Our school in 2009 is looking at using iPod touches for students in year 5-8 and also for staff. I was hoping to hear from like minded educators to see if anyone else was already using iPod touches in the classroom and how/what they were using them for etc?

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Stacey, we are also looking for ideas of how to use iPod touches. We have a cart of 30 that we're trying to pilot in a Middle school. I'd sure appreciate any help.
Very cool - we are looking at getting about 25 schools on board with them in 2009. My school at the momen is trialing them - only just started.
Biggest issue so far is that some apps we have downloaded that need internet connection don't seem to work - could it be somethng to do with our proxy settings?
I'm not sure, I haven't worked with them that much.
Sounds like a network issue. We haven't had any problems with apps connecting. I think that if students have individual Internet logins you might encounter issues...
I have been intrigued about using iPod Touches as well. I have been lobbying my learning specialist with ideas such as using Mindmaker (a mini Inspiration) and the many flash card makers you would have access to. I am finding more and more uses for my iPhone, which is pretty much the same, right? Do you have specific apps in mind at this point? I would love to hear what is being planned or what is working for classes.
Ipod touches are amazing little tools with amazing potential for education. I have been exploring ways of getting funding to start using them in 2009 as well. I am hoping to get at least 6 but would love to have 1to1.

There are some amazing apps that would making learning so much more efficient. Things like wikipedia apps, thesauruses and dictionaries come to mind, some of the more obvious applications are brain training and mental maths recall. I also intend to use word press blogs with the word press app allowing direct posting and commenting (that's if you have set up your blog to allow it). I am now looking into mobile social bookmarking that is not blocked at my school. I would love to add twitter to my class next year as a form of communication and social bookmarking but it too is blocked.

I have also heard of the touch being used as a mobile presentation device for children to share their learning or ideas for projects. I am sure that when the students start using them there will be a lot more ideas about how to use them to enhance learning, especially from the students themselves.

I have been using my personal ipod touch with my 5 and 6 year olds this year and they warmed to it like a duck's first swim in the pond. One thing we did was create pirate videos with avatars with the web cam and them put them on the touch for others to watch. Next year I am working in year 6 hope to be able to get my hands on some touches to use in class i think it is huge potential.

If you have any tips on how you arranged funding can you let me know?

Bob
I also want to find funding for iPods in my classroom. I would like any ideas people have. Thank you!
Should have realised you'd be here Bob :) lol
Hi Bob

I thought I'd comment regarding blogs: my opinion is that the iTouch is not a great tool for typing. If you want kids t access blogs, I'd go with netbooks or 'real' computers.

That being said, I am writing this comment on my iPhone!!!

Does the Wordpress App cost anything?

I use BlogPress if I need to blog on the go. Which I haven't had to do yet, but I'm sure it'll happen.

Atvmy school we have 1:1 iTouches. I think in small numbers they don't have the same value: every kid gas instant access to so much information!

As far as funding goes, we put it on our students' booklists, so they own them. They're far more likely to look Fter them that way.

My blog: http://deonscanlon.edublogs.org
My students do type on them (not essays, but classroom responses), and in fact I rotate students typing up the class Blog entry each day. The student grabs the iPod and posts to the blog what we did for our records and for students who miss class. It has been workin great! We use iblogger as all my blog accounts are set up on a single
school email address and I can set up all the classes with one signin. It was worth the cost or me.
The IT Committee at our school is looking at developing a program so that each student gets a PCD (personal computing device) in grade 9 and they keep it until grade 12. Financing can be a joint effort between the student and the school over a specified time period and according to the student's financial position. We are completely wireless, so the Internet connection is already established. We are just in the discussion stage. Implementation would have to involve teacher training. There are plenty of free apps available out there (even Google documents allows for collaboration), so using an iPod or PCD is just a matter of attitude shift. Putting learning literally into the students hands can be threatening for teachers who don't embrace the ideology. But students who control how they learn is a powerful concept.
The ipod touch , or iTouch, in the classroom looks like the next generation of the Dell Axim. I’m not sold yet on the idea- but I have spoken to some school districts that are using them in a pilot.

The big thing to me is all the applications that can be downloaded to the iTouch and internet access all in the plam of your hand. To take advantage of all the features you will need wireless internet access, and a Mac Laptop. The applications can be downloaded to the laptop then to the iTouch.

The types of applications run from Trigger, a trigonometry tool, to flash cards.
One web site I’ve found for applications is http://www.changinged.com/2008/07/10/spotlight-iphoneitouch-applica...

My biggest draw back is the cost. They are about $200 each plus the cost of the laptop and extra applications. For a little more money, say $300, we could by mini laptops and get more features like a full keyboard, all of the Micorosft Office Applications, and books on PDF.

My Classrom20 page has some pictures of the iTouch: http://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blogs/apple-itouch

Thanks- John

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