they’ve understood their responsibility to work and share this learning tool in collaborative groups.
This winter we were able to add iPod Touch labs for each of our seven interdisciplinary teams and two labs for our exploratory and resource teams. The interdisciplinary grade level iPod Touch labs are housed with each team and shared among the four content teachers (math, language arts, science, and social studies). These teachers plan together so that their students have access throughout each day. They access the internet as needed and use many apps as well.
Teacher current app favorites include: WordBook, Thesaurus, USA, Countries, Brain Tuner, Blanks, Whiteboard, CoinToss, Lose It!, Word Warp, FlipBook Lite. Of course they are using the included apps: Calendar, Calculator, Notes, Clock, YouTube throughout each day.
We held an iPod Touch Day last week with visitors from all over the state and from across the country. We even had a group from the UK come see our students and teachers in action with the iPod Touch. With almost 400 iPod Touches now in use at Culbreth, we’re happy to share what we’ve learned and what we’re learning.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Girard on -
Hi Susan,
Great initiative. We would love to know more, so please do keep us updated. In the mean time, it would be great if you can create a list of cons and pros for the Ipod touch in a classroom environment and also a list of nice to haves as we are very interested in rolling out some sort of devices to students in schools in the middle east and would like to consider ipod touch as such an option next to netbooks and regular laptops.
Thanks!
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Permalink Reply by Susan Wells on -
I wanted to share some resources today of apps we're using at Culbreth and invite you'll to add to the list-
*included with device and extremely useful every day
*Clock
*Calendar
*Notes
*Calculator
*iTunes w/iPod
*YouTube
*Safari, many bookmarks made from internet spots
*Mail
*Ability to Take a Screenshot to Share
Blanks, words are not easy at this level but popular for use and competition
iProcrastinate, organizational tool a favorite for staff, all AVID students are using
FlipBook Lite, language arts teachers are using to construct interactive small projects
GoogleEarth, virtual field trips, collaborative groups, across content areas
Braintuner, skills at low level, speed and competition good aspect of app
PI83, very similar to to TI83 being used in classrooms
WordWarp, favorite word game
Dice, math tool for statistics and probability
Lose it!, reference for Health/PE
NikeTraining, Health/PE, videos used to show proper technique, to recommend routines for students away from school building
Dice3D, math tool for statistics and probability
CoinToss, math tool for statistics and probability
Coin Toss World Edition, math tool for statistics and probability also compares the coins from different countries displaying culture and history to integrate math and social studies content
USA, factbook and quiz for Social studies
WordBook dictionary tool
Whiteboard, student collaboration tool across content areas
Thesaurus, across content tool
Flashgram, used for parts of speech although the presentation is for younger students
ChemTouch, Periodic Table and Amino Acid reference chart for Science
USHistory, primary documents allows for annotated notes
Conversation English, used with English as a Second Language students
Spell It, app game comes in two levels for differentiated abilities
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Permalink Reply by Benjamin Skipper on -
This is a great starting block of apps. Here are a few more ( I believe all are free, except a few games)...
Games-
Enigmo - a fluid dynamics based game. Good for puzzles and strategy. There is a free version.
Spore - there is a free version that gives you one or two levels to play and is a good starter activity for a jump into evolution.
Hanoi - simple Hanoi disc game where you have to figure out how to move the stack of discs from one side of the table to the other.
Tanzen - yet another puzzle, spatial awareness game
Productivity-
Twitterific - harness the power of the tweet!
Quick Graph - dynamic graph and plotter - supports functions and easy to use calculator. Not as good as premium versions of graphers, but suffices for most class use.
Formulas - handy formulas.
RC Physics - accelerometer usage to the max. Use to measure g-force exerted on iPod. If you are brave take it with you on an actual rollercoaster.
TED - collection of videos from the TED conferences. Great for short clips, hw assignments, or inspiration.
Kindle for iPhone if you have access to kindle or purchasing through Amazon, this can be a great way to read parts of novels. Just released but look for more future support of magazines, newspapers etc. where I think any class can get the students engaged through the written word.
Inquisitor A good alternative for fast searching on the internet. Gives more helpful descriptions of each link as opposed to the generic Google info.
Tech-Savvy Required -
MLE-Moodle - Schools using moodle can you leverage the power of the iPod Touch and the genius of developer Matthias to access their lms and the students can post blogs, check wikis, use flashcards, and take quizzes through the iPods. It is constantly being improved and this is not just limited to iPod Touches - there is a Java-ME client that can be downloaded to mobile phones and it has built in support for mobile tags.
MobilAP - Developed initially as a conference software package, it is starting to move towards a classroom assistant. Has the ability to poll from the iPod Touch, dynamically interact with students who can post links and discussion questions as well as a directory so students can email on the fly. Pete Akins is the developer behind this beast.
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Permalink Reply by Gary Symons on
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I would add to this:
Poddio, for recording and editing music or language lessons. (Used by teacher friend in Kelowna, BC, with her senior band class. If you use Touch, you need a mic.
Various translator programs. (I'm learning Spanish!)
Wikiamo, for looking up all kinds of facts and info.
Stanza is a reading program giving free access to a lot of classic books.
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Permalink Reply by Dawn Williams on
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I was reading with interest about the use of iPod Touch, having heard about it being used with ELL students. You didn't mention if they are used with this population in your school. I was wondering if anyone else that has replied has, I did see one reply that referenced using iPod Touch with success. I am the ONLY ELL teacher in my district and have difficulty servicing my students many of which are newcomers to the country with little or no English language skills. My question is would the iPod Touch be for use with the ELL teacher or mainly used with the classroom teacher? I am interested in finding out more about how they are used.
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Permalink Reply by Susan Wells on
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Dawn,
One of labs is used specifically with our ESL/EC/Resource classes. Many of the apps I listed are used with these groups. Benjamin's added a bunch of additional great apps and tools as well for the iPod Touch. A new duo of apps just out that we're using with our ESL students are: Conversation English and English at Work. These look to be really pretty cool so far and as with all of our experiences with this device, highly motivating.
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Permalink Reply by Bonnie Roane on
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It sounds as if all of the apps would also be beneficial at the high school level. Are there any high schools that anyone knows of who are using iPod Touch?
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Permalink Reply by Mark Schommer on -
I use them in my classroom but I must admit I have used them for remedial purposes only. I am still experimenting with "at level" students.
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Permalink Reply by Derek Keenan on -
Hello Bonnie, I am a High School English teacher in Canada using a class set of touches in my room. It has been an amazing adventure thus far and the more I integrate them, the more the students impress me.
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Permalink Reply by Val Brown on
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I am Technology Specialist for Culbreth Middle School. I used the iPod Touches with 2 classes of ESL students today---used the app Conversation English. It went extremely well. One class of students had used an iPod Touch before and the other group had never used it. The students had no problems with manipulating the device, after a brief explanation of the mechanics of the device to the class that had never used it. Using the app was effortless for both classes. They were not initially familiar with some of the English idioms and expressions, but after covering a few of the lessons and a little prompting from the ESL teacher and myself they were more comfortable. Great app for learning English!
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Permalink Reply by Ashley Coffman on -
Kathy - I'm an Instructional Technology Specialist for a school district in Texas. We are about to implement the iPod Touch Lab in Pre-K classrooms and some secondary schools throughout the district. I have a couple questions for you:
1. Where did you purchase the iPod Touches and the cart from? What were the prices? We're price-shopping right now.
2. Do you have any type of case on them? If so, which one and how is it working out?
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Permalink Reply by Michael on
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Here is the info. for the cart
http://www.bretford.com/made4mac/pdf/a_tl357lla_pwrsync_pb.pdf
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