Duke's Use of iPods

Okay, once again, I am learning about something that I have never thought could be used in my upcoming career. Ipods are now learning equipment. Duke University is even using them. They did a study involving them with some carefully chosen, hand picked proffesors. This new "tool" was used to assist in a Spanish class where learning may not come so easy to all of us. The site said that Duke was pretty much THE launcher, partnered with Apple, who got iTunes U started. The site said that, "In the fall of 2004, iPod players were distributed to all 1400 incoming freshmen." South should sign up!!!

Students can put/post their stuff onto iTunes U and is available to everyone that would need access to grade it, etc. My first thought about this was MOBILITY!!!!! As college students, who isn't looking for a little more mobility with class? Especially since almost all of us have jobs, families, etc. The use of iPods would make it so that if you did not understand the lecture you watched on your system in class the first time, you would have the lecture on your iPod to watch over and over if you needed. So not only is mobility being offered, repitition is going to be a bonus feature too. If you're like me, this is what I need in order to get through. I need to hear some stuff a million times before it sinks in.

When Duke changed in 2005 and gave out iPods to only students who were enrolled in the iPod specified classes, (instead of all Freshman), enrollment was filled for the iPod classes, and hit almost a rock bottom for the non-iPod classes. I really think the mobility issue is why. But also, just as we've talked about before, when you can use new tools like this and incorporate them into the classroom, it gives students, elementary or college, something out of the "norm." Maybe just having something out of the everyday ordinary made the students go crazy for it.

Not only can college put iTunes U to good use, but it is also available for elementary and secondary education as well. Teachers can download appropriate material for their classes of all ages. According to the Apple site, "Colleges, universities, PBS stations, museums, and other cultural institutions on iTunes U have created content especially for K-12 students." So the information that is being uploaded is going to be in a variety. This, in my opinion, is important because not everyone is going to be loading information to this site and taking the same view of the subject. You will have several different aspects of the same topic. This is going to, again, broaden the information that is available for the students.

Something that was awesome to me was that this is not only text information that is being put out their. You can post videos, lectures, etc. using iTunes U. I can only imagine how the use of this could have livened up classes when I was in school. There will soon be no more boring videos from 40 years ago that have been shown over and over and over in our highschools or colleges. The development of iTunes U has just opened up an entire world of learning and modern information that can be brought to our classrooms!