Oregon school kids really seem to like iPod Touches (or should that be “iPods Touch”?). Two different, unrelated projects have come to light over the last few months using them to boost kids’ reading abilities.
In the Canby School District, every third and fourth grade student has been issued an iPod Touch, which they use for reading and math exercises. Reports are that they do so quite well, too:
In presentations, [district technology coordinator Joseph] Morelock has shown that several classrooms using the iPod touches generated better test scores than the district average. He looks at iPod touches and other mobile learning devices as unparalleled tools that can be used in nearly every class.
Kids love the devices (as naturally kids do), but more than that, they allow the kids to go back and repeat exercises they had trouble with without public embarrassment. They’ve also taken to researching material from books on-line. Other schools are starting to take notice.
Meanwhile, in the Eugene School District, sixth-grade teacher Marilyn Williams is using iPod Touches to help her students with reading comprehension and retention, teaching from a sixth grade reader that comes with audio CDs. She used GarageBand to import and edit the audio CD content to add additional material with reading comprehension strategies. Then she added the text into the lyrics section in iTunes, so that they would display for students to read along with the audio.
She said that she used the iPod Touch for a number of reasons including that they’re smaller and more mobile than laptops, are more personal and individualized, and are “cool” or socially acceptable.
However, Williams also said, "You could certainly use any digital device that allowed you to display text with speech. Since I completed the research, the text to speech capabilities of these devices has improved a lot, and, if I were starting the project now, I might use a different tool. However, using iTunes and GarageBand was, and is, a pretty simple, seamless way to deliver the content and instruction."
Williams goes into more detail about the program in a dissertation that is hosted online at the University of Oregon Library.
(This is not the first time Eugene, Oregon has been mentioned on TeleRead. Back in 2004, David Rothman quoted an article about a Eugene cyberschool that was creating its own electronic courseware.)
In November, 2010, I pointed out some articles suggesting ways schools could make educational use of smartphones, which the iPod Touch very nearly is. In January, The Guardian carried a similar report. It’s interesting to see two different schools in Oregon leading the way in doing something similar.
I find this intriguing. Schools were always adamant that phones and other devices were to be banned from the classroom – in some places banned from the school. Now we see them start to embrace the possibilities.
It will be fascinating to watch as the school authorities try to find a way to exploit the advantages while still shutting down the disadvantages – tweeting in class, surfing for answers.
I was lucky enough to have been given a third generation ipod Touch from a family member to use at school in my classroom. It’s a great learning tool! The kids love to use it. Most of the education apps are cheap, so if I purchase a poor one, I don’t feel bad about not using it. The kids will practice mutiplication and counting money for longer that they would do on worksheets. The instant feedback is great. For a special education classroom it’s a great tool. I can get apps for all the different grades and skills that I teach. It’s easier to use than the computer and also less distruptive. I can be teaching a reading group and have a kid sitting next to me doing something on the ipod Touch. If that kid needs help, I can quicky solve the problem without having to leave my reading group. When there is a problem at the computer, I have to leave the group to fix the problem. I think more schools and teachers will start using this technology in their classrooms.